UNI Football: 2 Earn MVFC Preseason Defense Honors

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CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Rickey Neal Jr. and Xavior Williams earned spots on the Missouri Valley Football Conference's 2018 preseason defense all-league units.

Ten seniors, five juniors and a sophomore highlight the first-team defensive squad, while all 10 league schools have representation on either the first- or second-team unit.

Neal, a senior from Racine, Wisconsin, earned first-team recognition as a linebacker. The MVFC honor comes on the heels of the 2018 STATS FCS Preseason All-America Team announcement. Neal earned a spot on the third team of the national leagues.

Neal is expected to play as an outside linebacker this year for the Panthers. He made 10 starts for UNI last year as a defensive end. He led the Missouri Valley Football Conference in sacks with 9.5 for the year. He recorded 51 tackles, with 15 for a loss. He forced and recovered two fumbled. He was named to the All-MVFC Second Team last year.

Williams, a defensive back, earned second team preseason league honors. As a redshirt freshman, he earned two All-America honors from HERO (first team) and Phil Steele (second team). He played in all 13 game, starting eight times with the final eight coming at cornerback. His four interceptions and eight pass breakups, ranked him second on the team. He had 25 solo tackles and 30 total tackles for the season. A Norte Dame High School graduate, Williams is from Burlington, Iowa.

UNI's Briley Moore, Marcus Weymiller, Isaiah Weston and Cal Twait earned recognition on the preseason offense all-league units. Moore earned first-team recognition while Weymiller, Weston and Twait earned spots on the second team.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Nine of the 16 players honored on the first-team defense appeared on Tuesday's STATS FCS All-America Teams, including first-team selections Khalen Saunders of Western Illinois, Christian Rozeboom of South Dakota State and Robbie Grimsley of North Dakota State.

The league has four first-team selections at defensive line, including the aforementioned Saunders of WIU, teammates Aaron Steidl and Greg Menard of North Dakota State and Darin Greenfield of South Dakota. Menard missed all of 2017 with a knee injury. Greenfield led the league in tackles for loss last year (19.5), while Saunders was in the top six in both sacks and TFLs. Last year's first-team punter Lane Reazin of Southern Illinois (43.6 avg.) and Steve McShane of Western Illinois (103.8 all-purpose yards/game) headline the selections at punter and return specialist, respectively.

Five players are featured at linebacker, including Rickey Neal of UNI, who played defensive line last year. Neal led the league in sacks and was second with 15.0 TFLs. Jabril Cox of NDSU was the league's Freshman and Newcomer of the Year and is the only sophomore represented on the First Team. They are joined by SDSU's Christian Rozeboom (128 tackles), Youngstown State's Armand Dellovade (76) and Missouri State's Angelo Garbutt (84).

The defensive backfield is a veteran group, featuring four seniors (of five selected). Jordan Brown of SDSU (12 passes defended), Jeremy Chinn of Southern Illinois (9), Justin Fitzpatrick of Western Illinois (11) and Robbie Grimsley of NDSU (12) are among the Top 7 returnees in the league in that category. Andrew Gray of USD had six passes defended and also led the Yotes with 90 total tackles.

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