WESTERVILLE, Ohio -- The Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) announced today the 2026 football preseason coaches' poll, with the Yellow Jackets landing second in the annual poll.
Mount Union, the 2025 OAC champions, are the favorite to win the conference, receiving 64 points and eight first-place votes. The Yellow Jackets sit right behind them with 54 points, while Ohio Northern rounds out the top three with 53 points and the final first-place vote. Behind them are Heidelberg (43), Marietta (32), Muskingum (31), Capital (21), Wilmington (18) and Otterbein (8).
The Yellow Jackets were selected second in last year's OAC preseason coaches' poll and finished the year in third place with an 8-2 overall record and 6-2 mark in OAC play. Following the season, 13 players earned All-OAC recognition, while linebacker Nolan Hartsel received the Gene Slaughter Award as the OAC's Most Outstanding Linebacker, Colin Kaufmann earned the Lee Tressel Award as one of the conference's Most Outstanding Defensive Backs and assistant coach Matt Brown was named OAC Assistant Coach of the Year. Hartsel, Kaufmann, George Linberger and Nick Lulow were also named All-Region by D3football.com, with Hartsel and Kaufmann earning All-American honors.
This season, Hartsel and Linberger were named D3football.com Preseason All-Americans.
With a number of returning starters and impact players, the Yellow Jackets will look to build on last season's success and push for an OAC title and beyond.
The Yellow Jackets will kick off the season on Saturday, September 12, when they host Bethany College at 1:30 p.m. BW will begin OAC competition two weeks later when they host Capital University.
