LiCata and O'Connell Named Preseason First-Team All-Americans
The
2017 D3football.com pre-season All-America team has been released, and Alfred University's A.J. LiCata and The College at Brockport's Jake O'Connell have been named to the First-Team defense.
LiCata is coming off a junior season in 2016 in which he was named an American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) First Team All-American, Associated Press Third Team Little All-American, Third Team D3football.com All-American, and Second Team Hero Sports All-American.
The Empire 8 Conference and ECAC North Defensive Player of the Year and a D3football.com East Region First Team All-Star, LiCata finished the 2016 season with 153 tackles (11½ for loss, 4½ sacks), an interception and a forced fumble.
LiCata was a named Jay Berwanger Division III Player of the Year by the Metropolitan New York Football Writers Association and was also a semifinalist for the Gagliardi Trophy, an annual award recognizing excellence in Division III football.
The Saxons went 12-1 last season, going 10-0 in the regular season and winning the Empire 8 Conference title with a perfect 8-0 league mark. AU earned the top seed in their region of the NCAA Division III championship tournament and won two playoff games at home (against Bridgewater State and Western New England) before falling at home to Mount Union in the tournament's quarterfinal round.
O'Connell recorded six interceptions, two of which he returned for touchdowns in 2016.
The Rochester, N.Y. native was named not only a First-Team All-Conference player, but a D3football First-Team All-East Region selection as well in 2016, helping lead the team to the ECAC President's Bowl. He added 51 tackles to his conference-leading six picks, which ranked in the top-five of the Golden Eagle defensive unit.
O'Connell's signature play of the 2016 season came in week five against Utica, when he all but put the game away with a 100-yard pick six. The score put the Green and Gold ahead by 14 in a game they would eventually win by a touchdown. It also earned him both Empire 8 and ECAC Defensive Player of the Week honors.
The Saxons open the 2017 season with a Sept. 2 road game at 1 p.m. at Ithaca. Alfred opens its Empire 8 slate the following weekend, Sept. 9, at 1 p.m. at home against Utica.
The Golden Eagles start their season in less than a month, with action kicking off in Geneva, N.Y. against Hobart College on September 2nd. They'll open their home slate the following week, with a 1 p.m. kickoff against Ithaca on Sept. 9.