Delta State Football Lands Nine on 2026 Preseason All-GSC Team
Delta State University’s football team has nine players named to the 2026 Preseason All-Gulf South Conference team, as voted by league head coaches. The honors include three offensive players, four on defense, and two on special teams.
On offense, running back Nick Clark, tight end Carter Coullard, and wide receiver Lawrence Armstrong earned spots. Clark, from Daphne, Alabama, led the Statesmen in rushing last season with 531 yards on 130 attempts and 11 rushing touchdowns. He also caught 11 passes for 82 yards and a touchdown. Clark was a first-team All-GSC All-Purpose back and second-team All-GSC running back in 2025.
Coullard, a Lake Providence, Louisiana native, started nine games in 2025. The tight end helped the team rush for 1,650 yards and caught seven passes for 73 yards and two touchdowns. He scored the team’s first receiving touchdown of the season against Central Missouri and its final one versus Valdosta State. Armstrong, from Houston, Texas, caught 21 passes for 426 yards and three touchdowns last season. He was named GSC Offensive Player of the Week after a 108-yard, two-touchdown performance against West Alabama.
On defense, defensive ends Chris Brown and Maliek Robertson, along with linebackers Tavian Moore and Austin Collins, earned honors. Brown, from Jackson, Mississippi, recorded 18 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, and 2.5 sacks in 2025. Robertson, from Donaldsonville, Louisiana, had 20 tackles, two TFLs, and a sack. Moore, a Huntsville, Alabama native, led the team with 51 tackles, six TFLs, and an interception, earning first-team All-GSC honors. Collins, transitioning from defensive line to linebacker, led DSU with nine TFLs and recorded 21 tackles, two sacks, and a scoop and score last season.
Special teams players Price Nixon and Brandin Talley were also recognized. Nixon, a senior from Clinton, Mississippi, was second-team All-GSC as a punter and utility player, with 39 punts for 1,487 yards, including 18 inside the 20-yard line. Talley, from Biloxi, Mississippi, started nine games as long snapper, primarily on punt teams, and recorded a tackle in coverage against North Greenville.
Delta State kicks off fall camp today and opens the season in 24 days at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, with a noon kickoff. Updates on the team are available through Delta State athletics’ social media channels and website at gostatesmen.com.
Source: Original Article
