Ferris State Football Receives Acclaim As Consensus Top 20 Team In Preseason National Rankings

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University football squad, which is the two-time defending Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Champion, has received further preseason acclaim as a consensus top 20 team nationally from several sources.

The Bulldogs, who were listed 17th earlier this summer in the Sporting News Preseason Division II Rankings, have been tabbed 20th in the Lindy's Sports Division II Preseason Top 25 and are also presently chosen high in two online computer rankings, including eighth in the Massey Ratings and 14th in the CompughterRatings.com preseason listings.

Along with the preseason rankings, Lindy's Sports also chose a Division II Preseason All-America squad and Bulldog junior center Jake Daugherty (Big Rapids) was picked as a second-team choice. He earlier was named to the Sporting News Preseason All-America First Team.

The Bulldogs, under two-time reigning GLIAC Coach of the Year Tony Annese, have posted the best overall record of all collegiate programs in the state of Michigan over the past four years and presently own a 25-game regular season unbeaten streak.

FSU will begin its 108th season of varsity competition this coming fall with its sights set on repeating as GLIAC Champions for the third-straight year and making a return trip to the NCAA Division II Playoffs yet again.

Ferris State is coming off another historic campaign as the Bulldogs recorded a second-straight unbeaten regular-season en route to claiming a second consecutive GLIAC Championship in 2015. The Bulldogs also claimed the school's first NCAA Playoff win in 19 years and stretched their current regular-season win streak to 25-straight games.

Last fall, the Bulldog football squad finished 2015 with an 11-1 overall record for the second-straight year. Under Head Coach Tony Annese's direction, the Bulldogs also led the country with four Academic All-Americans and senior quarterback Jason Vander Laan claimed his second consecutive Harlon Hill Trophy as the nation's top NCAA Division II player. FSU was ranked among the nation's top 10 teams all season, including the school's highest ever national rankings at #1 in the D2Football.com poll along with #2 in the American Football Coaches Association rankings.

Since his arrival at Ferris State, Annese has turned the Bulldogs into a national power on the Division II level. The veteran coach has posted a 37-9 overall mark in four seasons at the FSU helm and has been the mastermind behind a Bulldog turnaround leading to 22 wins in the program's past 24 games overall. FSU has posted the GLIAC's best league record over the past four seasons (34-6) and the squad owns the top overall four-year record of all 21 collegiate programs in Michigan (37-9).

Overall, Annese has won 83% of his games as a head coach on the collegiate and prep levels and owns 262 wins to date, which is the most of any current GLIAC member head coach at all levels.

Ferris State, which will return upwards of 50 letterwinners for the 2016 campaign, opens the 2016 schedule this fall at home against Ohio Dominican with a special Thursday night showdown on Sept. 1 at Top Taggart Field. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. (ET).