TAMUC – Football

Lions ranked 6th, Machorro tabbed as preseason All-American by Street & Smith’s

COMMERCE – The Texas A&M University-Commerce football team is ranked sixth nationally in the 2017 issue of Street & Smith’s college football preview. The publication selected offensive lineman Jared Machorro as a preseason All-American.

The Lions have won three consecutive Lone Star Conference Championships and advanced to the regional semifinal round of the NCAA Division II Playoffs in 2016 with an overall record of 11-2. A&M-Commerce is slated to face two teams in the Street & Smith’s Preseason Top 25 in the regular season. The Lions will open the season at 14th-ranked North Alabama on Thursday, August 31. The Lions will visit 25th-ranked Texas A&M-Kingsville on September 23.

Machorro will anchor the Lion offensive line that led the Lone Star Conference in scoring and allowed only five sacks in 2016. The Associated Press Little All-American team, D2CCA, and American Football Coaches Association named him to the second-team

Machorro is named second-team All-American by the Associated Press Little All-America team, D2CCA, and American Football Coaches Association, a third team All-American by Don Hansen’s Football Gazette, and honorable mention All-American by D2Football.com. He was a first team all-LSC honoree and earned two all-region honors.

Season tickets for the back-to-back-to-back LSC Champion Lions’ five home games are now available for sale to the general public. For tickets, you can call the Lion Sales & Service at (903) 468-8756.

Street & Smith’s Division II Preseason Top 25

1.	Northwest Missouri State
2.	Grand Valley State
3.	California (Pa.)
4.	Emporia State
5.	Ferris State
6.	A&M-COMMERCE
7.	Southwest Baptist
8.	Colorado State-Pueblo
9.	Bemidji State
10.	Valdosta State
11.	Indiana (Pa.)
12.	Minnesota-Duluth
13.	Shepherd
14.	North Alabama
15.	Azusa Pacific
16.	Edinboro
17.	Sioux Falls
18.	Colorado School of Mines
19.	Central Missouri
20.	Assumption
21.	West Chester
22.	LIU Post
23.	Winston-Salem State
24.	Colorado Mesa
25.	Texas A&M-Kingsville

Street & Smith’s Preseason All-Americans

QB	Braxton Marshall	Emporia State
RB	Marty Carter	Grand Valley State
RB	Bubba Jenkins	Southwest Baptist
OL	Jared Machorro	A&M-COMMERCE
OL	Alex Cappa	Humboldt State
OL	Joe Hillin	Mars Hill
OL	Gavin De Los Santos	Harding
OL	Lavonte Hights	Shepherd
WR	Damon Gibson	Minnesota State-Moorhead
WR	Brody Oliver	Colorado School of Mines
WR	Trey Brock	Hillsdale

 

DL	Marcus Martin	Slippery Rock
DL	Whitney Richardson	Lane
DL	Zach Sieler	Ferris State
LB	Osband Thompson	Tuskegee
LB	Kyle Kitchens	Catawba
LB	Kevin Haynes	Central Washington
LB	Bo Highburger	Western Oregon
DB	Drew Hebel	Black Hills State
DB	Jay Watkins	Indiana (Pa.)
DB	Dustin Rivas	Colorado Mesa
DB	Carlo Thomas	Johnson C. Smith

 

K	Cole Antley	Ouachita Baptist
P	Garrett Lee	Concord (W. Va.)
AP	Kamal Cass	Eastern New Mexico