FARGO, N.D. (NDSU Athletics) – North Dakota State is the No. 1-ranked team entering the spring 2021 football season according to the HERO Sports FCS spring preseason Top 25 announced Monday, Feb. 8.
Five teams from the Missouri Valley Football Conference are ranked including four in the Top 10. South Dakota State is second, Northern Iowa sixth and Illinois State ninth. Southern Illinois checked in at No. 16.
North Dakota State has two players on the spring preseason All-America team in offensive tackle Cordell Volson and junior strong safety Michael Tutsie.
Volson, a senior from Balfour, N.D., was a second-team All-American at right tackle in 2019. He is slated to move to left tackle this spring after the graduation of 32-game starter Dillon Radunz.
Tutsie, a junior from Indianapolis, Ind., was an All-Missouri Valley Football Conference honorable mention in 2019. He made all 16 starts and was NDSU’s second-leading tackler with 105 total tackles and seven interceptions his sophomore season.
North Dakota State is scheduled to host Youngstown State at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 21, at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome. The Bison open their spring season with a 1-0 record after defeating Central Arkansas 39-28 in NDSU’s only game of the fall season.
HERO Sports FCS Spring Preseason Top 25
1. North Dakota State
2. South Dakota State
3. Weber State
4. James Madison
5. Villanova
6. Northern Iowa
7. Kennesaw State
8. Furman
9. Illinois State
10. North Carolina A&T
11. Austin Peay
12. Albany
13. Delaware
14. Eastern Washington
15. Nicholls
16. Southern Illinois
17. New Hampshire
18. Jacksonville State
19. The Citadel
20. Sam Houston
21. Elon
22. Monmouth
23. Wofford
24. Chattanooga
25. Southeastern Louisiana
Received votes: Alcorn State, Tennessee-Martin, Southeast Missouri State, William & Mary
