ATLANTA, Ga.- Coming off of a season in which the Savannah State University football team finished fifth in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings, the Tigers enter the 2023 season picked to fifth fourth again in the Preseason Poll that was released at the Annual SIAC Football Media Day, which was held at the College Football Hall of Fame. In addition to the team rankings, four Tigers were named to the Preseason All-SIAC Team in Kyle Frazier, Riyon Adams, Shamarcus Poole and Kenneth Lockhart.
 
All nominations and votes were submitted by head coaches and sports information directors.
 
Benedict College, the defending SIAC champion, has been selected to finish first again in 2023. Albany State University was picked to finish second followed by Tuskegee University, Fort Valley State University and SSU to round out the top five. Lane College was picked to finish sixth followed Edward Waters University, Miles College, Central State University and Clark Atlanta University to round out the top ten. The final three slots were filled by Allen University who was 11th, Kentucky State University and Morehouse College.
 
Albany State, Tuskegee, Kentucky State and Morehouse will all have new head coaches for the upcoming season.
 
Frazier, Adams and Poole were selected with SIAC preseason First Team while Lockhart was picked for the Second Team.
 
Frazier, a junior offensive lineman, has made the all conference team his first two years of putting on a Tiger uniform. The Augusta, Georgia native and cancer survivor made the SIAC Second Team in 2021 and again in 2022.
 
Adams is a junior offensive lineman from Vidalia, Georgia who tips the scale at 6-foot-3 and 300 pounds. He played in eight games last season.
 
Poole stepped into the starting role last season as a running back. Playing in all ten contests, the junior from Sandersville, Georgia finished the season as the second-best rusher on the team with 410 yards and a touchdown.
 
Lockhart, a senior kicker/punter returns to the team this season after missing the 2022 campaign due to ACL surgery. The Hinesville, Georgia native was named to the SIAC Second Team in 2021 as a punter. He was the No. 1 punter in the SIAC and was No. 20 in Division II, averaging 42.0 yards a punt. As a kicker, he made six of ten field goal attempts with a long of 44 yards and made made 32 of 35 extra point attempts.
 
Aaron Kelton enters his second year over the Savannah State program. In his initial campaign, the Tigers posted a 5-5 overall record and a 3-4 mark in the SIAC.
 
Savannah State begins the 2023 season with back-to-back trips to Florida. The Tigers open the season on September 2 in Lakeland against Southeastern University and then travel to Daytona Beach to play Football Championship Series opponent Bethune-Cookman University on Sept. 9.. SSU plays their home and SIAC opener on Sept. 16 against Clark Atlanta University at 6 p.m..