MACON, Ga.-  The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference announced its 2026 preseason all-conference football teams, individual honors and predicted order of finish on Wednesday at the annual SIAC Media Day.

Preseason honors are as voted by the conference's head coaches and sports information directors.

The 2026 SIAC Media Day was held at the Tubman African American Museum.

Savannah State University has been predicted to finish ninth. The Tigers finished the 2025 season with a 4-6 overall record and a 3-5 mark in conference play.

Edward Waters is predicted to win the conference title followed by Benedict, Tuskegee, Albany State and Kentucky State to round out the top five. Allen is predicted to finish sixth followed by Miles, Fort Valley State, SSU and Clark Atlanta to round out the top ten. The final three spots belong to Central State (11), Morehouse (12) and Lane (13).

Last season, Savannah State defeated Miles (45-19), Allen (23-20) and Morehouse (24-16) while losing close contests to Fort Valley State (7-0), Albany State (21-18) and Benedict (16-13).

SSU head football coach Thomas Howard will be one of four schools in the conference but the Riverdale, Georgia native is no stranger to the SIAC, having played defensive back at Morehouse in the early 2000's.

Howard along with wide receiver Cinsere Clark and defensive back Emari Napper represented Savannah State at the media day event.

Howard said he is excited to be back in the SIAC.

"Coming into the conference, I'm excited because we have a good group of young men that have been working their butts off and trying to do some different things. I've challenged these guys like crazy and they have stood up to the challenge. We plan to compete and work to get better each and every week."

Clark, who led SSU wide receivers with 50 receptions for 641 yards and four touchdowns, is expected to be a team leader to a unit that will have many new faces.

"I'm a older guy and we have a lot of good freshmen coming in. I want to show the young players how to be as dominate as they can. We just have to come together as a group."

Coming into the season, one of the games that sticks out in the mind of Napper is Albany State. SSU rallied from a double-digit deficit before falling to the Golden Rams by three points.

"It was a close game and we very disappointing that were came up a little bit short. It was a battle to the end. This year we plan on giving them another battle," said the Jacksonville, Florida native who finished last season with 14 tackles and seven pass breakups.

Entering his first year as a head coach, Howard hopes to leave three things with his players that they can carry with them the remainder of their lives.

"Brotherhood, discipline and detail. That carries you through life in anything that you do. As a father at home and on your job. We have been talking about this since day one." He went on to add that "we can't have mistakes on the field. We must be able to execute at a high level. These are the things we have been working on and pushing the guys to do as we get ready for the season."

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