The stage is set, the hardware has been handed out, and the Sun Belt Conference’s two-day Media Days extravaganza is officially underway at the New Orleans Marriott Warehouse Arts District.

Sun Belt Conference Releases 2026 Preseason Awards and Poll as Media Days Kick Off in New Orleans

On the eve of the 2026 season, the Sun Belt released its Preseason All-Sun Belt Teams, individual award winners, and the Preseason Coaches Poll — and the results paint a picture of a conference that isn’t just surviving outside the Power Four landscape; it’s thriving in it.

Marshall, Troy, and James Madison Lead the Way

Marshall leads the conference with nine total preseason selections. James Madison enters as the defending Sun Belt champion and the league’s first-ever College Football Playoff participant. Troy has reached three Sun Belt Championship Games in four seasons. And the conference’s three individual award winners — one from Marshall, two from Troy — represent the kind of elite, nationally relevant talent that has made the Sun Belt impossible to ignore.

Here is everything you need to know coming out of Monday’s announcements.

The Award Winners

Carlos Del Rio-Wilson, Marshall — Preseason Offensive Player of the Year

There is no shortage of elite quarterbacks in the Sun Belt, but none of them carries a résumé quite like Carlos Del Rio-Wilson’s heading into the 2026 season.

The Marshall redshirt senior from Atlanta, Georgia, put together one of the most statistically rare dual-threat performances in college football last year. Del Rio-Wilson threw for 2,043 yards and 17 touchdowns while completing 65 percent of his passes. He also carried the ball for 660 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns — a figure that broke a 43-year-old Marshall single-season rushing record for a quarterback.

Let that sink in: a record that had stood since 1983 fell because of Del Rio-Wilson’s legs.

But the number that truly separates him nationally is this: Del Rio-Wilson is one of only two returning quarterbacks in the entire country who threw for at least 2,000 yards, completed 65 percent of his passes, AND rushed for at least 600 yards in a single season. That is not a Group of Five qualifier. That is a nationwide elite standard, and he is one of two players in the country who have met it.

Coming off an All-Sun Belt Honorable Mention nod a season ago, Del Rio-Wilson now steps into 2026 as the preseason face of the Sun Belt offense — and as a genuine Group of Five Offensive Player of the Year contender when the national awards conversations begin in the fall.

Marshall’s preseason profile backs up the individual recognition. The Thundering Herd paced all 14 conference programs with nine total preseason selections — six on the First Team and three on the Second Team — including a loaded offensive line with First Teamers Tariq Montgomery and Jalen Slappy, First Team tight end Toby Payne, First Team wide receiver Adrian Norton, and First Team cornerback Daytione Smith on the defensive side.

The Herd is picked third in the East Division without a single first-place vote. That is a chip on the shoulder the size of a Marshall University football helmet.

Donnie Smith, Troy — Preseason Defensive Player of the Year

If you were an offensive coordinator game-planning against the Sun Belt’s West Division in 2025, Donnie Smith was the name you circled in red and circled again.

The Troy senior defensive lineman from Greenville, Mississippi, was a First Team All-Sun Belt performer a year ago, and his 2025 statistics demand national attention. Smith led the entire Sun Belt Conference and ranked eighth in the nation with 11.0 sacks. He was one of only 13 players in college football — across all levels — to record at least 40 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, and 10 sacks in the same season. That trifecta of interior pass-rush production is the kind of statistical achievement most NFL-caliber players never achieve in a single year.

Smith’s return gives Troy arguably the most dominant individual defensive player in the Group of Five heading into 2026. His presence at the line of scrimmage frees up linebacker alignments, affects opposing run schemes, and fundamentally changes the way offenses approach the Trojans.

Troy was picked first in the West Division with 12 of 14 first-place votes. Smith is a significant reason why.

Evan Crenshaw, Troy — Preseason Special Teams Player of the Year

Punters rarely generate national headlines. Evan Crenshaw is not a typical punter.

The Troy senior from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, is a back-to-back Sun Belt Special Teams Player of the Year, a First Team All-Sun Belt honoree from a season ago, a Ray Guy Award finalist, and the first Troy player to earn multiple All-America nods at the FBS level. His 2025 numbers were elite by any measurement: he averaged 45.69 yards per punt — second-best in Troy program history and 17th nationally — posted 21 punts of 50 or more yards, and downed 29 punts inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. He was one of three finalists for the Ray Guy Award, presented annually to college football’s best punter.

Crenshaw’s ability to flip field position and pin opponents deep has been one of Troy’s most consistent weapons over the past two seasons. In a conference that is often decided by field position, margin, and special teams execution, that matters enormously.

The Preseason Poll

Sun Belt East Division

James Madison’s position at the top of the East is both deserved and earned. The Dukes won the 2025 Sun Belt Football Championship Game over Troy, 31-14, becoming the first program in conference history to secure back-to-back outright East Division titles since 2018 and 2019. They also became the first Sun Belt team to earn a College Football Playoff berth — a moment that permanently elevated the conference’s national standing.

Collecting 11 of 14 first-place votes, JMU enters 2026 as the unquestioned East favorite. But the gap between James Madison and the rest of the division is narrower than that vote count suggests. Marshall, despite zero first-place votes, leads the entire conference in preseason selections and has an Offensive Player of the Year at quarterback. Old Dominion earned one first-place vote and three Second Team defensive selections. And Georgia Southern tallied five second-team picks — the most of any single team in the conference.

Sun Belt West Division

Troy’s dominance in the West poll reflects three Sun Belt Championship Game appearances in the last four seasons. The Trojans’ 12 of 14 first-place votes signal a consensus belief that head coach Jon Sumrall has built the most complete program in the West — one with an elite pass rusher on defense, a versatile running game, a veteran quarterback in Goose Crowder, and a punter who can win field position battles on command.

Arkansas State is the West’s most intriguing storyline. The Red Wolves earned zero first-place votes and were picked third — but they placed seven players on the First Team All-Sun Belt squad, more than any other program in the conference. That contradiction between preseason roster respect and divisional ranking is one of the most compelling questions entering the 2026 season.

The All-Sun Belt Teams

Preseason All-Sun Belt First Team Offense

Preseason All-Sun Belt First Team Defense

Preseason All-Sun Belt First Team Special Teams

Chauncy Cobb’s three separate First Team appearances — wide receiver, return specialist, and all-purpose — make him the most versatile preseason selection in the conference and one of the most dangerous playmakers in the Group of Five.

Preseason All-Sun Belt Second Team Offense

Preseason All-Sun Belt Second Team Defense

Preseason All-Sun Belt Second Team Special Teams

Program Selection Totals

Media Days Logistics

The 2026 Sun Belt Football Media Days will be held Wednesday, July 15, and Thursday, July 16, at the New Orleans Marriott Warehouse Arts District in downtown New Orleans, Louisiana — the venue’s third consecutive year hosting the event. The event will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and will feature two simultaneous feeds.

The Sun Belt Football Media Days Show is the traditional broadcast, featuring Main Stage and Sun Belt Studio appearances from all 14 programs alongside full analysis from hosts Matt Stewart and Rocky Boiman. The Sun Belt Football Media Days Podium Feed is the unfiltered option — every Main Stage appearance from every program in its entirety, uncut and uninterrupted.

Follow 4 Star Sports Media all week for complete coverage.