The Southland Conference has certainly seen some changes over the past few years, but for the most part, it is still intact. While schools like Sam Houston, Central Arkansas, and Abilene Christian have departed in recent years, long-time members like Lamar, Northwestern State, McNeese, and Stephen F. Austin (after a short stint away) have all been together since the 1980s.
This conference will always be transfer-heavy, especially in today’s college football climate. With so much talent residing in Texas and Louisiana, specifically, many players end up wanting to come home when stints with larger schools don’t work out. The Southland often reaps the reward when that happens.
Since 2021, we’ve seen three programs dominate the league. Incarnate Word and Southeastern Louisiana were at the top in ’21 and ’22, while Nicholls went undefeated last year within the league (after a brutal non-conference schedule) and won the automatic FCS playoff bid.
Could Nicholls win it again or will there be new blood at the top? Take a look.
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Preseason All-Americans
McNeese (1) – LB Micah Davey (1st Team)
Southeastern Louisiana (1) – PR Darius Lewis (2nd Team)
Nicholls (1) – AP Jaylon Spears (2nd Team)
Teams Bringing In The Most D1 Transfers
FBS-to-FCS Transfers & FCS-to-FCS Transfers
Stephen F. Austin — 23 (14 FBS, 9 FCS)
McNeese — 21 (16 FBS, 5 FCS)
Incarnate Word — 20 (13 FBS, 7 FCS)
Houston Christian — 14 (7 FBS, 7 FCS)
Southeastern Louisiana — 12 (6 FBS, 6 FCS)
Texas A&M Commerce — 12 (8 FBS, 4 FCS)
Northwestern State — 11 (6 FBS, 5 FCS)
Names To Know
TOP OFFENSIVE PLAYER: Zach Calzada, UIW QB — Calzada started 10 games at Texas A&M in 2021 and didn’t play a game in 2022 after transferring to Auburn. The senior seemed to find his happy place with UIW last fall, passing for 2,353 yards and 18 TDs with only 8 INTs. And in his first game, he threw for 245 yards and a TD against FBS UTEP. He also rushed for 5 TDs last year.
TOP DEFENSIVE PLAYER: Micah Davey, McNeese LB — If Davey’s name seems familiar, it’s because he’s the son of former LSU and NFL quarterback Rohan Davey. Micah has a fiery style of play and exploded onto the scene last year after turning heads as a freshman in 2022. The junior has flat-out turned out to be one of the nation’s top machines at interior linebacker and could very well turn out to be McNeese’s next pro draft pick – and he has two years of eligibility left. He finished last season with 153 tackles and 7 tackles for loss.
TOP NFL PROSPECT: Micah Davey, McNeese LB – Seem redundant? Sorry. It’s the truth. Davey’s father Rohan was drafted in the 4th round of the NFL Draft in 2002 and of course, was behind Tom Brady on the depth chart. The younger Davey has a great mentor in his father and clearly could have moved on to an FBS program but has decided to stick to his guns and help lead McNeese. He has a lot going for him as a potential pro prospect and will only explode further this year.
HERO Sports’ Predicted Order of Finish
1. Nicholls
2. Incarnate Word
3. Lamar
4. Southeastern Louisiana
5. McNeese
6. Stephen F. Austin
7. Houston Christian
8. Texas A&M- Commerce
9. Northwestern State
Nicholls certainly jumps off the page as a frontrunner in the Southland Conference. The program has serious stability with long-time coach Tim Rebowe leading the way. His team’s offensive skill positions are loaded with talented returners. The one-two punch at running back, featuring bruiser Collin Guggenheim (844 yards, 11 TDs) and Jaylon Spears (753 yards, 6 TDs) gives the Colonels two styles of running to hurt the opposition. Add in 2,000-yard passer Pat McQuaide back at QB and Quincy Brown and Lee Negrotto to throw to, as well as what is typically a strong line? It’s impressive.
This Nicholls team should be able to score beaucoup points, and with six preseason first-team All-Southland picks on defense, you can see how solid this team could be. The Colonels do open at Louisiana Tech and LSU, but after that should be competitive with or clearly better than all 10 of its FCS foes remaining. While three Southland teams took more than 20 transfers, Nicholls opted for a league-low three – showing the program likes where it is.
If Nicholls is the favorite, UIW isn’t far behind. The conference runner-up Cardinals went 8-2 but weren’t considered a playoff-worthy program by the committee. But this year’s team could potentially top last year’s exploits, and there are still players around who played on the strong ’21 and ’22 teams that saw Lindsey Scott explode at QB. One big reason for that is former Auburn QB Zach Calzada (nearly 2,600 yards passing, 19 TDs).
The problem for UIW is, there isn’t a ton back around Calzada. The defense does have several talented players returning from a stout statistical unit, placing eight on the All-Southland preseason team. Perhaps the 13 FBS transfers and 7 FCS additions will fill in those offensive gaps well, but that’s never a guarantee.
Southeastern Louisiana struggled last year after several years of success. While the program has a winning culture, it did lose several key contributors to graduation, as well as some to the transfer portal. Lamar is very intriguing because of a solid offensive line and good skill position players returning. If there is a team that could disrupt the Southland’s recent dominant trio at the top, the Cardinals look like the program that could do it. Consider Lamar the dark horse favorite to mess everything up.
The next five teams in the pecking order have strengths and weaknesses and should battle each other for who makes up that next tier. They will likely chop each other up in the standings, making for some tough game predictions throughout the season.
