A total of 35 of the 52 Southland Conference football players who earned all-conference honors after the 2011 season return this fall and garner spots on the preseason all-conference teams

Four of the conference's individual award winners from last year are back, including Sam Houston State juniors Tim Flanders and Richard Sincere, the league's player of the year and offensive player of the year, respectively, along with senior teammate Darnell Taylor, the reigning defensive player of the year, and Stephen F. Austin junior Willie Jefferson, the conference's newcomer of the year a season ago.

Sam Houston State returns 19 starters from a team that advanced to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Game in Frisco, Texas, after claiming its fourth Southland Conference championship. On the first-team offense, the Bearkats return quarterback Brian Bell, running back Flanders, "wildkat" Sincere and offensive linemen Kaleb Hopson and Dan Jenkins.

Flanders, one of the nation's top returning running backs and a top candidate for the Walter Payton Award, led the league in rushing and scoring last season with 109.6 yards per game and 9.6 points per game. He also led the league with 2,058 all-purpose yards thanks to rushes totaling 1,644 and receiving yards totaling 414. Flanders averaged 137.2 all-purpose yards in the Bearkats' 15 games.

Flanders also recorded more than 200 all-purpose yards of rushing twice last season against Montana (287) and New Mexico (240). Flanders led the league in rushing, rush attempts (298), rushing yards, rushing touchdowns (22) and scoring.

Sincere also put together a great sophomore campaign last season, finishing toward the top in most offensive categories. Sincere led the league in yards per rush (7.6) and was second in yards per play (7.3), touchdowns (13), rushing touchdowns (nine) and rushing yards (979), third in rushing yards per game (65.3) and in all-purpose yards (1,464) and fifth in rushing attempts (129).

The Bearkats' other first-team selections include defensive linemen J.T. Cleveland, Andrew Weaver and Gary Lorance and defensive backs Taylor, Kenneth Jenkins and Daxton Swanson. Taylor led the team with 124 total tackles, including 79 solo stops and three forced fumbles.

Sam Houston's second-team picks include tight end T. J. Jones, offensive lineman Matt Boyles, defensive lineman Preston Sanders, linebacker Darius Taylor, defensive backs Bookie Sneed, Matt Foster and Robert Shaw and punter Matt Foster.

 Gone, however, are center Travis Watson, the conference's football scholar-athlete of the year last season, Chris Crocket and linebacker Will Henry, all of whom were first-team all-conference selections a season ago.

Stephen F. Austin has four first-team selections, Central Arkansas places nine on the preseason all-league teams and

McNeese State has six all-conference picks, two of which are first-team honorees.

Northwestern State places four on the preseason all-conference teams, all earning first-team honors. Nicholls State's preseason honors include two first-team and two second-team selections.

Many of the players named to the preseason All-Southland team and all of the league's head coaches will be featured in a special Southland Conference presentation during the league's annual football media day July 24, which will be carried live nationally on ESPN3 and the new Southland Conference Digital Network.

"Live from Southland Media Day" will be available from 4-5 p.m., CT, during the final hour of media day, which is being held at L'Auberge du Lac Resort and Casino in Lake Charles, La. The one-hour special will include interviews with the head coaches and student-athletes from all eight football-playing institutions in the Southland.

The program will be hosted by Chris Mycoskie, an assistant commissioner with the conference, and Lyn Rollins, a long-time play-by-play announcer for college athletics in the region, including on the Southland Conference Television Network.

Sam Houston State will report for preseason football camp on Thursday, August 9. The Bearkats open the season Saturday, Sept. 8, with a non-conference game with Incarnate Word.

Season tickets are on sale now online at www.gobearkats.com/tickets or at the SHSU athletic ticket office located in the Ron Mafrige Field House at Bowers Stadium. The ticket office telephone is (936) 294-1729 and ticket office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

2012 Preseason All-Southland Conference Football Team

First-Team Offense

First-Team Defense

Second-Team Offense

Second-Team Defense