VILLANOVA, Pa.—For the 12^th time in the last 14 seasons the Villanova football team will open the season with a national ranking. The latest preseason honor for the Wildcats was revealed on Monday afternoon when Villanova came in at No. 16 in the STATS Perform FCS Preseason Top 25. The poll position matches where the Wildcats were ranked at the end of the 2020 season which was contested this past spring. Kickoff of the 2021 season is less than a month away and Villanova has earned several preseason honors leading up to its season opener at Lehigh on Saturday, September 4.
 
Much of the Wildcats roster remains intact from the end of the 2019 season when Villanova won nine games and was an FCS playoff squad. Star power returns on both sides of the ball for the Wildcats this year, including graduate quarterback Daniel Smith graduate linebacker Forrest Rhyne who last week were named to the preseason watch lists for the Walter Payton Award and the Buck Buchanan Award, respectively. In addition, Rhyne and graduate defensive lineman Malik Fisher were each named to the STATS Perform Preseason All-America Third Team earlier this month.
 
Villanova was picked to finish third this season in CAA Football in a preseason poll of league head coaches and media members. Fisher and Rhyne, along with senior offensive lineman Michael Corbi and senior defensive back Christian Benford were named to the CAA Football Preseason All-Conference Team, while Smith and graduate running back Justin Covington were honorable mention preseason selections.
 
During an abbreviated schedule this past spring the Wildcats tallied a 2-2 record while posting victories over Stony Brook and Maine. The season had its share of highlights, including Covington topping 1,500 rushing yards and the quartet of Corbi, Fisher, Rhyne and Benford earning first team All-CAA honors. Covington was a second team selection along with the returning trio of junior wide receiver Rayjoun Pringle, graduate offensive lineman Colin Gamroth and senior kick returner Dez Boykin.  Villanova returns 75 student-athletes in all from its spring roster, including 56 who return from 2019 when the Wildcats played their last full season.
 
CAA Football placed three teams in the STATS Perform poll released on Monday, including James Madison at No. 2 and Delaware at No. 5 in addition to Villanova. Four other league teams – Richmond, New Hampshire, Albany and Rhode Island – received votes in the preseason national rankings.