SIOUX FALLS – Senior cornerback Solomon St. Pierre of the #17th-ranked University of Sioux Falls Football Team has been named the 2015 HERO Sports D2 Football Preseason National Defensive Player of the Year.

A senior criminal justice major from Wagner, S.D., St. Pierre was one of 25 student-athletes in NCAA DII selected to the HERO Sports D2 Preseason All-American Team. The list includes 11 players on both offense and defense and three on special teams. St. Pierre was the only consensus All-American selection on defense.

HERO Sports, which was founded in 2013 as BennettRank.com, named its All-American team based on a review of 2014 All-American lists and 2015 preseason All-American lists. Using those materials as a starting point, HERO Sports awarded points based on first-team honors, second team honors, etc.

St. Pierre has now been selected to four 2015 preseason All-American Teams (USA College Football, Instant Scouting and Lindy’s Magazine) after being named to six first-team All-American squads (Don Hansen, D2football.com, AP Little All-American Team, Daktronics, AFCA and BeyondSportsNetwork.com First Team) in 2014.

A year ago, the junior cornerback played a key role as the Cougars had an 11-1 record (best at USF since moving to NCAA DII in 2012) and finished the season ranked #16 by D2football.com and #18 by the AFCA. The Cougars was ranked #17 in the AFCA  D2 preseason poll released on Monday.

In 2014, the senior cornerback was also named to the All-NSIC first team, Daktronics Super Region 3 first team, and BeyondSportsNetwork.com Super Region 3 first team. He collected a school-record tying 10 interceptions (tying Phil Porter, 1995), which was the most in NCAA DII.

St. Pierre also recorded the most interception return yards in DII and tied for most interception TD returns with two (76, 35). He had 63 tackles, including 44 solo stops, with two forced fumbles and fumble recovery in 2014.

Through three seasons at USF, he has collected 07 career tackles and is tied for 10th on the USF career interceptions chart with 13 interceptions.

** information provided by the USF Athletic Department

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