Army placed 10 players on Phil Steele’s 2026 Preseason American Athletic Conference All-Conference Team, with center Brady Small and defensive lineman Jack Bousum earning first-team honors.
The annual preseason selections span four teams and recognize players expected to be among the conference’s top performers entering the 2026 season.
Small, a two-time first-team All-American Athletic Conference selection, has started all 39 games of his career at center. He helped anchor an offensive line that paved the way for quarterback Bryson Daily’s FBS-record 32 rushing touchdowns during Army’s historic 2024 campaign.
Bousum emerged as a standout defender in 2025, appearing in all 13 games and tying for the team lead with 4.5 sacks and eight tackles for loss. The sophomore recorded 1.5 sacks against Navy.
Army had five second-team selections: tight end Parker Poloskey, defensive lineman Kody Harris-Miller, linebacker Jaydan Mayes, punter James Wagenseller and long snapper Owen Walter.
Poloskey started all 13 games in 2025 and delivered one of the season’s biggest plays in a road victory over UTSA. He hauled in a 14-yard reception on fourth-and-four to keep Army’s final drive alive before scoring the game-winning touchdown on a four-yard catch.
Harris-Miller started seven games last season and totaled 15 tackles. In 2024, he appeared in 11 games, making 10 starts and recording 29 tackles, five tackles for loss and two sacks.
Mayes started every game in 2025 and registered 35 tackles and an interception, returning the pick 73 yards for a touchdown against UTSA.
Wagenseller averaged 43.12 yards on 32 punts, placing 13 inside the 20-yard line and recording three punts of at least 50 yards. Walter appeared in all 13 games as the team’s long snapper and added three tackles on special teams.
Running back Godspower Nwawuihe and offensive lineman Paolo Gennarelli were named to the third team.
Nwawuihe burst onto the scene in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl after beginning the season at quarterback. The freshman rushed for 171 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries to earn Offensive MVP honors, becoming the first Army freshman since at least 1995 to post a 100-yard rushing game with two touchdowns.
Gennarelli started 11 games and helped lead an offensive line that blocked for 3,485 rushing yards while allowing only seven sacks, the fewest in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Running back Cale Hellums received fourth-team honors after playing in all 13 games and making 10 starts in 2025. Hellums rushed for 1,223 yards and 18 touchdowns, becoming just the eighth player in program history to surpass 1,200 rushing yards in a season. His 18 rushing scores rank second in school history behind Daily’s record-setting total in 2024.