Lindy’s preseason honors spotlight Gardner-Webb and North Carolina FCS stars

Lindy’s preseason honors did more than hand out individual praise. They mapped where North Carolina’s FCS programs might actually change the 2026 race, and the answers came through a power back at Gardner-Webb, a return specialist at North Carolina A&T and a kicker now settling in at Campbell.

Carson Gresock’s recognition as Lindy’s preseason Ohio Valley Conference offensive player of the year, plus a second-team All-FCS selection, says Gardner-Webb has more than a good backfield. The redshirt senior from Columbus, Ohio, was listed at 5-foot-11 and 215 pounds, and he backed up that frame with production last season: 120 carries, 798 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns. Quasean Holmes led the Runnin’ Bulldogs with 969 rushing yards, and together they became the first Gardner-Webb duo to earn first-team all-conference honors at running back. That is the kind of one-two punch that can keep a team in striking distance on Saturdays and make the Bulldogs a tougher out in a league race where they were picked third behind UT Martin and Southeast Missouri State.

For Gardner-Webb, the bigger question is whether that ground game is a floor or a ceiling. If Gresock and Holmes can again force defenses to defend every blade of grass, the Bulldogs have a path to staying in the OVC conversation and building on the national attention they have periodically earned before. The conference itself is entering 2026 with a familiar identity again, after moving back to the traditional OVC name and logo, and Gresock’s preseason nod gives the program a real on-ramp into that rebranding.

Elijah Kennedy’s first-team All-FCS spot as a return specialist gives North Carolina A&T a different kind of leverage. His 96-yard punt return tied the school record, his 85-yard kickoff return gave the Aggies both kinds of touchdown juice in one game, and A&T said he became the first player in program history to return both a punt and a kickoff for scores in the same game. He was also named FCS Stats Perform National Special Teams Player of the Week after that performance, a breakthrough that carried extra weight because it came after a preseason injury wiped out his 2024 season.

That is the sort of player who can flip a MEAC game in one snap. North Carolina A&T was picked third in the conference behind South Carolina State and Delaware State, which makes Kennedy’s value obvious: if the Aggies are going to climb, they need a way to steal field position, shorten the field and turn close games into upset chances. Kennedy gives them that. Whether the rest of the roster matches him will decide if the honor reflects real momentum or just elite isolated star power.

Campbell’s Kaleb Robison fits the same theme, only with a steadier, less explosive edge. The former North Carolina Central kicker made 18 of 24 field goals and all 45 extra points last season, good for 99 total points, and he added first-team All-MEAC and academic all-conference recognition. North Carolina Central game coverage showed the range behind that consistency, including a career-long 48-yard field goal and a game with three makes, which is the sort of reliability that keeps a team from leaving points behind in tight games.

Taken together, the honors show that North Carolina FCS football is not being carried by one dominant program. Gardner-Webb has a backfield built to matter, A&T has a return game that can bend a game in one play and Campbell has a kicker who can turn competence into points. In a region where North Carolina Central was picked third in the MEAC, Western Carolina fourth in the SoCon and Elon fourth in the CAA, those edge-category weapons are the difference between being interesting and being dangerous.