Seven consecutive Monon Bell victories. A 12-1 overall record. A 10-0 North Coast Athletic Conference record and a seventh conference championship. A berth in the NCAA DIII playoffs. A trip to the tournament quarterfinals before losing to the eventual national runner-up.

The 2015 season was memorable for the Wabash College football team.
 
From the outside looking in, there would seem to be a lot of pressure on first-year head coach Don Morel to not only continue that success but to build on it, as well.
 
Morel, who spent 12 seasons as head coach at Division III La Verne College in California along with four seasons as the Little Giants' offensive coordinator prior to being named head coach in March, sees that history of success as a foundation rather than a press to continue it.
 
"I wouldn't say I'm feeling pressure at all," Morel said. "The biggest predictor of the future is the past and we've had success here. So we are sticking to what we've done to be successful: hard work, preparation, and strong recruiting efforts. And I am confident. I took over a football program that is in good shape. I'm confident I will leave it in better shape than I got it."
 
The Little Giants enter the season ranked 14th in the D3football.com preseason poll and eighth by Lindy's Sports College Football Preview. Wabash earned its top-15 spots in the national polls after ranking fifth in the nation in total defense last season, holding opposing teams to 241.1 yards per game. The Little Giants finished in the top 50 in total offense with an average of 448.9 yards per game.
 
The Wabash defense also finished third in interceptions (26), fourth in rush defense (72.2 ypg), sixth in scoring defense (11.9 ppg), seventh in sacks (4.0 spg), and eighth in tackles for losses (9.3 tflpg) among DIII teams in 2015.
 
"Tyler McCullen, Connor Karns, Evan Rutter, Eddie Cmehil, and AJ Clark were all great defensive players," Morel said. "Most teams would love to have any one of those guys. So there is a challenge replacing those excellent players. But we had a good spring with our returning group. The cream rises to the top and the new guys are ready and hungry to play together on Saturday(s)."

Four Wabash returning defensive players —Austin Brown, Ethan Buresh, Connor Ludwig, and Delon Pettiford — earned Second Team Preseason All-America honors from Lindy's Sports. Brown paced the Wabash defense with 97 tackles and six interceptions. Buresh recorded 37 stops, including eight tackles for losses of 44 yards and 6-1/2 sacks for 40 yards. He added one of Wabash's Division III-best six defensive touchdowns on a fumble return in overtime to give the Little Giants a 33-27 win over Thomas More in the second round of the playoffs.

Ludwig made a team-high 60 solo tackles and 92 total stops. He led the Little Giants with 22 tackles for losses and recorded seven sacks and one interception. Pettiford picked off five passes, including two against DePauw in the 45-17 Monon Bell Classic win. He added 59 total tackles in 13 games overall, fourth best for the team. Other starters include Brian Parks (47 tackles, four ints.), LV Bowden (42 tackles, 6-1/2 TFLs), and Evan Hansen (67 tackles, 10-1/2 TFLs, four sacks).
 
Senior quarterback Connor Rice will lead the Wabash offensive unit in 2016. He took over the starting duties in week two last season, eventually throwing for 2,318 yards and 19 touchdowns. Shamir Johnson missed the final four games of the season with a broken arm after posting 533 yards and seven TDs in nine games as the Little Giants' backup running back.

Drake Christen returns after leading the receiving corps with 67 catches for 604 yards and five TDs. Fellow senior Sammy Adams hauled in 25 passes for 436 yards and three scores. Sophomores Oliver Page and Ryan Thomas caught 22 and 14 passes, respectively. Page finished with 465 yards and five TDs, while Thomas added 164 yards and one TD to the Wabash totals.
 
Senior center Kyle Stucker anchors the offensive line at center after earning First Team All-NCAC honors in 2015 as the Little Giants' starting center. Deryion Sturdivant, another All-NCAC selection, is healthy and ready to go at offensive guard after missing the final seven games of the season with a knee injury.
 
Despite a solid group of returning starters on both sides of the football, Morel also sees room for improvement. One such area is penalties and penalty yards. Of the ten teams in the NCAC, Wabash surrendered the second-most penalty yards last year.
 
"I get it all the time, 'you guys were 12-1; how can you improve the program?'" Morel said. "We need to coach to be penalty free. Whether the call was right or wrong, you can't complain about it. At some point we were committing penalties so we're going to coach that. Offensive linemen are going to be coached to keep their hands inside and we're going to stay onside. We're not going to get stupid personal foul penalties, and we're going to be more disciplined."
 
Wabash opens the regular season on September 3rd at 6 p.m. at Albion. The first home game takes place September 17th at 1 p.m. versus Allegheny.