SE Set for Season Opener Sept. 4

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern is set to open the 2025 football season when it takes to the newly named Paul Laird Field at Spend Life Wisely Stadium to host Arkansas-Monticello on Thursday, Sept. 4 with kickoff slated for 6 p.m.
 
Southeastern fans can listen live via the Southeastern Sports Network on GoSoutheastern.com/SESportsNet or across the largest DII radio network in the area with Jay Lindly and Rob Johnson on the call. Local fans can pick up the game on 96.1 FM, while fans across southeastern Oklahoma and north Texas can pick up the games on 94.7 FM in Valliant, Okla., 97.7 in Ardmore, Okla., 99.5 in Rattan, Okla., 102.1 in Atoka, Okla., and 107.5 in Atoka.
 
SE is looking to bounce bac from back-to-back losses in season openers and will be aiming to do so versus a Boll Weevils team that it owns a 10-4 record against all time, including a four-game winning streak.  The Storm has also won nine of the last 10 meetings between the teams on the gridiron.
 
Southeastern football heads into the 2025 season picked to finish fifth in the Great American Conference Preseason Poll, picking up 72 points in the voting, and finishing four points ahead of East Central in sixth.
 
Harding was the preseason top pick with nine of the 12 possible first-place votes, followed by Ouachita Baptist in second with the remaining three first-place nods, followed by Southern Arkansas in third place.
 
Henderson State was fourth just ahead of the Storm, while Arkansas Tech checked in seventh, followed by Southwestern Oklahoma State and Arkansas-Monticello in eighth and ninth, respectively.
 
Southern Nazarene, Oklahoma Baptist, and Northwestern Oklahoma State would round out the poll in order.
 
SE returns 10 players who picked up All-GAC honors last season, six on the offensive side of the ball and four on defense.
 
DJ Brown led the Storm rushing attack with 784 yards on the ground, averaging 4.5 yards per carry with three touchdowns.
 
SE returns its top seven receivers from a season ago, led by all-conference picks Kobe Jennings, Victor Taylor Jr., and Andre Williams.
 
Jennings led the way with 30 catches for 518 yards and five touchdowns.
 
Gabe Corona, Matthew Nunez, Brown, and Jax Sternberger join the All-GAC selections returning at the wide receiver position.
 
Wrigley Kennedy and Dorian Maple also return on the offense line.
 
On defense, SE welcomes back four all-conference picks, led by top tackler Braeden Winters who racked up team-high 76 tackles with 8.5 for a loss and three sacks.
 
He is joined by Dylan Sebock who collected a team-best 45 sacks last season, as well as Jordan Hood and D'Teaurean Johnson.
 
UAM was picked ninth in the poll and is coming off a 4-7 season in 2024 with an eighth place finish in the league.