Richmond, Va. – Elon junior safety Caleb Curtain was named CAA Football's Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and senior Chandler Brayboy was named preseason all-conference at two different positions in annual voting by the league's head coaches. As a team, Elon was picked to finish sixth out of 16 teams among a tightly packed group of programs near the top of the league standings. BUY SEASON TICKETS TODAY!
Curtain was named CAA Football Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, as well as preseason all-conference at safety. Brayboy was named all-conference at wide receiver and as a kick returner as well. Seventh-year senior quarterback Matthew Downing earned honorable mention as was junior defensive end Cazeem Moore.
 
For Curtain, the preseason Defensive Player of the Year honor follows a breakout season in which the safety was named a second team All-American by FCS Stats Perform, the AFCA, the Associated Press and Phil Steele. He led Elon with 80 tackles and led CAA Football with four interceptions, returning one for a touchdown against Wake Forest. He has already been recognized this year as a preseason second team All-American by FCS Football Central and as a nominee for the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team.
 
Brayboy earned a rare honor – being named preseason all-conference twice. He was named the fourth-most explosive player in FCS Football earlier this summer by FCS The Analyst because of his ability to impact a game as a wide receiver and kick returner. He averaged 26.9 yards per kick return in 2023, 19.6 yards per reception and 8.4 yards per carry. His five touchdowns averaged 48.2 yards, eighth-highest in all of FCS Football.
 
Downing was named honorable mention and will return for his second season leading the offense at quarterback. A seventh-year senior who has played at a pair of Power Five programs in Georgia and TCU, Downing flashed his potential over the final four games of the 2023 season. He averaged 294.0 yards passing with 12 touchdowns and no interceptions during that stretch, adding 352 yards passing and three touchdowns in a win over then-No. 5 Delaware.
 
Moore is set for a breakout junior campaign in 2024 after starting all 11 games a year ago. He finished the season with 31 tackles, including 4.0 for loss and three sacks. He had a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and five quarterback hurries. The junior had big games against the league's top competition, recovering a fumble against then-No. 5 William & Mary and forcing a fumble against then-No. 5 Delaware.
 
In the CAA Football preseason coaches poll, Villanova earned nine of the 16 first place votes and was picked to finish first. Richmond (one first place vote), UAlbany (three first place votes), William & Mary and Delaware (three first place votes) followed Villanova. Elon earned 157 points to be picked sixth, ahead of New Hampshire and Rhode Island among the top half of the league standings. Towson, Monmouth, Campbell, Hampton, Maine, North Carolina A&T, Bryant and Stony Brook round out the league's predicted order of finish.
 
In total, Elon returns 14 starters in 2024 (seven on offense and seven on defense) from a team that tied for fourth in the CAA Football standings a year ago. The Phoenix is the only program in the CAA to finish over .500 in the league standings in each of the past three years and is 10-1 at home in its last 11 games inside Rhodes Stadium. Elon has defeated four ranked teams at home during that stretch.
 
Elon opens a rare 12-game schedule at Duke on Friday, Aug. 30 at 7:30 p.m. That game will be televised nation-wide on the ACC Network. After a road game rematch at North Carolina Central on Sept. 7, Elon begins a four-game homestand. The Phoenix hosts Western Carolina in the home opener Sept. 14 at 6:00 p.m. before hosting ETSU seven days later at 6:00 p.m. CAA action begins Sept. 28 with a home game against Richmond (Family Weekend), followed by a bye week. After the weekend off, Elon will host New Hampshire Oct. 12 at 2:00 p.m.
 
The rest of Elon's home schedule includes Campbell on Nov. 2 at 2:00 p.m. for Homecoming and Maine on Nov. 16 at 2:00 p.m. for Senior Day.