Four Named All-New England
Blue Devils have seven All-New England selections in the past two seasons
For the second consecutive season, the Central Connecticut State football team had four players named to the All-New England Team, as selected by the New England Football Writers Association. Elijah Howard is tabbed All-New England for the second time, while Isaiah DeLoatch, Chris Jean and Jack Stoll are honored for the first time.
The Blue Devils four selections is second only to Yale, which had five, while no other team had more than three players named to the team. The selections bring the three-year total to eight selections under head coach Adam Lechtenberg – who was named the NEC Coach of the Year for the second consecutive year last week.
Howard, the two-time NEC Offensive Player of the Year, had his first career 1,000-yard rushing season, finishing the year with 1, 113 rushing yards. That is 13th in the nation this season and ranks as the ninth best single-season total in program history. Howard recorded 16 touchdowns this fall, 11th in the nation, with his 11 rushing scores 25th overall in the nation. He is 18th in the nation at 120.67 all-purpose yards per game.
Howard became only the fourth player in CCSU history to surpass 3,000 career rushing yards, finishing his three-year stint as a Blue Devil with 3,037 yards. In 34 games with the Blue Devils he averaged 5.1 yards per carry and totaled 24 rushing touchdowns. Howard finished his CCSU career with 31 touchdowns and 3,982 APY an average of 117.1 yards per game.
Stoll became only the third CCSU player to earn NEC Defensive Player of the Year honors this fall. He led the Blue Devils with 91 total tackles this season, including a team-best 52 solo stops. Stoll recorded 15.5 TFL the third most in a single-season since 2000 at CCSU. He also blocked a field goal, which preserved a win over LIU and had a pass break up.
DeLoatch is a two-time All-NEC First Team selection and anchored an offensive line that helped engineer back-to-back NEC Championships. The Blue Devils rank 16th in the nation in sacks allowed, at barely more than one per game, and led the way for just the 17th 1,000-yard rushing season in school history. DeLoatch played 21 games in the past two seasons for CCSU, and 38 over the course of his career.
Jean is a two-time All-NEC First Team selection as well and is one of the top pass defenders in FCS. This season he averaged 1.31 passes defended per game, which is sixth amongst FCS players this season. He broke up 13 passes during the 2025 season and recorded seven interceptions. Jean is second among active FCS players with 31 passes defended in his career and ranks 17th among all active NCAA players in that category.
The 2025 Blue Devils made program history by becoming the first team in school history to earn a second consecutive FCS Playoff berth. CCSU went 8-5 on the year and won a record eighth NEC Championship with a 6-1 mark in league play. For the second straight year the Blue Devils had the league's offensive and defensive player of the year honorees.
