CHICAGO, Ill. - Charleston Southern's Nick Salley, Ethan Ray, and Anton Williams were all recognized on the 2020 STATS Perform FCS Preseason All-American team as announced by the organization.

Salley (defensive line) and Ray (long snapper) both earned Second Team recognition, while Williams (defensive line) represented the Bucs on the All-American Third Team. The trio were a part of a group of seven Big South selections on the team with only CSU (three) and Monmouth (two) to place multiple members on the squad.
 
Salley earns his second preseason All-American nod with the STATS Perform recognition. The Walterboro, S.C. native is coming off a season where he posted tackles for loss in nine of CSU's 12 games on the season, including multiple tackle for loss games on eight separate occasions. He added three tackles for loss, a pair of sacks, and two fumbles in CSU's win over Gardner-Webb on his way to earning Big South Defensive Player of the Week recognition. He also posted a career-high 15 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss against Kennesaw State.
 
Salley ended the season leading the Big South in tackles for loss (17.5) and forced fumbles (3), while his 73 total tackles led all defensive linemen in both overall tackles and tackles per game.
 
Ray also received his second preseason All-American recognition on Wednesday afternoon after previously being honored on the Phil Steele preseason team in late July. He is coming off a standout campaign that included earning National Player of the Week recognition against Gardner-Webb. Ray recovered two fumbles in the game against the Runnin' Bulldogs to highlight a season that featured a perfect snapping record.
 
He also was influential in both the punting and kicking games as CSU set records in both punt average, most field goals, and the longest field goal in program history, while also leading the team in downed punts and punt coverage.
 
Williams earns his first preseason All-American nod after a dominant campaign that propelled him among the nation's elite in getting into the backfield. He finished in the top three in the Big South in sacks, tackles for loss, and fumble recoveries, despite missing the first two games of the 2019 season. 
 
Down the stretch, he posted one of the most dominant performances in Big South history with 10 tackles for loss, six sacks, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery over the final four weeks of conference play. He added multiple tackles for loss in six games, including 4.5 in the CSU win over Hampton.
 
The STATS FCS All-American nods for the trio of Bucs marks the fifth different organization to recognize a CSU player on their preseason team. CSU has placed members on the HERO Sports (Shaundre Mims), College Football Athletic Yearbook (Mims), Street & Smith (Salley), Phil Steele (Ray), and STATS Perform (Williams, Salley, and Ray) preseason teams.