ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T will jump right into the fire to get its 2023 season underway on Thursday, as the Miners will play host to nationally-ranked Delta State in a 6 p.m. contest at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.

The Miners, who are looking to improve on a 3-7 campaign in 2022, will take on a Delta State squad that reached the second round of the NCAA Division II playoffs last season and was picked to win the Gulf South Conference championship this fall.   The Statesmen are ranked ninth in the D2Football.com pre-season rankings and 10^th in the coaches poll conducted by the American Football Coaches Association.  Missouri S&T was picked to place fourth in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Thursday's game will be videostreamed live on the GLVC Sports Network, but all GLVCSN games this season will be on a pay-per-view basis.  Fans can purchase a season pass – which will also include the Miners' road games broadcasted on the streaming network – for $75 for the football season, $100 for all GLVCSN events on the pay-per-view network (football, volleyball and basketball) and individual games are available for $10 per game.

S&T returns two players that earned major awards from the GLVC last season in running backs Cameren Smith (Claymont, DE/Concord) and Gideon Niboh (St. Charles, MO/Francis Howell), as Smith was named as the league's top freshman and Niboh as the top special teams performer.  Smith set a new program record with 819 rushing yards in his first season as a Miner and scored eight touchdowns, while Niboh averaged 19 yards per punt return – including two touchdowns – and 26.6 yards per kickoff runback last fall.

The Miners also bring back their top four pass catchers, led by Isaiah Wright (Panama City, FL/Port St. Joe) who had 33 catches for 410 yards last season.  CJ Jarmon hauled in 16 passes for 320 yards and four touchdowns, while Blaize Klossner (Rolla, MO/Rolla) and Paulvin Horton (Raleigh, NC/Garner HS) had 14 catches apiece.

They will be catching passes from a new quarterback, as redshirt freshman Tyler Gioia (Huntington Beach, CA/Edison) is the projected starter and Gunnar Palacios (Canyon, TX/Canyon), a transfer from West Texas A&M who missed all of last season due to an injury, is also in the mix.  They will work behind an experienced offensive line that returns All-GLVC performers Jake Seidel (Imperial, MO/Seckman) and Cole Littrell (Jonesboro, AR/Valley View).

Defensively, the Miners bring back a unit that returns five starters from a team that allowed just 347.1 yards per game last season.  That group includes all-conference performers in safety Carson Prenger (Jefferson City, MO/Blair Oaks), linebacker Nick Mattli (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt South) and defensive end Bentley Hart (Brookland, AR/Brookland).  Prenger recorded 56 tackles last fall and Mattli finished with 53, while linebacker Kyle Viverio also returns after making 40 stops a year ago.

ABOUT DELTA STATE: The Statesmen come into the season fresh off an 11-2 campaign that ended with a loss to West Florida in the second round of the NCAA Division II playoffs, while also winning a share of the Gulf South regular season championship.

Delta State possesses a potent offense that averaged 471.9 yards and 41.2 points per game during the 2022 season; the total offense mark ranked sixth nationally and the scoring mark was the fourth-best in Division II.  A key component of that offense is quarterback Patrick Shegog, who accounted for 273.8 yards of total offense per game a year ago as he was the leading rusher for the Statesmen with 790 yards and 17 touchdowns and threw for 2,789 yards and 22 scores.

Shegog's top returning targets are Calvin Lockett, who caught 23 balls for 324 yards and Todd Lee Battle, who had 22 catches for 320 yards.  He is complimented by a big offensive line and running back Kelvin Smith, who rushed for 537 yards and seven touchdowns last season.  Delta State also returns All-America placekicker Nick Herber, who converted of 66 of his 68 extra points attempts and 19 of 20 field goal tries.

The Statesmen return their top two tacklers from last season in linebacker Marlon Windham (82 tackles, eight for a loss) and defensive back Tyrell Goldsmith (74 tackles) and also bring back cornerback Malik Jones, who had nine pass breakups.  Delta State allowed 417.8 yards per game last season, but forced 26 turnovers during the year with a plus eight turnover ratio.