2026 D2Football.com Preseason Elite 100 Watch List

For the second straight season, the Hillsdale College football team is well represented on D2Football.com's annual Preseason Elite 100 Watch List. Two Chargers stars who've made the list in the past are once again earning recognition from the long-running D2-focused website entering the 2026 campaign.

Senior wide receiver Shea Ruddy was a first team honoree on the list, released on Wednesday, and fifth-year linebacker Jacob Vance made the second team for the Chargers. The list, produced by D2Football.com staff with input from head coaches around the country and professional football scouting veteran Josh Buchanan, recognizes the top returning players in NCAA DII football and serves as an early indicator of players that have eyes on them for potential All-American honors at the end of the 2025 campaign.

Ruddy moves up to the first team after earning recognition as a second team player on the 2025 edition of the list. A dynamic player who was a consensus All-American in 2025, Ruddy is a standout at receiver, leading the Chargers and ranking among the top players in the G-MAC with 695 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. However, his positional designation only captures a small part of the value he brings on the field. A two-time G-MAC Special Teams Player of the Year, Ruddy also is one of the most dynamic return men in the country, leading all divisions of college football in 2025 with 960 kickoff return yards and tying for the all-division lead in kick return touchdowns with three.

A true weapon in all facets, Ruddy was the only NCAA DII football player in the country to record a passing, rushing, receiving and kick return touchdown in the same season, and getting him the ball in a variety of ways will be a priority for the Chargers in 2026.

Vance also is a returning Preseason Elite 100 honoree, as one of three linebackers to earn second-team honors in 2026 after earning honorable mention recognition on the list in 2025. A two-time first team All-G-MAC player who's also earned All-Region honors in the past, Vance has led the Chargers in tackles three consecutive seasons while winning Hillsdale's linebacker of the year award in all three campaigns. In 2025, Vance put up the best numbers of his career, with a career-high 70 total tackles, 6.5 for loss, three sacks, a fumble recovery, three pass breakups and an interception return for touchdown on the road against Tiffin.

Entering his final campaign with the Chargers, Vance will look to cap his career with another outstanding season and become the first linebacker in Hillsdale College history to win the team's Linebacker of the Year award four seasons in a row.

Ruddy, Vance and the Chargers kick off the 2026 campaign at home on Sept. 5 with a noon contest against visiting McKendree, the first of seven home games on the calendar in 2026 for the Chargers.