KANSAS CITY, Mo.  – Gabriel Watson of the University of Sioux Falls Football Team has been named to the first team offense at running back and cornerback Hakeem Johnson named to the second team defense on the D2Football.com Preseason All-American Team, which was announced on Monday by the website.  Watson, who has been named the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference South Division Preseason Player of the Year this fall, and returns as a Harlon Hill Trophy finalist, picked up his ninth All-American honor, including the fourth during the 2019 preseason. Johnson earned his first All-American honor after being named honorable mention All-American by Don Hansen in 2018.
 

A 6-1, 221-pound running back, Watson of Piedmont, Calif., led NCAA DII in three rushing or scoring categories. Watson finished fifth in the voting for the Harlon Hill Trophy as the DII Player of the Year. Watson was the first student-athlete at USF to advance into the Harlon Hill finalist group. This fall, Watson, who has a 3.99 grade point average in Exercise Science, was named USF's candidate for the National Football Foundation Award.
 
Watson, who was named USF's Male Student of the Year in spring 2019, was selected to the 2019 Lindy's College Football Magazine and the Street and Smith Magazine College Football 2019 NCAA DII All-America teams as well as the College Football Yearbook's starting lineup and the D2Football.com All-American team. He was a first-team selection at running back on each of those publications/websites. He has been named to nine All-American teams since his arrival at USF.
 
He had a school-record 11 straight games of 100 yards or more rushing while accumulating a regular season NCAA-high and USF single season mark of 1,957 yards (second overall) on 269 carries with an NCAA DII-high 26 TDs. In setting eight school records, Watson owns the top per game average of 177.8 yards per carry in DII, which is also a USF school record. Of players with 200 carries or more, Watson had the top per rush average of 7.41. The 1,957 yards rushing by Watson broke Max Mickey's school record of 1,764 of 2016. Watson's 26 touchdowns is the most in a single season in USF's DII history and second overall (David Ruter, 29 TDs, 1988).

In 2018, Watson had 200 yards rushing and three touchdowns in the first game he played at USF, which was a 27-24 win over Concordia-St. Paul in the home opener. A junior exercise science major, Watson followed up that opening game performance with games of 172 yards and 193 yards. Against Minot State, he accumulated 205 yards rushing on 15 carries with two touchdowns and played just one half. Watson had a breakout season in his first year with USF. The first-team All-NSIC honoree was named the D2Football.com National Player of the Week after setting a single game USF rushing record of 320 yards on 19 carries with five TDs against MSU Moorhead. A three-time NSIC Player of the Week, he recorded seven games of 150 yards or more with three games of at least 200 yards or more. Watson scored two or more TDs in a game eight times and had at least three TDs four times.
 
Johnson, who was named second team on the Don Hansen All-Super Region Four Team, earned first-team All-NSIC honors on defense after recording 25 tackles with 15 solo stops. One of the league's top cover corners, Johnson had an interception, five pass breakups and six passes defended. He continually shut down top opposing receivers. He had three or more tackles in five games with a high of four against Southwest Minnesota State, St. Cloud State and MSU Moorhead. He also had an interception against Winona State.