Welcome to the 2019 FCS Kickoff Jersey Countdown.
The regular season begins Saturday, Aug. 24 with Samford vs. Youngstown State in the Guardian Credit Union FCS Kickoff along with Villanova playing at Colgate.
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- FCS Home
- The Best Player in FCS Who Wears Each Number, 1-99
- Preseason Top 25 Poll
- Preseason All-American Teams
- Team By Team & Conference Previews
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HERO Sports is going to count down each day by highlighting the best player in the FCS who wears the jersey number equal to the number of days until kickoff. You can find the running list of top players here.
*Note: Jersey numbers are from the 2018 season.
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68: Zack Johnson, OL (Sr.) — North Dakota State
How the Bison have won seven of the last eight national titles is a loaded question. But toward the top of the many reasons why this dynasty is going strong is the play of the offensive line. Few FCS teams … hell, even the FBS teams NDSU has faced … have been able to stick with the Bison for all four quarters.
Why is that?
The offensive line slowly wears the opponents down and grinds them into a pulp.
One of the premier players on that unit is Johnson who has started all 30 games at right tackle in 2017 and 2018. At 6-foot-6 and 317 pounds, he loaded up on the postseason honors last year. Johnson was a First Team All-Missouri Valley Football Conference selection and a HERO Sports Second Team All-American. He added All-American honors from STATS (Second Team), Walter Camp (First Team) and AP (Third Team).
His sophomore season in 2017 saw an All-MVFC Honorable Mention nod.
The Bison have had a long line of standout offensive linemen, and Johnson is one of them. He's a HERO Sports Preseason First Team All-American and is definitely on NFL radars.
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