Last year's top five quarterbacks were all seniors. That made for a difficult decision last December and left us a wide-open slate from which to start over in 2009.

Running back may well have been the strongest position coming into this season, even after the graduation of Nate Kmic. Just two of 12 linebackers returned from last season's All-American team. And not one of last year's eight honored tackles came back.

Who did? And who do we think will be worthy of honors this winter? Check out the 2009 D3football.com Preseason All-American team.

It's the first of our preseason awards, which will be followed in early August by the preseason D3football.com Top 25 poll.

Players were selected primarily from last year's All-Region nominations, though we considered additional players as well, including remembering three key players from 2007 coming back from injury. It's a who's-who of who's coming back for the upcoming Division III football season.

But that only scratches the surface. To learn all you need to know to follow the 2009 Division III football season, you need Kickoff. Click here for more.