Valparaiso University football redshirt freshman Ryan Ricketti (Rocky River, Ohio / Rocky River) was recognized on Tuesday with First Team All-Pioneer Football League honors at return specialist as the league office released the 2025 all-conference teams.
 
In addition, redshirt freshman linebacker Anthony Feltrinelli (Westfield, Ind. / Westfield), redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Isaiah Fowler (Gary, Ind. / Chesterton), redshirt sophomore defensive back Nic Lendino (Naperville, Ill. / Neuqua Valley) and redshirt junior offensive lineman Niko Paic (Crown Point, Ind. / Crown Point) earned All-PFL Honorable Mention.
 
Ricketti, who was one of only two freshmen in the league to receive First Team All-PFL honors and the first Valpo rookie to do so since Spring 2021, finished the season with 711 kick return yards on 25 returns, an average of 28.44 yards per return that ranked seventh nationally. He was the only player in the FCS nation with two 100-yard kickoff return touchdowns in 2025. He had 198 kickoff return yards in a single game vs. San Diego, the most in a single game by any FCS player nationally this season.
 
Ricketti ranked fourth in the FCS nation in total kickoff return yards with 711 and seventh nationally in combined kick return yards with 729. He was named the PFL Special Teams Player of the Week on Nov. 8 and was a nominee for national Freshman of the Week and named Honorable Mention STATS Perform FCS Special Teams Player of the Week following Week 3 at Western Illinois, when he had his first of two 100-yard kick return touchdowns. 
 
Lendino finished 13th in the PFL and second on the team with 86 tackles, averaging 7.2 per game. He tied for ninth in the PFL in passes defended with eight and tied for sixth in the league with three interceptions. Lendino was named the PFL Special Teams Player of the Week after a game-changing blocked punt that helped Valpo rally from 24-0 down for a 32-31 OT win over Stetson. He closed out the season with a career-high 13 tackles including two as part of a goal-line stand on 2nd-and-goal from the 1 and 4th-and-goal from the 1 while also making an interception in the game at Butler.
 
Paic, a captain and leader of the team, played in all 34 games over the last three seasons, starting all 23 over the last two years including all 12 this season. 
 
Fowler finished the season with 43 tackles as a defensive lineman including 3.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. He had a season-high eight tackles in the Nov. 15 win over Stetson.
 
Feltrinelli finished with 102 tackles on the season, the second-most in the PFL. He had 8.5 tackles for loss as a linebacker, tied for the 13th most overall in the league. Feltrinelli had two fumble recoveries, one of 11 players in the league with multiple. He posted double-figure tackle totals on four occasions including 14 vs. Adrian. Feltrinelli had nine tackles or more in each of his final four games of the season and finished in the top 50 nationally in tackles with 102. 
 
Academic All-PFL honors will be released on Wednesday.
 
2025 Pioneer Football League Award Winners
Offensive Player of the Year: Collin Hurst, Presbyterian  
Defensive Player of the Year: Sean Allison, Drake  
Special Teams Player of the Year: Emiliano Salazar, San Diego  
Offensive Freshman of the Year: Nick Herman, Drake  
Defensive Freshman of the Year: Chase Hatton, Marist
Coach of the Year: Steve Englehart, Presbyterian
 
First Team 

WR	Ivan Hoyt	Davidson
WR	Cincere Gill (2)	Presbyterian
WR	Ryan Upp (2)	Morehead State
QB	Collin Hurst	Presbyterian
RB	Nick Herman	Drake
RB	Adam Criter	San Diego
FB	Luke Schuler	St. Thomas
AP	Gavin Lochow (2)	Dayton
TE	Nathan Levicki	Presbyterian
OL	Charles Mackley	Butler
OL	Ryan Iiams	Dayton
OL	Maicah Talavou	San Diego
OL	Dominic Perricone (1)	Marist
OL	Evans Bowling (2)	San Diego

 

DL	Jacob Auen	Drake
DL	Cooper Malachi	San Diego
DL	Mirko Jaksi	Dayton
DL	Carter Szydlowski (1)	Presbyterian
LB	Sean Allison (2)	Drake
LB	Nate Fischer	San Diego
LB	Ryan Sever	St. Thomas
LB	Boyce Bankhead	Presbyterian
DB	Vincent Firenze	Dayton
DB	Caleb Francis (1)	Presbyterian
DB	Nate Robinson Jr.	Marist
DB	Devaon Holman	Butler

 

PK	Harry Balke	Drake
P	Elliot Huether	St. Thomas
P	Emiliano Salazar	San Diego
RS	Ryan Ricketti	Valparaiso
LS	Austin Yeager	Dayton

 
Second Team 

WR	Quentin Cobb-Butler	St. Thomas
WR	Cole Monach	San Diego
WR	Ethan Loss	Butler
QB	Andy Peters	St. Thomas
RB	Justin Montgomery	Presbyterian
RB	Luke Hansen	Dayton
FB	Donovan Weatherly	Dayton
AP	Zach Switzer	Presbyterian
TE	Connor Hulstein	Marist
OL	JT Hill	Presbyterian
OL	Nate Henry	Drake
OL	James Morrison	St. Thomas
OL	Jason Laliberte	St. Thomas
OL	Travis Gutierrez	Drake

 

DL	Kole Sneed	St. Thomas
DL	Brandon Martin	Dayton
DL	Robert Porter	Presbyterian
DL	Andrew Martin	Stetson
LB	Tre Moore	San Diego
LB	Nate Furrow	Marist
LB	J.R. Flood	Drake
LB	Charlie Boucher	St. Thomas
DB	Codde Garrison	Drake
DB	Ruben Lopez (2)	San Diego
DB	Camron Barger	Presbyterian
DB	Wilson Kemani	Drake
DB	Chase Hatton	Marist

 

PK	Ryan Short	Butler
P	Logan Forcum	Dayton
RS	JaShawn Todd	St. Thomas
LS	Brett Welsing (1)	Drake

 
Honorable Mention
BUTLER: Trey Alsbrooks (DL); Reagan Andrew (QB); Mason Armstrong (LB); Kirk Doskocil (OL); Tyson Garrett (LB); Luke Green (DL); Jeremiah Jackson (LB); Ethan Loss (RS); Will Mason (DB); Onye Onuoha (DB); Danny Orgler (DL); Brady Preston (FB); Jackson Stratton (LB); CJ Wilson Jr. (DL).
DAVIDSON: Hudson Altenburg (DB); Brodey Berg (FB); Mikah Kent (DL).
DAYTON: Collin Ansel (DL); Matthew Barnes (OL); Joe Kingsbury (LB); Luke Mitchell (DB); Michael Mussari (WR); Sam Schmiesing (LB); Bryce Schondelmyer (QB); Josh Williams (DB).
DRAKE: Trystan Anderson (DL); Taj Hughes (AP); Nolan Korzeniowski (DL); Jackson Voth (WR); Sonny Mannino (QB); Lance Martinez (WR); Tristan Shannon (AP); Tristan Shannon (RS).
MOREHEAD STATE: Luke Bauer (DL); Colton Carmichael (LS); Carter Cravens (QB); KJ Hardesty (DL); Benjamin Jackson (DB); Chris Johnson (LB); Mateo Reyes (DB); Isaac Stopke (RB); Jacob Ziegler (OL).
PRESBYTERIAN: BJ Atkins (WR); Marcello Coleman (OL); Oscar Colon (OL); Malek Horlback (DL); Dominic Kibby (WR); Malik Lewis (LB); Christian Ohagwu (DL); Noah Peterson (OL); Zeb Stroup (DB); Michael Torres (LB).
SAN DIEGO: River Abenroth (DL); Matt Colombo (RB); Josh Heverly (WR); Jake Higgins (DB); Emiliano Salazar (PK); Sean Scheck (DL); Carter Shupper (LS); Peyton Smith (TE); Nick Struempf (OL); Yosei Takahashi (RS); Oscar Weigel (OL).
ST. THOMAS: Ryan Calcagno (DB); Nick Hand (DB); Den Juette (DB); Ahmed Muhammad (DL); Jordan Pendleton (LB); JaShawn Todd (AP); Patrick Wagner (TE); Shug Bentley (LB).
STETSON: Eric Brust (OL); Michael Dempsey (FB); Dawson Harrington (OL).
VALPARAISO: Anthony Feltrinelli (LB); Isaiah Fowler (DL); Nic Lendino (DB); Niko Paic (OL).