RICHMOND, Ky. – The 2026 football season is right around the corner for Eastern Kentucky University, and the preseason honors are already coming in, as linebacker Kaden Smith was named to the 2026 Buck Buchanan Award Preseason Watch List by Stats Perform on Tuesday morning.
 
Stats Perform has announced a 30-player preseason watch list for the 2026 Buck Buchanan Award, presented annually to the national defensive player of the year in Division I FCS college football.
 
The award, in its 32nd season, is named for legendary defensive lineman Junious "Buck" Buchanan, who starred at Grambling State as part of his Hall of Fame career.
 
Smith earns the recognition as the lone representative from the United Athletic Conference after a stellar 2025 campaign, recording 77 total tackles, with 37 solo efforts, 4.5 tackles for loss, a pick-six, and one fumble recovery.
 
His 16-yard pick-six came in a winning effort against Nicholls, adding eight total tackles in the win on his way to earning UAC Defensive Player of the Week honors.
 
The junior out of Campbellsville, Ky., looks to follow in the footsteps of past great EKU linebackers, Logan Blake and Matthew Jackson, who were named as Buchanan Award finalists in their time in Richmond, with Blake in 2023 and Jackson in 2021.
 
Jackson went on to a career in the National Football League, with time spent playing for the Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars.
 
The Colonels' 2026 campaign is set to begin on August 29 at Western Carolina.