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Richard Clifton

Men's Basketball Kyle Taylor - Langston Sports Information

Orlando Thomas Named to 2026 Bevo Francis Top 100 Watch List

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Small College Basketball and the National Awards Committee is excited to announce the Bevo Francis Top 100 Watch List for the 2025–26 season. Once again, the list highlights many of the nation's top student-athletes competing across NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA, USCAA, and NCCAA programs. Though the season is just three months old, these players have already distinguished themselves as top performers at the small college level nationwide.

John McCarthy offered the following remarks on this year's Top 100 Watch List:
 
"Congratulations to the 100 players on the Bevo Francis Award Watch List," stated McCarthy. "This is a highly prestigious list, as there are approximately 14,000 - 16,000 players that play basketball at the small college levels, and these 100 players have been instrumental in leading their teams to great success thus far this season. Also, thank you to the Small College Basketball National Awards Committee for a great deal of insight, and thank you to all of the coaches and administrators that nominated candidates for the Bevo Francis Award Watch List."
 
The Clarence "Bevo" Francis Award is presented annually to the player who has had the finest overall season within Small College Basketball. Considerations will be season statistics and individual achievements, awards, personal character and team achievements. This is an incredibly prestigious award, as this award will only be given to one player within Small College Basketball per season.
 
2026 marks the ninth year of the Bevo Francis Award. Past winners include Dominez Burnett of Davenport University in 2016, Justin Pitts of Northwest Missouri State University in 2017, Emanuel Terry of Lincoln Memorial University in 2018, Aston Francis of Wheaton College in 2019, Kyle Mangas of Indiana Wesleyan University in 2020 and Trevor Hudgins of Northwest Missouri State University in 2022. In 2023, RJ Sunahara of Nova Southeastern was named the winner, while in 2024 Elijah Malone of Grace College received the honor. Last year MJ Iraldi was named the 2025 winner. The award was not presented during the 2021 season.
 
On February 15th, the list will be reduced to the Top 50 players.  One month later on March 15th, the Top 25 players will be announced. On April 4th, the finalists of this year's award will be announced, followed by the Bevo Francis Award winner being crowned on April 6th.  
 
The Bevo Francis Awards Committee consists of the following coaches: Gary Stewart - Stevenson (Md.), Chris Briggs - Georgetown (Ky.), Mike Donnelly – Florida Southern, Richard Westerlund – Great Lakes Christian, Mark Vanderslice – USC – Aiken, Matt O'Brien – Southwestern (KS), Chris Wright – Langston (OK), Justin Leslie – Midwestern State, Raul Placeres – Maryville College (TN), Chris Martin – Loras (IA), John Lamanna – Whitman (WA), Brian Miller – MSOE, Justin Downer – Point Loma Nazarene, Matt Capell – STAC, Scott Moore – Grace, Keven Bradley – Hillsdale, Mark Rutledge – Southern Arkansas, Chase Tiechmann – Georgia Gwinnett, Mick Hedgepeth – Alabama Huntsville.
  
2025-26 Bevo Francis Award Watch List
 
 
Ty Allred                                  6'9"     Sr.        Colorado Mesa
Jack Bachelor                          6'2"     Jr.        Washburn
Wyatt Bell                               6'0"     Sr.        Southwestern (KS)
Jared Berry                              5'10"   Jr.        Embry-Riddle
Benjamin Bill                           6'8"     Jr.        Daemen
Ryan Blount                            6'6"     So.       Tampa
Caedmon Bontrager               6'7"     Jr.        Indiana Wesleyan
Cole Bowen                             6'5"     Sr.        Graceland
Jakob Braaten                         6'0"     Sr.        Southwest Minnesota State
Daniel Brocaille                       6'4"     Sr.        Morningside
Jack Browder                          6'4"     Sr.        Carson-Newman
Jalen Brown                            6'2"     So.       Cal State Dominquez Hills
Bradley Bunch                         6'6"     Sr.        Pikeville
Drey Carter                             6'8"     Jr.        Fairmont State
Chance Casenhiser                 6'1"     So.       Mount Union
Devontre Chaney                    6'5"     Jr.        Georgia Gwinnett
Luke Chicone                          5'11"   Sr.        John Carroll
Micah Clark                             6'7"     Sr.        Nelson
Dillon Claussen                       6'8"     So.       Washburn
Damani Claxton                      6'0"     Sr.        St. Mary's (TX)
Carl Cleveland                         6'6"     Sr.        Young Harris
Noah Cleveland                       6'8"     So.       Illinois Wesleyan
Terry Coner Jr.                        6'0"     Jr.        OK Baptist
Jackson Cooper                       6'7"     Jr.        Oregon Tech
Yoro Diallo                              6'9"     Jr.        UVA-Wise
Hayden Diekhans                    6'6"     Sr.        Montana Tech
Dallas Dillard                           6'3"     Sr.        IUP
Mason Dopirak                       6'2"     Sr.        MSOE
Kyle Duke                                6'2"     Sr.        Cumberlands 
Derek Fairley                           6'1"     So.       Lourdes
Cooper Farrall                         6'5"     Jr.        Bentley
Osmar Garcia-Araujo              6'7"     Jr.        Anderson
Aaron Goldstein                      6'0"     Jr.        Staten Island
Dallas Graziani                        5'8"     Sr.        Nova Southeastern
Sam Grieger                            6'4"     Jr.        UW-Lacrosse
Kyle Gruhler                            6'5"     Sr.        Montana Western
Isaiah Howard                         6'2"     Jr.        Benedictine-Mesa
Tamaje Izuagbe                       6'6"     So.       OK Wesleyan
Jair Knight                               6'2"     Sr.        Emory
Justin Hemphill                       6'6"     Sr.        Daemen
Lazerek Houston                     6'0"     Fr.        Central Missouri
Elijah Jackson                          6'1"     Sr.        Southern Oregon
Camerin James                       6'5"     Jr.        Keiser
Jeremiah Jones                       6'3"     Jr.        Washburn
Ryan Johnson                          6'7"     Jr.        Carthage
Dylan Kuehl                             6'6"     Sr.        Northern Michigan
Mason Landdeck                     6'3"     Sr.        Montana State - Billings
Jalen Langsy                            6'1"     So.       Northwestern (IA)
Jaylon Lee                               6'9"     Sr.        Arizona Christian
Preston LeGassick                   6'1"     Sr.        Palm Beach Atlantic
Cam Lowe                               6'6"     So.       Black Hills State
E.J. McQuillan                         6'4"     Jr.        LSU-Alexandria
Amondo Miller                        6'7"     Sr.        Lubbock Christian
Chase Morgan                         6'6"     Sr.        Maryville (TN)
Dan Mukuna                           6'8"     Jr.        Fort Hays State
Jaxon Nap                               6'7"     Sr.        Nova Southeastern
Omari Nesbit                           6'1"     Sr.        Rocky Mountain
Nathan Ojukwu                       6'7"     Jr.        Dakota State
Jarrel Okorougo                      6'5"     Sr.        Trinity (CT)
Ese Onakpoma                        6'4"     Sr.        Arizona Christian
Jalen Overway                        6'10"   Jr.        Calvin
Ben Pearce                              6'1"     Sr.        Emory
Zach Philipkoski                      6'4"     Jr.        Daemen
Pace Prosser                           6'2"     So.       Gannon
Antonio Pusateri                     6'7"     Jr.        Lubbock Christian
Ian Raasch                               6'6"     Jr.        Grace
Armonie Ramey                      6'3"     Sr.        Howard Payne
Joey Ramirez                           6'2"     Sr.        Concordia (TX)
Marquis Ratcliff                      6'7"     Sr.        Moravian
Isaiah Reams                           6'0"     Sr.        Central Methodist
Raymond Reece                      6'5"     Sr.        Philander Smith
Ross Reeves                            6'4"     Sr.        Nova Southeastern
Shane Regan                           6'4"     Sr.        Chicago
Jabril Robinson                       6'1"     Jr.        Randolph Macon
Connor Rogers                        5'11"   Jr.        Pitt State
Nick Roper                              6'8"     Sr.        Chicago
Anthony Rose                         6'4"     Sr.        SUNY Poly
Zevi Samet                              6'2"     Sr.        Yeshiva
Josiah Sanders                        6'7"     So.       Cal State Dominguez Hills
Shane Stevensen                    6'7"     Sr.        Life
Jaden Taylor                            6'3"     Sr.        Missouri Southern
Orlando Thomas                     6'2"     Sr.        Langston
Grady Thompson                    6'4"     Jr.        Dubuque
Quentin Toles                         6'2"     Sr.        Alabama Huntsville
Marcus Tomashek                  6'6"     Sr.        Michigan Tech
Jesse Van Kalsbeek                 6'6"     So.       Northwestern (IA)
Kolden Vanlandingham          6'2"     Sr.        North Park
Henry Vetter                           6'5"     Sr.        Trinity (CT)
Casey Verhagen                      6'1"     Jr.        Concordia (WI)
Mike Vuckovic                         6'1"     Jr.        North Park
Khi Wallace                             6'5"     So.       LSU-Shreveport
Jesse Washington                   6'2"     Sr.        Williams Baptist
Deion Wesson                         6'0"     So.       Williams Baptist
A.J. White                                5'10"   Sr.        North Georgia
A.J. Wright                              5'8"     Jr.        Anderson (SC)
Matthew Willenborg              6'7"     Jr.        Central Oklahoma
Maceo Williams                      6'7"     Sr.        Ashland
Fontaine Williams                   6'2"     Jr.        West Texas A&M
Carmelo Yakubu                     6'4"     Sr.        Bethel (KS)
Andrew Young                        6'9"     Sr.        Missouri S&T

To stay up to date on all things Small College Basketball or to learn more about the Bevo Francis Award, please head to smallcollegebasketball.com.
 
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Players Mentioned

Orlando Thomas

#0 Orlando Thomas

G
6' 2"
Senior

Players Mentioned

Orlando Thomas

#0 Orlando Thomas

6' 2"
Senior
G

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