FOREST, Va. – Travis Burton (Pikeville, N.C.) was named to the All-ODAC First Team, leading four all-conference selections from the Guilford College football team as named by the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC), with Tristan Bailey (Statesville, N.C.) and Nick Iannone (Wellington, Fla.) getting selected to the All-ODAC Second Team and Shane Shapiro (Jacksonville, N.C.) joining them as an All-ODAC Third Team honoree, as announced by the conference offices on Tuesday afternoon.

For the Quakers, their quartet of players recognized surpasses their trio of selections from a season ago, making it their third-straight year seeing an increase in All-ODAC picks and giving them their most all-conference players since 2022 when they had four. Placing a trio of defenders on the team, GC has their most honorees on that side of the ball since 2018, when they had four.

It was a breakout second season for Burton, who rewrote the record books at the single game, single season, and career levels this season. Already a top-five pass rusher in the ODAC as a freshman, the edge rusher rounded out his game and completely dominated as a result, rocketing to the top of the national leaderboard in sacks and tackles for a loss. He finished the regular season tied for fifth nationally with 12.0 sacks which is the most by a Quaker since the program's inaugural NCAA season, in 1991, and fourth-most overall. At the conference level, it is the most since Averett's Jahlin Russell in 2023, though Burton reached that mark in one fewer game to give him 1.33 sacks per contest. That figure ranked third in Division-III and stands as the highest average the league has seen since 1997, when Emory & Henry's Mike Kassnove averaged 1.65 per game. The most-impressive part of this season from the sophomore, is he got after the quarterback while not bailing out to generate a pass rush. While it is not a statistic that is officially kept by the ODAC in their record books, Burton's 26.5 tackles for a loss are believed to be the most in league history, finishing atop Division-III football at the regular season's conclusion. That worked out to an average of 2.94 TFL's per game, topping the conference by over a tackle and a quarter while also pacing the entire NCAA regardless of level. In addition, Burton finished 57^th in the nation with 9.0 total tackles per contest, racking up 81.0 overall and 35 solo takedowns, both of which rank second on the team. Isolating conference play, the Pikeville native slotted fifth in the conference in total tackles, with 65, and 10^th in solo efforts, with 24, while registering 18.5 TFLs, 8.0 more than any other player, and 8.0 sacks, 2.5 more than anyone else in the ODAC. He is the first Quaker to be named to the All-ODAC First Team since Burke Nettles '24 was in 2023, but the first defender to get first team recognition since Bryce Smith '20 and Jerrod Russ '20 were picked in 2018, and the first true underclassman to get a first team nod since 2015.

Among the nation's premier lockdown corners for the past two years, Bailey concludes his collegiate career with his second-consecutive All-ODAC Second Team selection, and it is very well deserved for the senior defensive back. Leading the conference in total passes defended for the second-consecutive season by a healthy margin, he finished the regular season tied for 15^th in the nation in total passes defended with 14, working out to an average of 1.56 per game that ranked 11th in Division-III. Coming away with three interceptions, he ranked third in the league this season, but his true value does not appear in the standard numbers. Accounting for screens and checkdowns, Bailey was targeted in coverage just 30 times this season with the senior collecting his 11 PBUs and three picks against just seven completions allowed. Even when the opposition ran screens his way, he did great work identifying and blowing them up with 3.5 TFLs among his 23 total tackles, 15 of which were solo efforts. Generally, teams just completely avoided Bailey in coverage, however, choosing instead to try their luck against other defenders. For his efforts, Bailey is the first GC player to get All-ODAC recognition multiple times as a defensive back since Karl Roberts '17 while he and Iannone are the first two-time all-conference picks since Tre Alexander '23.

No player in the entire NCAA piled up more tackles on a game-by-game basis in 2025 than Iannone, who receives All-ODAC recognition for the first time since his freshman season. Averaging 14.1 takedowns per contest, the middle linebacker was everywhere this fall, accruing 127 total tackles to finish just a single takedown behind the league-leader despite one fewer game played and they are not empty numbers either. The Sunshine State product finished the regular season ranked sixth in Division-III with 6.56 solo tackles per game, slotting second in the ODAC, while he also joined Burton on the national leaderboard for TFLs with 1.56 per contest, good for third-most in the league and 27^th-most in the nation. Ianonne also finishes in the national top-200 for sacks per game with 0.44. His 127 tackles are the fourth-most in program history and second-most in the Division-III era while his 61 solo tackles also crack the top-10. The defensive anchor was also at his best in conference action with his 107 total tackles and 15.3 tackles per game leading the league while also being one short of the leader for solo tackles and fourth in total TFLs. Iannone is the first GC linebacker named to the All-ODAC Second Team or higher since Bryce Smith '21 back in the COVID spring season in 2021.

Shapiro finished the season as the ODAC's best receiver on a game-by-game basis in 2025 despite being limited to just six games played, but his efforts were still enough to secure an at-large nod to the All-ODAC team. The junior wide receiver finished third in the conference in receptions, with 44, and fifth in receiving yards, with 492, doing all that in at least three fewer games than those ahead of him. Despite the games disparity, he was just five catches behind the ODAC leader and as a result, he averaged nearly 2.0 more receptions per game more than anyone else in the league with a 7.3 average that would have ranked 17^th in the nation if he qualified. Averaging 82.0 receiving yards per game, he would have slotted 66^th in Division-III in that as well but he still finished second in the ODAC. If he qualified, the product of Jacksonville would have topped the league in receptions per game in conference play as well, with a mark of 6.25 that would have been a full reception more than anyone else in the conference. Three of Shapiro's catches resulted in touchdowns this fall while he also got nine carries, taking them for 53 yards on the ground. With his selection, GC has had a wide receiver earn All-ODAC recognition in four of the past five seasons.

As a team, Guilford football finished the fall with at 2-8 and 1-7 in ODAC play this season.

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