ODESSA, Texas (December 29, 2025) – Junior linebacker Tristan Exline and junior quarterback Kanon Gibson have been named to the D2Football.com Elite 100 Team for the 2025 season. Exline was named the Defensive Player of the Year and was a First-Team defensive selection while Gibson was named Squad Offense.

It is the third year in a row UTPB football has been recognized on the D2Football.com Elite 100 Team, but is the first time the Falcons have had two players mentioned in one season. Exline has been named to the Elite 100 Squad Team in each of the last two years, is the first Falcon to be named to the team twice in a career, and is the first national player of the year in program history.

The Elite 100 is D2Football.com's version of an All-America team. Players are selected by staff members of D2Football.com with input from sitting head coaches as well as professional football scouting veteran Josh Buchanan. The team includes first and second team selections for offense, defense and special teams along with 25 "Squad" players for offense and defense. Squad players are equivalent to "honorable mention" selections in similar national recognition lists. In addition, D2Football announces major awards for offensive and defensive players of the year and coach of year.

Exline was a two-time Lone Star Conference Player of the Week and D2Football.com National Defensive Player of the Week. He led the UTPB defense with 143 total tackles, 19.5 tackles for loss that include 5.5 sacks, and two forced fumbles while adding one interception. His 143 tackles were the second-most in one season in program history while his 19.5 tackles for loss broke the UTPB single-season record. He finished his three-year Falcon career with 272 tackles, the third-most in program history. It was Exline's third Defensive Player of the Year award of the season, and first on the national level, after also earning Lone Star Conference Defensive Player of the Year (J.V. Sikes Award) and All-Texas Non-FBS Defensive Player of the Year.

Gibson was a two-time LSC Offensive Player of the Week and was also named UTPB's Edgardo Madrid & Associates Men's Student-Athlete of the Month for November. Gibson was the focal point of the Falcons' offense, passing for nearly 4,000 yards (3,990 yards) and 31 touchdowns for an average of 285.0 passing yards per game. He passed for a completion percentage of 63.78 percent (317-497) and only threw 10 interceptions out of 497 attempts. Gibson was also one of two 500-yard rushers on the team, accumulating 534 yards and 13 touchdowns on 180 rushing attempts. Gibson passed for over 250 yards in each of the last 12 games of the season and went over 300 yards in a game eight times, including doing so in all three of UTPB's playoff games. He also had five games with at least three passing touchdowns, had five games with at least four combined touchdowns between the air and the ground, and had three games with five total touchdowns. During UTPB's three playoff games, Gibson totaled 1,009 passing yards and 11 total touchdowns (6 passing, 5 rushing). In the UTPB record books, Gibson broke the Falcons' single-season records for completions, passing attempts, passing yards, passing touchdowns and total offense (4,524 yards). In addition, his completions, passing yards, passing touchdowns and total offense this season each already rank second in a career in program history.