The Sacred Heart football team got dressed up to attend the North East Conference Media Day at MetLife Stadium earlier in the week.

The Pioneers were picked to finish third in the conference preseason poll after finishing under .500 in 2022.

Graduate running back Malik Grant and linebacker DeAndre Byrd were voted to the preseason All-NEC team.

Sacred Heart's non-conference slate includes in-state foes Yale and the University of Connecticut.

"I think last year we lost our way in terms of not playing as hard and as physical as we wanted to. We want to go back to finding that grit that we play with," Nofri said.

Sacred Heart will open its season on Saturday, Sept. 2 at Campus Field against Lafayette.