Palm Harbor's Luke Yoder will enter his senior season at Lehigh University as the Patriot League's top offensive threat after coaches named him the conference's 2026 Preseason Offensive Player of the Year on Wednesday, July 29.

The honor, announced during the Patriot League Preseason Football Show on ESPN+, follows a junior campaign in which the 5-foot-11, 205-pound running back rushed for 1,409 yards and 15 touchdowns across Lehigh's 12-1 season. According to Lehigh Athletics, those 1,409 yards ranked eighth in all of FCS football and stand as the second-highest single-season total in program history.

Yoder grew up in Palm Harbor and starred at East Lake High School, where he was the 2022 Pinellas County Player of the Year, a two-year captain, two-time team Offensive MVP, and first-team All-County and All-State selection. He finished his Eagles career with 3,524 rushing yards and 45 touchdowns before heading to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

On his Lehigh Athletics roster page, Yoder explained why he chose the school: "Lehigh had the best combination of athletics and academics and was the best fit for me."

Athletics run in the family. His father, Todd Yoder, played football at Vanderbilt. His mother, Susan, played lacrosse there.

The preseason nod is the latest in a growing pile of recognition. Yoder won the Patriot League's Offensive Player of the Year award outright last fall, was a finalist for the Walter Payton Award (the FCS equivalent of the Heisman Trophy), and earned third-team All-America honors from Stats Perform and honorable mention from the Associated Press. He also landed on the 2026 Stats Perform First Team FCS Preseason All-America squad and the Walter Payton Award Preseason Watch List.

Yoder enters his final college season with 3,067 career rushing yards and 30 touchdowns over 35 games. His career-best performance came Nov. 22, 2025, when he ran for 234 yards and four touchdowns at Lafayette in Lehigh's Patriot League championship-clinching victory, earning game MVP honors.

Lehigh was picked second in the preseason poll behind Villanova, receiving three first-place votes to the Wildcats' seven in the now-10-team conference. The Mountain Hawks won back-to-back Patriot League titles in 2024 and 2025 before falling to Villanova 14-7 in the FCS playoffs' second round. Former head coach Kevin Cahill left for Yale after the season; defensive coordinator Richard Nagy was promoted to lead the program.

Lehigh reported for preseason camp Wednesday, July 29, with its first official practice set for Friday, July 31. The Mountain Hawks open the 2026 season at Holy Cross on Saturday, Aug. 29, travel to Georgetown on Saturday, Sept. 5, and host William & Mary for the home opener Saturday, Sept. 12 at 2 p.m.