East Tennessee State 2025 Football Preview: A New Head Coach and Two High-Profile Transfer QBs Have Bucs Fans Excited

 

2025 EAST TENNESSEE STATE FOOTBALL PREVIEW

ETSU new head coach Will Healy (Photo courtesy of ETSU Athletics)

East Tennessee State (7-5, 5-3 SoCon/T-4^th in ‘24)

ETSU made quite the off-season headlines when it brought in a pair of quarterbacks from power programs, and with a new, energetic head coach that inherits a hungry team coming off a season, which saw the Bucs maintain a spot in the national rankings for much of the campaign, there is once again a buzz around Bucs football. The Bucs were, if anything, very flirtatious in 2024. 

The Bucs had much of the media head over heels when they nearly knocked off North Dakota State only to end with a thud, losing to 2-8 Furman to ultimately seal their playoff fate.

ETSU proved they could be elite under Randy Sanders back in 2021, and with Trey Lamb engineering a turnaround last season, new head coach Will Healy will look to help the Bucs enhance their status even more this fall, and he will have a cupboard stocked with skill position talent on offense, while enough returns on defense that can make the Bucs a stout unit once again this fall.

Add to that the fact that ETSU brought in an exceptionally large haul from the FBS in terms of portal transfer talent, and on paper at least, ETSU has the makings of a SoCon title contender once again in 2025. 

HEAD COACH: Will Healy (28-45 8^th yr/1^st Year at ETSU)

ETSU FOOTBALL TRADITION:

SHARED OR OUTRIGHT SOCON FOOTBALL TITLES: (2)

FCS PLAYOFF APPEARANCES: (3)

FCS PLAYOFF RECORD: 3-3

HOME STADIUM: William B. Greene Stadium (7,694)

VOLUNTEER STATE TRADITION:  East Tennessee State owns both a proud and unique football tradition, separated by a brief respite in which the program was not in operation from 2003-12. The Bucs have never left the Southern Conference since joining the league back in 1979, despite a brief hiatus from the league that spanned 13 years, until returning to the proud, storied league back in 2016.

The Bucs didn’t enjoy many strong moments during their early league membership during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, however, they did have moments. It was prior to even joining the Southern Conference that ETSU enjoyed one of its greatest seasons on the gridiron under the direction of Madison Brooks in 1969, as the Bucs finished the season 10-0-1 under legendary head coach John R. Bell, as the Bucs claimed the Ohio Valley Conference crown.

It also saw them granted an invitation to play in the Grantland Rice Bowl against Louisiana Tech, which was led by quarterback Terry Bradshaw. That wouldn’t matter, however, as the Bucs went on to a 34-14. After following that with a 7-0-1 season under Bell at the start of the decade of the 1970s, ETSU football would once again fall on hard times, as the ’70 campaign would mark just one of two winning seasons from 1970-79, as the Bucs posted just a 37-64-5 during the decade, with the last season of the decade of the 1970s being the first in ETSU’s new conference—the Southern Conference—under the direction of head coach Jack Carlisle.

Carlisle would help usher in a nice transition to ETSU’s new league, as the Bucs finished the ’79 season with a 7-4 record, but were 2-3 in their first-ever season within the league, which was good enough for sixth-place. The Bucs posted a 28-24 win over reigning league champion Furman in Greenville, while  blasting arch-rival and eventual league champion Chattanooga, 35-0, inside the friendly confines of the Memorial Center (aka the mini-dome).

It would be the lone loss of the Southern Conference season for the Mocs, snapping a three-game winning streak in the series by UTC. The Bucs would drop games at VMI (L, 14-24), vs. Appalachian State (L, 10-24) and at Western Carolina (L, 9-13). During the 1980s, things were a little better, though not much. The Bucs had four different coaches during the decade of the 1980s, and also had to deal with being on probation. Buddy Sasser took over the program as the head coach in 1982, and he would lead the Bucs to their best season as a SoCon member in 1984, and after the first five games of the season, had the Bucs ranked 13^th in the NCAA Division I-AA poll, and eventually led the Bucs to a 6-5 finish, which included 2-4 mark in SoCon play, which was good enough for a tie for fifth in the league standings.

Still, the season had been only ETSU’s third winning season the previous 14 years. The Bucs would hit hard times again, however, in the mid-1980s, as Sasser moved on and Mike Ayers took over the football program in 1985, which would see the Bucs go winless (0-10-1). After a 6-5 record in 1986, the Bucs appeared to be back in business. Then on Nov. 7, 1987, the Bucs did the unthinkable by going into Carter-Finley Stadium and captured their first-ever power five FBS win as a program, knocking off the Wolfpack, as ETSU posted a huge 29-14 win over the Wolfpack. It would be the defining moment of Ayers’ three seasons in charge of the Bucs, as he moved on to take the reins at NCAA Division II Wofford following a 5-6 season in ’87.

Star linebacker Billy Taylor was on that Bucs team that took down State, and he would later go on to do big things in the role of defensive coordinator at ETSU, which would span both stints as a program. The Don Riley years (1988-91) in Johnson City would end up being a disaster, however, his successor—Mike Cavan from Valdosta State—would end up leading the Bucs football to a place they had never been just four years after taking over. Cavan coached the Bucs from 1992-96, and it would be in his fifth season as the head coach that things would begin to click.

The Bucs returned 19 starters from a 1995 season, which saw them on the cusp of several big wins before finishing off a 4-7 season. With players like wideouts Jeff Johnson, BJ Adigun and Chris Beatty, as well as quarterback Greg Ryan, the Bucs were primed for a big year in 1996 and they wouldn’t disappoint. ETSU went on to a 10-3 season, which saw the Bucs on the cusp of winning a Southern Conference title in mid-November when juggernaut Marshall and Randy Moss showed up at the mini-dome in a game that would all but determine the SoCon regular-season champion in 1996. Moss and the Herd showed why they were arguably the best team of all-time in NCAA Division I-AA Football (Now FCS), as they waltzed to a 34-10 win inside the Memorial Center. Still, wins over No. 14 Liberty (W, 24-20), No. 4 Appalachian State (W, 31-10) and No. 8 Furman (W, 21-19) were more than enough to ensure the Bucs would be in the Division I-AA Playoffs for the first time in school history.

The Bucs even decided to stick around a little longer than some expected, opening the playoffs with a thrilling 35-29 win over head coach Andy Talley’s talented Villanova team, which featured one of the best wideouts in FCS football, in future pro Brian Finneran. A trip to bitterly cold Montana to battle the defending national champion Grizzlies is where the season would ultimately end for the Bucs, dropping what was a 44-14 contest on the frozen tundra of Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula.

The season would be the end of the road for Cavan, too, as he accepted the head coaching job at SMU following a nice run with the Bucs, as he finished 30-27 as head coach at ETSU over the course of five seasons. A new era would be forged, as Paul Hamilton took over in 1997 for ETSU, and he would end up being the final coach of the first era of football for ETSU. There was so much promise going forward into the 1997 season, but one of the key question marks would be how to replace a quarterback like Greg Ryan, who had meant so much to the program, helping them break through and make the postseason for the first time in school history.

With Marshall having moved up, and with Appalachian State in a bit of a rebuild mode, while Furman was also breaking in a lot of new talent on the offensive side of the ball and at quarterback, as well as Georgia Southern welcoming in a new head coach, with Paul Johnson taking over a program that had come off one of the worst seasons in that storied program’s history, the path to a title for ETSU football probably never seemed more clear-cut than it did heading into the ’97 season. However, despite being arguably a more talented football team in ’97 than even in ’96, the Bucs would fall just short of both a SoCon title and a second-straight appearance in the NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs.

The Bucs would ultimately end up finishing 7-4, and despite impressive wins at No. 16 Furman (W, 58-28) and at No. 6 Appalachian State (W, 51-28), the Bucs could only muster a 5-3 mark in conference play, suffering three costly home losses to The Citadel (L, 20-23 OT), Georgia Southern (L, 30-38) and Chattanooga (L, 14-17). The Bucs would reach six wins three more times under Hamilton, however, never seven. The program folded due to some financial concerns following an emotional 2003 season, which would see ETSU finish 5-7, getting a late field goal from Con Chellis in their final game as a program for the foreseeable future. That would be the case until 2015 and the program would be resurrected under former North Carolina head coach Carl Torbush. Torbush would lead the Bucs back to the gridiron on Sept. 3, 2015 against a Kennesaw State program also getting off to a fresh start as a brand new program in FCS Football. The first game, however, would be a forgettable one for Bucs fans, as the Owls prevailed, 56-16, in Johnson City.

The Bucs won just two games and went 0-8 against NCAA Division I competition in 2015. In 2016, the Bucs were ready to re-join the Southern Conference. Though ETSU finished 5-6, it was a stark improvement from the previous campaign. The Bucs got revenge at Kennesaw with a 20-17 overtime win over the Owls and then capped the season with a thrilling 15-14 win over eventual FCS Playoff qualifier Samford. After ETSU finished out the 2017 campaign with a 4-7 record, which included a 2-6 mark in the SoCon and seventh-place finish, it set the stage for the Randy Sanders era to ultimately begin in Johnson City.

The former University of Tennessee quarterback whisperer would help the Bucs do the unthinkable in his first season on the job, helping the Bucs capture their first-ever SoCon title, as ETSU finished in a three-way tie with Furman (6-2) and Wofford (6-2), and by virtue of ETSU’s thrilling 29-27 come-from-behind win over Furman—a game the Bucs trailed 27-6 late midway through the third quarter. The Bucs would go on the qualify for the FCS Playoffs as the league’s automatic qualifier, facing off against Jacksonville State on the road in the opening round of the FCS Playoffs.

Unfortunately, a late fumble proved costly, as the Bucs were driving for the go-ahead score, and the Gamecocks ended up holding on for a 34-27 win. ETSU’s next trip to the FCS postseason would come in 2021, as the Bucs were the outright Southern Conference champions and would finish league play with a 7-1 overall record, beating Mercer, 38-35, late in the season to secure the outright Southern Conference title. The only loss in the SoCon regular-season for the Bucs came at the hands of the Chattanooga, as the Mocs were able to down the Bucs 21-16 in the Rail Rivalry game and thwarted the Bucs’ attempt to go unbeaten in Southern Conference play.

With the league’s most-efficient passer, in Tyler Riddell, a seasoned offensive line, and a running game that featured one of the best in the nation, with Quay Holmes and Jacob Saylors carrying the rock, the Bucs headed to the postseason full of confidence. ETSU dominated from start to finish to post its second win in program history over a power conference FBS foe, downing Vanderbilt, 23-3, to open the season in Nashville. That win would be a harbinger of good things to come on the horizon in 2021 for ETSU.

In the playoffs, ETSU would have some familiar opposition. Their first opponent when they got there would be an old nemesis and rival, in Kennesaw State. Fortunately, the Bucs would have the opening round contest in the friendly surroundings of William B. Greene Jr. Stadium and they would post a remarkable come-from-behind win, with tight end Nate Adkins being the hero, as he hauled in a 4-yard underthrown but perfect pass to Quay Holmes from Riddell to bring the Bucs within an extra point of tying the game with just 35 seconds remaining. Instead of kicking the PAT, however, the Bucs opted for the two-point conversion and he found the man of the hour, in tight end Nate Adkins, who hauled in a 12-yard dart from Riddell to give the Bucs a 32-31 lead to garner the thrilling second-round win. It was a great win that will go down in Buccaneer lore as one of the greatest in program history from the simple fact that ETSU trailed 31-17 with a little over five minutes remaining.

The Bucs then got a 12-yard scoring pitch-and-catch from Riddell-to-Will Huzzie with 1:28 left to make it 31-24. Then following the Huzzie TD catch, the real drama started to unfold after  Tim Stayskal recovered an onsides kick at the Kennesaw 48. It took the Bucs five plays to do the needed damage, resulting in Holmes’ 4-yard scoring catch, which set up the game-winning two-point play. The Bucs would see their playoff run eventually come to an end where several other Southern Conference teams have, which is Fargo, North Dakota and taking on top ranked North Dakota State.

The Bucs would fall 27-3 in a game they fought just about as well as anyone would have on the road at an FCS juggernaut. Shortly after the season, Randy Sanders would announce his retirement, and that left then Director of Athletics Scott Carter to make another hire. He brought in Furman offensive coordinator George Quarles, who had been at one time the most successful high school coach in the country at Maryville, which is not far up the road from Johnson City.

Quarles and the program, however, would fall on hard times, as the Bucs went just 6-16 over the next two seasons, winning only four NCAA Division I games and went just 3-13 in league play over the course of two seasons. That led to a change, and Quarles stepped down shortly after the 2023 season. His replacement in 2024 was Tre Lamb.

Lamb had been a hot-shot winner at Gardner-Webb, turning that program into a perennial power in the Big South, leading the Bulldogs to back-to-back league titles. He would improve the Bucs utilizing a heavy dose of his former players out of the transfer portal, and that was enough to see the Bucs have a four-win improvement, posting a 7-5 overall mark and a 5-3 ledger in SoCon action, as the Bucs tied for third in the final league standings.

That short window of success brought Lamb a coaching opportunity he simply couldn’t pass up, and he was whisked away from Johnson City to become the newest head coach at Tulsa following the 2024 season. Now the job belongs to Will Healy, who will look to forge a new era this fall for ETSU football.  ETSU is a part of two rivalry games in the league, which both have hardware on the line when they are played. ETSU’s annual battle with Chattanooga is known as the “Rail Rivalry” and its proximity battle with Western Carolina is known as the “Blue Ridge Border Battle” with both rivalry games coming into existence after the resurrection of ETSU football in 2016.

ETSU and Western Carolina played the first-ever football game inside Bristol Motor Speedway during the 2016 season, with the Bucs coming away with a thrilling 34-31 win. The trophy was awarded to the winner of the rivalry contest for the first time in 2018. The first time the Bucs and Mocs played for the Rail Trophy, which also got its start in 2018. The Bucs and Catamounts have met 54 times in series history, with the Catamounts holding a narrow 27-26-1 advantage after the Bucs claimed a 24-21 win in Johnson City last season.

That came on the heels of the most-lopsided meeting in series history the previous season, with the Catamounts claiming what was a 58-7 win the previous year in Cullowhee. The series began in 1932, with the Bucs winning 26-0 in Cullowhee. The ETSU-Chattanooga rivalry didn’t get its start until 1961 and when the two meet this season, it will mark the 48^th all-time clash, with the Mocs holding the 27-19-1 advantage.

DEFENSIVE SCHEME: Multiple/3-4

COACHES PRESEASON PROJECTION: 4^th

FCS NATION PRESEASON PROJECTION: 1^st

KEY OFFENSIVE RETURNERS: RB Devontae Houston (119 rush att, 648 yds, 3 TDs, 5.4 YPC in ‘24); WR Ephraim Floyd (22 rec, 326 yds, 2 TDs, 14.8 YPR in ‘24), Karim Page (30 rec, 373 yds, 12.4 YPR in ‘24); WR Hakeem Meggett (21 rec, 427 yds, 2 TDs, 20.3 YPR in ‘24); WR Xavier Gaillardetz (13 rec, 211 yds, 3 TDs, 16.2 YPR/11.5 yards-per-punt return in ‘24); RG William McCraw (Started 11 of 12 games for the Bucs along the OL in ‘24).

KEY OFFENSIVE DEPARTURES:  QB Jaylen King (transferred to Florida State); WR AJ Johnson (transferred to UAB), LG Gabe Thompson (started 11 of 12 games for ETSU in ‘24/out of eligibility), LT Jaquan Adams (first-team All-SoCon selection in ’24/entered transfer portal); OL Luke Smith (Jacobs Blocking Award winner in ‘24/out of eligibility); RT Derrell Bailey Jr. (second-team All-SoCon selection in ‘24/transferred to Georgia State), TE Cam Lewis (out of eligibility), RB Bryson Irby (second-team All-SoCon selection in ‘24/out of eligibility)

KEY DEFENSIVE RETURNERS:  DL Brendan LeBlanc (32 tackles, 2.5 TFL, 1.5 sacks, 1 FR in ‘24); DL Dailen Howard (22 tackles, 2.0 TFL, 1.0 sack, 1 FF in ‘24); LB Teddy Wilson (27 tackles, 3.0 TFL, 1.0 sack, 2 PBUs/1 rush att., 0 yds in ‘24); DB Mike Jenkins (14 tackles, 0.5 TFL, 2 passes defended in ‘24); DB Jimmy Bowdry (30 tackles, 0.5 TFL, 4 passes defended, 1 INT, 1 TD in ‘24); LB Ty Anderson (40 tackles, 4.5 TFL, 2.0 sacks, 2 passes defended in ’24); DB Ryan Barrett (26 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 2 passes defended in ’24); LB Dre Delinois (18 tackles in ’24)

KEY DEFENSIVE DEPARTURES: LB Zach West (second-team All-SoCon selection in ‘24/out of eligibility); DE Jaylen George (first-team All-SoCon selection in ‘24/transferred to Nebraska); DB Jayvon Henderson (transferred to South Alabama); LB Ray Coney (Transferred to Tulsa); LB William McRainey (out-of-eligibility); CB Cam Sims (out of eligibility); DB Jaden Woods (out of eligibility); DE Brandon Wilson (out of eligibility)

KEY SPECIAL TEAMS RETURNERS: P Nate Brackett (42.4 YPP); PK Ewan Johnson (Preseason second-team All-SoCon selection/13-of-20 on FGs/3-of-8 from 40-49 yds/60.5 yards-per-kickoff/17 TBs); PR Xavier Galliardetz (9.5 yards-per-punt-return)

KEY SPECIAL TEAMS DEPARTURES: KR/WR Khamran Laborn (19.3 yards-per-kickoff-return)

KEY TRANSFER PORTAL ADDITIONS: JACK LB/DE Chris Davis Jr (Georgia State); TE Cole Keller (Washburn); DL Brian Alston (Ole Miss); WR Jackson Crosby (Clemson); DL Kaven Call (Central Florida); DB Kendall Williams (Carson-Newman); QB Jacolby Criswell (North Carolina/Arkansas); QB Cade McNamara (Iowa/Michigan); DB Raymari Oggs (Northeastern Oklahoma A&M/Southwest Baptist); WR Sterling Galban (Jacksonville State/Texas Tech/UMass); DB William Wells (Central Florida); QB Jake McNamara (UTEP/New Mexico State); DB Kensly Johnson (Keiser); LB Qua Birdsong (Central Florida); DB CJ Gilmore (Keiser); DB Javion Clark (East Carolina); RB Jason Albritton (Ole Miss); Khalil Eichelberger (Grand Valley State); RB D’Marius Rucker (Coastal Carolina—Never played a snap at CCU); LB Jamari Farmer (Indiana—Never played a snap at IU); LB Trevor Moffitt (App State/Gardner-Webb); OL Jonathan Cline (Central Florida); OL Ashton Flinn (Murray State); TE Taharin Sudderth (Middle Tennessee State); TE Colin Rutland (Youngstown State); TE Charlie Browder (Central Florida/Tennessee); DL Ki’Shawn Harvey (Western Kentucky); DL Isaiah Potts (Campbell)

BRIEF OVERVIEW AND 2024 RECAP: East Tennessee State is coming off a 2024 season, which saw a four-win improvement and teased at even more. After an early-season setback to eventual national title winner North Dakota State, the thought was a playoff spot would have been the expectation. 

However, late losses at Mercer and vs. Furman left the Bucs at home on Thanksgiving Day without a playoff spot. To make matters worse, the Bucs hadn’t gotten more than two weeks into the off-season before having to replace their rookie head coach, Trey Lamb, who left for Tulsa after having spent less than a year in Johnson City. One hire later, the Bucs hired Will Healy, and he was able to procure a couple of high-profile transfer quarterbacks, in Cade McNamara (Iowa/Michigan) and Jacolby Criswell.

If you could sum up last season in one word for ETSU football it would be a disappointment. Yes, a four-win improvement would see the Bucs win at least seven games in a season for the first time since 2021, however, what will be remembered most about the 2024 campaign will be blowing a two-score lead in the final six minutes against eventual national title winner North Dakota State to lose a 38-35 heartbreaker.

A win over the Bison would have been arguably the biggest regular-season non-conference win in school history and would rival wins over No. 2 Georgia Southern in 2000, as well as a win over No. 6 Furman in that same season, which was part of the original version of ETSU football before its decade-plus hiatus from the gridiron. There was a five-turnover road loss at Mercer, and yet, even in the 37-31 defeat to the eventual league champions, the Bucs had their chances to win the football game.

The ultimate disappointment, however, would come on the heels of one of the biggest wins of the season—a 24-21 home win over Western Carolina to avenge a 51-7 loss from a year earlier—as the Bucs closed out the home slate with an embarrassing, 24-21, home loss to two-win Furman, which ultimately ended any thoughts of a postseason berth or competing for a Southern Conference title. With the quarterback issues now well in the past, the Bucs are ready to build on the good things they accomplished last year under a new head coach in a program with a renewed sense of pride and confidence, ready to carry the mantle of being one of the league’s title favorites heading into Will Healy’s first season as the head coach.

THE OFFENSE: For the third time in four years, ETSU will have a new head coach and that new head coach will be Will Healy, who takes over for Tre Lamb, who spent one season as the head coach in Johnson City before moving on to Tulsa. He helped get the program back on the right track, as the Bucs improved their record by four full wins from 2023 until the 2024 season.

Healy’s hiring didn’t go without some style and panache, as he was able to acquire a pair of high-profile transfer quarterbacks, in Cade McNamara (Iowa and Michigan) and Jacolby Criswell (North Carolina), as both will likely play and whomever is in the game, will have an array of talented offensive weapons at their disposal. Wide receiver sees a litany of both talented options returning and new ones brought in via the traditional recruiting route, or via the transfer portal.

A few of the highlighted returnees that are back in the fold for the Bucs include Hakeem Meggett, Xavier Galliardetz, and Ephraim Floyd include the veteran returnees, while others were added from the transfer portal like Jackson Crosby (Clemson) and Sterling Galban (UMass/Texas Tech/Jacksonville State) will give the receiving unit even more depth and potency. Running back should also be in good shape this fall, with the return of homerun hitter Devontae Houston, who is a threat to break a long scoring run every time he touches the ball, which he did so in games against App State (80-yd run) and Furman (62-yd run) last season.

Ole Miss transfer Jason Albritton (Ole Miss/USF) should complement the skills of Houston nicely in the Bucs backfield at 5-9, 220. The most intriguing addition to the ground game for the Bucs this fall might be Khalil Eichelberger, who comes to ETSU from NCAA Division II power Grand Valley State, where he finished out the 2024 season as the Lakers’ leading rushing, having gained 789 yards to go with nine rushing TDs, as he averaged an impressive 5.2 yards-per-carry last fall. The biggest question mark on the offensive side of the football is the offensive line, as the Bucs have to replace four of five starters from last season, with only right guard William McCraw is the lone returning regular from the 2024 unit. Ashton Flinn is ready to step in and start at center for the Bucs after transferring in from Murray State, where he saw action in 32 games over the course of three seasons with the Racers. Another position of interest is tight end where both Jonathan Burns and Eric Ruess have moved on, with portal additions like Charlie Browder (Tennessee/NC State) and Taharin Sudderth (Middle Tennessee State)

THE DEFENSE: ETSU has a lot to be excited about on the defensive side of the ball with the arrival of Chad Staggs, who will take over the defensive coordinator responsibilities for the Bucs this fall. He will bring back an aggressive, ball-pursuing and ball-hawking Bucs defense that fans will probably liken to some of those aggressive and fundamentally-sound units built under former longtime ETSU defensive coordinator Billy Taylor in recent seasons.

The defensive line loses some good ones like Jaylen George and Brandon Wilson, however, returns talents like defensive tackle Brenden LeBlanc could be an All-America candidate at defensive tackle as a junior in 2025.

Look for Jaden Pierce and Jai Barnes to step into more significant roles along the defensive front for the Bucs this fall, with others from the transfer portal like Brian Alston (Arkansas State), Isaiah Potts (Campbell/Charlotte) and Kaven Call (Central Florida) looking to provide immediate support along the defensive front. Potts logged action in nine games for Campbell last season, posting 17 tackles, three tackles-for-loss, one sack and recovered a fumble in his lone season in Buies Creek.

Like the defensive line, the linebacking unit also lost both experience and talent, with Zach West, William McRainey, and Ray Coney all needing to be replaced. The good news is that Teddy Wilson, who is one of the best athletes on the team, as well as others like Ty Anderson and Nick Hunter, who are both coming off of a strong first seasons for the Blue and Gold after transferring in from Gardner-Webb, and that trio will form a core of experience in the middle of the ETSU defense this fall. 

Trevor Moffitt (Gardner-Webb and App State) will likely be another in line to challenge for a starting spot at linebacker, as he logged action in 27-career games as both a Bulldog and Mountaineer prior to his arrival in Johnson City this past spring. He has posted 73 tackles, 10.5 TFL and five sacks during his career in both Boiling Springs and Boone.

The Bucs also added potential immediate impact players like Chris Davis Jr. (Georgia State), Qua Birdsong (Central Florida),  Jamari Farmer (Indiana) and Drew Francis (Middle Tennessee State) to help bolster the unit. Veteran safety Mike Jenkins and All-SoCon and top cover-corner Jimmy Bowdry headline the returnees in the secondary for ETSU. Bowdry had a key pick-six in the Bucs’ win at The Citadel last season and was also one of the best tacklers as a part of that Bucs secondary unit, finishing with 30 tackles to go with four pass breakups to close out the 2024 campaign.

Tywan Royal is also back at corner and could be in line to start alongside Bowdry on the other side, while transfer portal additions Javion Clark (East Carolina) and William Wells (Central Florida) look like nice additions to help add depth on the last line of defense for ETSU.

KEY NON-CONFERENCE GAME: at West Georgia (Sept. 13)—In what is an intriguing non-conference schedule for East Tennessee State, no game stands out more than the contest with West Georgia. The Wolves defeated Samford last season in the season opener, and this game amounts to what could be referred to as the “classic trap game” on the Bucs schedule. The Wolves, who knocked off Samford 38-29 last season in Carrollton in what was their first-ever FCS football game, will open the season with the return game on the road at Pete Hanna Stadium to face Samford in an Aug. 28 Thursday night contest under the lights in Homewood.

The Wolves finished a respectable 4-7 overall, but were just 1-7 overall in the United Athletic Conference (UAC), with the win over the Bulldogs accounting for one of their two Division I wins last season, with Utah Tech being the only other. The Wolves were in every game, however, and had some impressive performances along the way in 2024, including a 34-33 loss to then No. 13 Central Arkansas, as well as a 20-16 setback to Austin Peay representing two of them, showing that not only could head coach Joel Taylor’s team compete, they were capable of beating the best the UAC had to offer in competition.

With that said, the Wolves welcome back quarterback Davin Wydner, who started eight of 11 games for the Wolves last season, connecting on 142-of-229 passes for 1,718 yards, with nine scores, while also rushing for 249 yards and seven touchdowns on 66 attempts. The Ole Miss transfer opened his UWG career in style by passing for 271 yards and a pair of scores in leading the Wolves to that season-opening stunner over Samford in what was a historic start for the Wolves as an FCS member. ETSU and UWG have never met on the football gridiron prior to the 2025 season.

KEY CONFERENCE GAME: at Chattanooga (Oct. 18)—It will be another rivalry with a little hardware on the line, when East Tennessee State and Chattanooga meet to decide who wins the Rail Rivalry and take home the 90-lb rail-tie trophy. Chattanooga has been the team that has dominated this series since the rebirth of the Bucs football program in 2015.

In fact, since re-joining the Southern Conference in 2016, the Mocs have won seven of the eight total meetings between the two, which includes gutting out a 17-10 win in Johnson City last season, as Mocs running back Reggie Davis scored on a 1-yard scoring plunge with just 43 seconds remaining. Both Chattanooga and East Tennessee State will be replacing starting quarterbacks this fall, with the Mocs having seen Chase Artopoeus move on due to graduation, while ETSU has seen the departures of all three quarterbacks—Jaylen King, Gino English and Baylor Hayes—that started last season, as the trio of quarterbacks have made a run for the transfer portal. The Bucs have arguably the two most high-profile additions to the quarterback spot from the transfer portal in all of FCS football during the off-season, with the additions of both Cade McNamara (Iowa and Michigan) and Jacoby Criswell (North Carolina) set to see action under center this fall.

Replacing Artopoeus under center for Chattanooga will likely be one of the following trio, in Luke Schomburg, Matthew Clemmer and Camden Orth. Orth transferred into Chattanooga from Bowling Green, while both Schmoburg and Clemmer are already in the program, having both been on the depth chart behind Artopoeus each of the past two seasons. UTC will be under the direction of seventh-year head coach Rusty Wright, who will likely need to get the Mocs to the FCS playoffs this fall to retain his head coaching post for 2026.

The Bucs, of course, also have a new head coach, in Will Healy, who will be somewhat familiar with the rivalry that exists between Chattanooga and ETSU from his time as the head coach of Austin Peay, where he took the Govs from a doormat program of FCS football to a perennial OVC title contender, as well as being a perennial FCS playoff contender.

Despite Chattanooga’s dominance in the eight meetings since ETSU resurrected its football program, most of the games have been close, with six of the last eight meetings being decided by a touchdown or less. The Bucs will be in search of their first win over the Mocs since a 24-22 triumph over the Mocs on Nov. 11, 2000, inside the Mocs’ current home of Finley Stadium. All told, the Mocs and Bucs will be meeting for the 47^th time this fall, with Chattanooga holding a 26-19-1 all-time series edge. This game will go a long way in deciding which team will remain a viable candidate in the Southern Conference title race and FCS playoff race, and which team will likely find themselves on the outside looking in.

QUOTABLE: Coach Will Healy on ETSU being a different job than the two he previously held as a head coach in that he inherits a program prepared to win right away and what he must do better as a coach in comparisons to his previous two head coaching stops at Charlotte and Austin Peay.

“This [East Tennessee State] is a very different job than the Austin Peay job or the Charlotte job in that I thought it was prepared from day one to win more than we lose…this is not a…trying to have the first winning season in school history job or try and break a 45-game losing streak and so there’s an expectation that’s here and that’s my first time really inheriting any of that and the core principles of how you build a program and how you run a program and how you build relationships and what it should feel like in your building have not changed for me…the attention to detail…the ability to remove myself from the CEO seat and be more entrenched in the football aspect are things I have to do a better job of this time around.

FINAL SYNOPSIS: ETSU has the most talented team in the Southern Conference. At least that’s the way it would appear on paper, but of course we also know that is why we play the games and to see if the paper really aligns with the reality of what is true. That said, I think the Bucs will have a nationally ranked, balanced offense that will be as explosive as anyone in the nation if they can get the offensive line situation sorted out. The defense looks solid once again, and it will be interesting to see if the Bucs are as good of a run-stopping unit as they were a year ago, having to break in so many new faces among the front seven. Whatever the case may be, there is no doubt the Bucs have the talent to win the league for a third time since the program was brought back in 2015, and that's exactly what I think will happen.