SoCon Football 2026: Saturday's Opening Week Previews and Predictions

Earlier this week, I detailed the game of the week in the Southern Conference, which will be the lone league game of the weekend, as The Citadel travels to Wofford to open the 2026 football season, as well as the league slate. Below are the rest of the opening night previews on the SoCon gridiron.

 Game 4: Campbell (0-0, 0-0 CAA) at East Tennessee State (0-0, 0-0 SoCon)

                Date: Aug. 29, 2026

                Location: Johnson City, Tenn/William B. Greene Jr. Stadium

                Time: 5:30 P.M. EST

                How To Watch: ESPN+

                ETSU Head Coach: Will Healy (35-50 in 9th Yr/7-5 in 2nd Yr at ETSU)

                    Campbell Head Coach: Braxton Harris (18-47 in 7th Yr/5-19 in 3rd Yr at Campbell)

                    Series: First Meeting

                    Players To Watch For ETSU: QB Mason Mims (Offense)/DL Brendan LeBlanc

                    Players To Watch For Campbell: QB Kamden Sixkiller (Offense)/DE/Edge                                       DeVonyae Pettis

Previewing The Matchup: East Tennessee State will open year two of the Will Healy era in the friendly confines of William B. Greene Jr. Stadium against the Campbell Camels, and like last season's 45-17 walloping Murray State of the Missouri Valley Football Conference, 45-17, in last season's opener. 

That should've been a harbinger of a good season to follow for Healy in his first season in Johnson City, but it quite simply wasn't even though the Bucs won their last four games of the season to finish 7-5. ETSU has found ways to blow leads in games over the past couple of seasons, especially last season in which ETSU blew double-digit advantages in four of their losses to FCS foes in 2025.

Unlike the two-quarterback system employed by Healy and the Bucs two years ago, this time around will feature a more traditional approach, with Louisville transfer Mason Mims winning the starting job in fall camp. 

ETSU rushed for 2,378 yards last season, which ranks as the fifth-most rushing yards in program history. Quay Holmes and Jacob Saylors were part of some of the greatest running teams in ETSU history, with that duo ranking up there with some of those greats from another era, like Brandon Walker in the late 1990s and George Searcy in the late ‘80s. 

With Devonte Houston having graduated, it will be the “next man up” in the backfield for the Bucs this fall. Houston was outstanding in ’25 for the Bucs last season, rushing for 1,008 yards and 13 scores out of the backfield, and was also a threat as a big-play option in the passing game with his tremendous speed, leaving a tremendous hole at running back with his departure.

Returning from last season’s unit and two players that figure to factor in prominently among this season’s unit will be Jason Albritton and Jaiden Daniels. Albritton, a redshirt senior, was a preseason All-SoCon First-Team selection and the redshirt junior logged his first action in a Blue and Gold uniform in ’25 after spending his previous three seasons at the FBS level, which included stops at South Florida and Ole Miss. 

Albritton is a battering ram of a running back with decent speed in the open field. The 5-9, 222-lb native of Lithia Springs, FL., finished second on the team in rushing yards last season, posting 518 yards and eight touchdowns, averaging a solid 5.0 YPC.

Daniels is offers a bit of a change-up to the 222-lb Albritton, as the 5-6, 167-lb redshirt freshman is a speed merchant coming out of the ETSU backfield. He saw limited action in only four games last season, retaining his redshirt season and finished the campaign with 13 rushing attempts for 104 yards (8.0 YPC). His top performance was seven carries for 47 yards in the win over VMI.

While D’Marius Rucker saw action in two games as a redshirt freshman after transferring in from Coastal Carolina prior to last season, look for Georgia State transfer TJ Peyton, who comes to Johnson City with three years of eligibility remaining. Due to his tremendous speed, Peyton saw action in 10 games for the Panthers last season, mostly as a kick return threat, leading Georgia State with an impressive 365 kick-return yards.

Much like the running backs room, the wide receivers and tight ends rooms will be ones that have plenty of new faces in them this fall, as the Bucs lose their top four pass-catchers from a year ago. Leading the way this season will be the top tight end in the SoCon, or at least that’s what the head coaches think and they might be right, as Charlie Browder proved to be more than a reliable and capable target in the ETSU passing attack this past fall.

Browder comes off a ’25 season, which saw him log action in all 12 games, including starting five of those against Tennessee, Elon, Chattanooga, Wofford and Samford. Browder finished the ’25 season by hauling in 17 passes for 254 yards and a pair of scores. The 6-7, 254-lb senior has outstanding size and a reliable pair of hands. Browder enters the ’26 campaign as a First-Team All-SoCon selection.

With the four top receivers having moved on, the Bucs will look to mostly newcomers to fill the void, but a guy like veteran redshirt senior Xavier Galliardetz should get the opportunity to shine this fall as the only holdover that has gotten meaningful reps during his ETSU career.  

Galliardetz has been loyal to the Bucs throughout his career, as the redshirt senior has been a lethal return threat at times in his previous three seasons at ETSU, as well as having been a solid option in the Bucs passing game, having hauled in 39 passes for 720 yards and seven scores in his Bucs career.

Tommy Winton III returns to Johnson City after spending the past two campaigns at Tennessee. Winton III returns to Johnson City, where he spent his first three seasons as a wideout for the Bucs. He played 14-career games with ETSU prior to transferring to UT, and his best season came in 2023, hauling in 23 passes for 349 yards.

Other newcomers expected to join Winton III and be a big part of this newly formed ETSU passing attack for the ’26 season are FBS transfers Brandon Winton (USF), Trey Weary (Tennessee), Sudarian Harrison (Virginia), and Tyler Griffin (UL Monroe) will all factor in as potential receiving options this fall. Harrison is a 5-9, 182-lb senior from McCormick, S.C., and is a solid option, with good hands and route-running abilities. He played in 24 games during his three seasons at Virginia, hauling in 22 passes for 255 yards.

Rounding out the offense for ETSU heading into the ’26 season will be a re-tooled offensive line, with only three players—Will McCraw, Micah Sumpter and Frank West—having logged meaningful action in an ETSU career prior to this season as a part of the offensive line. Gone are Frankie Tinilau, Seth Williams, Ashton Flinn, Cole Norred and Jay Wade, who featured in nearly every game last season for the Bucs as a part of the two-deep.

McCraw will add the veteran leadership and is the most talented returnee along the offensive front, and he redshirted last season after suffering a preseason season-ending injury in camp. He likely projects as ETSU’s starter at right guard and was a preseason First-Team All-SoCon selection, starting 11 of 12 games for the Bucs last season.

Sumpter saw action in all 12 games for the Bucs last season, playing a key role at both tackle positions. He garnered his first-career start against Mercer in the 38-34 loss, while posting his most snaps of the season—84—in ETSU’s memorable 52-35 win over Blue Ridge Border Battle rival Western Carolina. 

Maddox Radcliffe is another of the old guard still around from the offensive line, having played sparingly on both lines in his three seasons at ETSU. He made the transition from defensive line to offense line following the ’24 season.

The transfer class brought in to provide reinforcements along an offensive front that helped ETSU average almost 200 YPG last season will have some local appeal, with transfers Cal Grubbs (Liberty/Maryville HS), Sam Browder (Memphis/Kingsport, TN/Christ School (NC) and Ty Williams (Austin Peay/Greeneville HS) all having either played or grown up within the immediate area. 

The most impressive addition from the FBS ranks might be Noah Anker, who comes to Johnson City from Stillwater and Oklahoma State where he spent the previous two campaigns. The redshirt sophomore saw action in six games for the Cowboys last season, and at 6-8, 332-lbs, is one of the most imposing offensive linemen in the SoCon. 

Defensively, the Bucs will once again be one of the more aggressive defensive teams in the SoCon under the direction of Chad Staggs, but they will have be a lot better on the back end. 

The Bucs finished the season ranking 116th out of 126 FCS teams ranked in passing yards allowed (264 YPG) last fall. That is an issue that Staggs was able to address this past offseason, as the Bucs welcomed in plenty of new talent in the secondary to mesh what was also returning. All told, only four of 11 regulars on the defensive side of the football return from last season. 

Returning to anchor the defensive line will be Brenden LeBlanc, who was a preseason First-Team All-SoCon selection. The 5-11, 270-lb senior from Marrero, LA., saw action in all 12 games a year ago, starting 10 of those contests. He finished off his 2025 campaign by posting 31 tackles and 1.5 sacks, turning his best performance of the season in the loss to the Bears, as finished with eight tackles.

Set to add more fuel to the pass-rush this season is Isaiah Potts, seeing plenty of action in his first season with the Bucs last season, playing in 11 of 12 games he was apart of after transferring in from Campbell. He finished the season with 10 tackles and half-a-sack, with his most action of the season having been logged against Tennessee, seeing action on a season-best 47 snaps.

While Potts and LeBlanc will likely start at the two defensive tackle spots, there are several candidates to fill in the primary defensive end spot this fall for the Bucs. The Bucs hit the portal and brought in some promising candidates to fill the role vacated by Kaven Call, who has since moved on to Middle Tennessee State. One of those looking to win a starting spot on the defensive line is T.A. Cunningham, who transferred into the Bucs football program from Garden City Community College after starting his collegiate playing career at Penn State. 

A product of Grayson High School, the Atlanta, GA., native was rated as a consensus four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 39 defensive end in the country by ESPN. In only three games as a freshman at Garden City, Cunningham posted five tackles, three tackles-for-loss and a pair of sacks. 

The 6-5, 264-lb sophomore has good size and instincts and will have a chance to put up some big numbers in the SoCon this fall if he can win the starting job.

Xavier Porter (Louisville), Yasir Smith (North Carolina), and Tyreek’e Robinson (UCF) are all players that joined Cunningham in coming to ETSU from experience within a power four program. Smith might be the most impressive player with the best upside of the trio, as the Summerville, S.C., native spent one season at North Carolina, where he showed his athleticism making the transition to the offensive side of the ball to play tight end. 

A three-star recruit out of Summerville HS, the 6-4, 272-lb Smith will make the move back to defensive end where he will figure prominently in the plans of Staggs this fall as a potential starter at defensive end. 

The Bucs edge rusher/’Jack’ linebacker could be either KJ Gillespie or Elijah Taylor.  Those appear to be the primary competitors in line to replace Nick Hunter. Taylor, a senior and a veteran leader of the defense as a member of the linebacking unit in each of the previous three seasons, has seen action in 24 total games over the previous two campaigns and had 12 tackles, a blocked kick, half-a-sack, a quarterback hurry and a blocked kick last season for ETSU. 

Gillespie was one of the most impressive freshmen signed in the most recent class by ETSU, as he is a three-star recruit, according to 247Sports. He had offers from Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and West Virginia before choosing ETSU. The 6-4, 244-lb true freshman has impressive speed and power off the edge, and the rookie could not only win the starting job, but be one of the top edge rushers in the SoCon this fall. 

Ayden Guess will certainly be in the mix to start as well, touting some reputable experience after transferring in from Northeastern State where he played in 21 games in his career there, posting 44 tackles, 13.5 tackles-for-loss, four sacks, a pass breakup and forced a fumble. 

All told, a crop of six new linebackers will be part of the newly fashioned defense from the portal, however, there are still some ‘old heads’ around looking to work their way into a more prominent role as a part of the unit this fall. Guys like Qua Birdsong, Dre Dellinois, Jeremiah Curry and Jamari Farmer are all back and ready to compete for a spot as a primary contributor in the unit this fall. 

Delinois, who is a Second-Team All-SoCon preseason choice, seems among the most likely to do so, as he has been a significant contributor in three seasons with the Bucs. 

Last season was Delinois’ best to day in an ETSU uniform, playing in 11 of 12 games and finishing fourth on the team in total tackles, finishing with 45 tackles and a tackle-for-loss. Birdsong also made some significant contributions to the Bucs’ linebacking unit last season, finishing with 31 tackles, 1.5 tackles-for-loss and 1.5 sacks, as he logged action in all 12 games last fall. 

The Bucs secondary has some playmakers within it. It also has plenty of question marks that couldn’t be answered last season. The good news is that three of five players returning on the back end of the defense has starting experience, and while there are questions, they don’t appear to be at safety where a pair of preseason all-league performers return in ‘nickel’ Jivon Oggs and safety Mike Jenkins. 

Both Jenkins and Oggs should provide one of the top safety units in the SoCon this fall and both are on the SoCon’s preseason all-league roster, as Jenkins will start the season as a member of the league’s first-team, while Oggs highlights the Bucs on the second team. 

The 2025 campaign was Oggs’ first as a part of the Bucs’ program, as he transferred in from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, as ETSU became his third stop along his own personal college football odyssey, starting his career at Southwest Baptist. 

Last season, Oggs saw action in all 12 contests for ETSU and was one of seven Bucs defenders to finish out the season with 40 or more tackles, finishing the season with 43 tackles, 3.0 tackles-for-loss, four pass breakups, two INTs, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and half-a-sack. Oggs tallied INTs against West Georgia and Murray State last season, while all four of his pass breakups came in the loss at Chattanooga.  His eight tackles in the road win over No. 25 Western Carolina also marked a season-high total. 

While Oggs will find himself as the primary nickel safety/linebacker, Jenkins will be fourth season as a part of the ETSU defense has seen action in 31 total games with ETSU, which includes starting all 12 last season. The preseason first-team all-conference selection finished third on the team in tackles, recording 59 stops last fall, while he also contributed 2.5 tackles-for-loss, three pass breakups and a pair of INTs.

The one key missing component at safety for ETSU is at the other safety spot where William Wells and Ryan Barrett have both moved on. A player that could make that natural progression into the starting spot vacated by Wells this fall is senior Tennessee Tech transfer Devin Hunter, who was a significant contributor for the Golden Eagles over the course of his three years spent in Cookeville.

In his three years with Tech, Hunter finished by seeing action in 28 games and posted 42 tackles, intercepted a pair of passes, recovered a fumble and blocked a kick over the course of his three seasons with the Golden Eagles. 

Redshirt freshman Brycen Dowdell and sophomore JUCO transfer Caleb Cooper (Blinn College) could also compete for time at safety this fall. Cooper was a standout at Blinn College, posting 79 tackles (66 solo), five INTs, one tackle-for-loss and one pass breakup in his lone season there. He has the potential to be an instant impact player on the back end for the Bucs at safety this fall. 

At cornerback, the Bucs welcome the return of Jimmy Bowdry, who will be in his third season playing corner for the Bucs after transferring in from Gardner-Webb back in the spring of 2024. Bowdry played in and started 11 of 12 games for ETSU in 2025, finishing the campaign with 40 tackles, two tackles-for-loss, five pass breakups and an INT. 

In competition to start at the other cornerback spot for the Bucs this fall will be senior CJ Gilmore and redshirt freshman Ramani Bruton. In his first season with the Bucs last season after transferring in from Keiser University, Gilmore served as a backup behind Kensly Johnson and logged time in 10 of 12 games for the Bucs in ’25, posting seven tackles and a pass breakup. 

Campbell enters its season opener coming off a forgettable 2-10 campaign last season, which was one that most folks in Buies Creek would rather forget. Braxton Harris will be in his third year leading the Camels' football program, as he has posted just a 5-19 mark in his first two seasons at the helm. 

The pressure to win and win now has likely placed Harris in an uncomfortable spot as a coach on the hotseat in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) entering his third season at the helm.

The Camels were selected to finish eighth in the 13-team CAA this fall. Last season, the Camels dropped a pair contests against SoCon opposition, falling in both in the friendly confines of Barker-Lane Stadium. The Camels lost a 28-24 contest against Furman before dropping a 42-35 game to Western Carolina a couple of weeks later.

The Camels have overhauled the defensive staff during the off-season, as the third-year head coach was not pleased with that side of the ball last season. Campbell finished the season ranked 99th nationally in total defense (411.7 YPG) and 111th in scoring defense (35.8 PPG) last season. 

The Camels were explosive offensively at times a year ago, and that explosiveness was thanks in large part to the combination of both quarterback Kamden Sixkiller and running back JJ Cowan, as both return to the fold this fall and will make Campbell potentially one of the top offensive units in the CAA this fall. 

Sixkiller alone was worth the price of admission in 2025 for the Camels offense, as he finished the season by passing for 2,012 yards and 12 TDs, with five INTs. He was the Camels' third-leading rusher last season, as he finished out the season with 206 yards and three TDs on 74 rush attempts. In the loss to Western Carolina, Sixkiller was able to pass for 205 yards, with a touchdown and INT.

JJ Cowan also returns to the Campbell backfield this fall after turning in what was a solid 2025 season, as he would lead the Camels with 402 yards and five TDs on the ground on 85 attempts (4.7 YPC) last fall. Cowan also hauled in eight passes for 39 yards and a score out of the backfield a year ago.

Sixkiller and Cowan were part of a Campbell offense that averaged 23.4 PPG and 346.1 YPG last season, but it was the lack of having a consistent ground game which ended up costing the Campbell offense most of all last season, as the Camels averaged just 119.4 YPG on the ground a year ago, which ranked in the bottom third of FCS football a year ago. 

The offensive line was the major issue, and the one main consistent performer for the Camels along the offensive front--left tackle Freddie Pelling--has transferred out of the program to play for West Georgia in 2026.

While Pelling was the best and most consistent performer along the offensive front last season for the Camels, the silver lining is that three starters return along the offensive front heading into 2025, as Campbell looks to improve its ground game this fall. 

While not an offense that is predicated on the run, Campbell's run-and-shoot type offense will need it to be good enough to make the prolific passing attack work for Sixkiller and co. in 2026. CenterJayden Colvin, left guard Kameron Durant, and right guard Mason Merriwether all return for the Camels heading into 2026. 

The taller order for the Camels will be overall improvement on the defensive side of the football. 

While this game could be close for a while, ETSU is better at nearly every position and I think they will ring up an opening night win in similar fashion to the way they did against the Racers to open the season a year ago. 

FINAL PREDICTION: ETSU 40, Campbell 20

                                                                                                                                                                            

Game 5: VMI (0-0, 0-0 CAA) at Idaho State(0-0, 0-0 Big Sky)

           Date: Aug. 29, 2026

           Location: Pocatello, ID/Holt Arena

           Time: 6 P.M. EST

               How To Watch: ESPN+

               VMI Head Coach: Ashley Ingram (16-6 in 3rd Yr overall/0-0 in 1st Yr at VMI)

               Idaho State Head Coach: Cody Hawkins (14-21, 4th Yr at ISU)

               Series: First Meeting

               Players To Watch For VMI: RB Leo Boeling (Offense)/DL/LB Isaiah Grevious (Defense)

               Players To Watch For Idaho State: QB Jordan Cooke (Offense)/DB Jaxin Patterson                    (Defense)

Previewing The Matchup: One of the matchups that is the most intriguing of the non-conference slate will be the one between VMI and Idaho State at Holt Arena, as SoCon meets Big Sky in a rare regular-season clash. Traditionally, both VMI and ISU are bottom dwellers in their respective conferences, but there is a quiet optimism surrounding both entering 2026.

For VMI, it will be under the direction of a new head coach, in Ashley Ingram, who takes the helm of the program following three seasons under Danny Rocco, who left to take a job at Virginia Tech as a member of James Franklin's staff in Blacksburg.

Idaho State enters the season receiving votes and will be a dark horse to make a run at the Big Sky title this fall under the leadership of Cody Hawkins, who enters his fourth season at the helm in Pocatello.  That momentum moving into '26 comes of a '25 campaign which saw the Bengals finish 6-6 overall, including a 5-3 record in Big Sky action last season.

The Bengals are probably more known at the FCS level for producing former Minnesota Vikings "sack master" Jared Allen than for anything they've done on a national level at the FCS level over the past three decades. 

Allen would enjoy a standout career in Pocatello from 2000-03, becoming one of the best pass-rushers to ever play at any level of college football, and he concluded his standout career with the Bengals by claiming the 2003 Buck Buchanan Award, which is given annually by STATS Perform FCS to the top defensive player in the classification. 

Allen was drafted in the fourth round by Kansas City--The same place the award's namesake Buck Buchanan's home where he spent a majoirty of his career--but Allen's time as a Minnesota Viking is where he made his biggest impact in the NFL. 

It has been 45 years since the Bengals knocked off Eastern Kentucky, 34-23, in the Division I-AA (Now FCS) national championship game in Wichita Falls, TX., to claim the school's greatest athletic achievement. 

Like by quarterback Mike Machurek, who threw for 330 yards in what would be the final of his eight 300-yard passing performances, as the Bengals completed one of the most miraculous stories in the history of FCS football, as the Bengals when from an 0-11 record just two years later in 1979 to lifting a national title trophy in 1981. 

There is so much optimism in Pocatello with the return of a veteran quarterback, in Jordan Cooke, who returns after throwing for 3,040 yards and 16 touchdowns last season. Waiting in the wings is Dave Harsin helps change things up under center as a complement to Cooke's talents as a passer, while 1,000-yard rusher Dason Brooks (rushed for 1,007 yds in 2025) is back to lead the ground game. 

The biggest losses for the Bengals occurred at wide receiver, as Michael Shulikov and Tsion Nunnally have both moved on, but ISU welcomes to return of Cheldon James, who is a former Bengals wideout, garnering First-Team All-Big Sky and was a All-America performer back in 2023, as he finished that season ranked fourth nationally in receiving yards, with 1,045 yards to go with eight scoring catches on 102 total receptions. James has spent the past couple of seasons away at both Fresno State and Incarnate Word, respectively. 

Julian Mason is a veteran that returns to the fold, while reinforcements from the portal come in the form of West Virginia State transfer Amare Ary, as well as Western New Mexico transfer Anthony Flores. 

The offensive line is considered to be one of the best units in the Big Sky entering the '26 season, as its a unit that has allowed just three sacks in 489 pass attempts in 2025, which led the nation in a 0.6 percent sack rate. The unit will be anchored All-American and senior offensive tackle Stryker Rashid.

All told, ISU offers as much of a challenge offensively as anyone VMI will face this season, and that includes the week two clash against Virginia Tech. The Bengals led the Big Sky in offensive output last season, while ranking seventh overall nationally, averaging 459.6 YPG. The Bengals also had the Big Sky's most prolific passing attack, averaging 302.8 YPG. 

On the defensive side of the ball is where the improvements need to be made if the Bengals can seriously entertain thoughts of winning a conference title. The Bengals ranked 104th of 126 FCS teams ranked in total defense last season, surrendering 418.8 YPG, while surrendering 27.5 PPG to rank 75th nationally in scoring defense. 

Topping the returnees on the defensive side of the ball include is defensive end Bronson Childs, who will challenge for All-Big Sky honors this fall, as he filled the stat sheet for ISU last season. Childs completed the '25 campaign with 48 tackles, 9.5 tackles-for-loss, 3.5 sacks and recovered a pair of fumbles. 

The second level is paced by Nathan Reynolds, finishing the '25 campaign as the Bengals' second-leading tackler, finishing the season with 81 tackles and an INT. Jaxin Patterson will add some reinforcement to the linebacking unit, as he comes to ISU from Truman State where he posted 75 tackles and intercepted three passes last fall. 

VMI is a team that will be transitioning into a new look on the offensive side of the ball under new head coach Ashley Ingram, who takes over as the head coach after two seasons at Carson-Newman and prior to that, was a longtime assistant at the Naval Academy.

“It was the first time I had been a head coach but I can got a chance to figure a lot out about being a head coach, but where I did a lot of my on-the-job training and kind of being groomed to be a head coach was during my 17 years at the Naval Academy,” new head coach Ashley Ingram said at SoCon Media Day in late July.

One of the shrewdest hires made by any of the new coaches in the offseason was that of Ingram, hiring former The Citadel offensive coordinator Brent Thompson to take the reins of the Keydets offense this fall. 

Thompson is a coach that sports reputable experience in his own right, leading some of the best ground attacks in the country during his seven seasons as the head coach of the Bulldogs, including leading The Citadel to a Southern Conference title in his first season as the head coach.

“I am an offensive guy and my relationship with coach Thompson goes back to our days spent together on staff at Bucknell and so we speak the same language and with the same terminology and I can throw an idea at him and he’ll know exactly what I am talking about and vice versa,” Ingram said. 

With the change in offensive style, former starter Collin Shannon saw the writing on the wall, and the dropback passer decided to move on to Murray State via the transfer portal. During his career at VMI, Shannon completed 247-of-442 passes for 2,936 yards, with 15 TDs and 12 INTs over much of what seemed like an injury-plagued playing career.

There are several candidates to replace the outgoing Collin Shannon under center for VMI this season and those will include the following candidates: true freshman Caden Baugh; Junior JoJo Crump; RS Junior Chandler Wilson; sophomore Nana Utsey; sophomore Ian Reynolds; and RS Sophomore Cody Shelton.

Nana Utsey is a guy that immediately stands out that could very well excel in Brent Thompson's presumed option offense. Utsey possesses all the necessary tools to be successful attributes to be successful in this type of offensive unit. Utsey logged action in nine games last season, rushing for 197 yards and three scores on 57 attempts, while also finishing the season by completing 15-of-41 passes for 215 yards with a pair of INTs. Utsey garnered his first-career start in the regular-season finale vs. Western Carolina.

Both Wilson and Crump bring experience with starts under their proverbial belts. Wilson started two games just this past season, as he finished out the season connecting on 26-of-54 passes for 197 yards, with a touchdown and an INT. JoJo Crump has seen over the past two seasons under center, but he's mostly been a threat in 'wildcat' situations. His skillset, much like Utsey's, would help enhance this offense overall.

The change in offensive philosophy will be a welcomed change, and it will hearken back to VMI's option roots, giving the Keydets the most sensible chance to be successful in the SoCon this fall.

As far as the rest of the offense is concerned, the Keydets will have a capable bowling ball of a running back to lead the offense, in rising senior Leo Boehling. Boehling comes off a 2025 campaign, which saw him post 537 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, as he logged 128 attempts (4.2 YPC) as the Keydets' leading rusher this past season. Boeling was a preseason all-league selection and is a throwback to another era, featuring a bruising, physical running style.

Another candidate to draw plenty of attention as a running back in the VMI backfield this fall is Aslin Shipe. The junior from Ashburn, VA., comes off a 2025 campaign which saw him rush for 270 yards and a touchdown on 67 attempts this past fall, as he averaged 4.0 YPC.

Keydets fans are excited about the prospects of former Carson-Newman recruit and athlete Drew Parrott getting an opportunity to show what he can do in this new Keydets offense after he was a standout quarterback as a prep at Bearden HS, where he threw for 5,504 yards and 52 TDs in four years. He will compete for a spot on the VMI depth chart as a running back this fall.

Drew Ray is another running back coming aboard out of the Volunteer State where he was a standout running back, finishing as a finalist for Mr. Football in the state of Tennessee where he was an All-State selection after rushing for 1,642 yards and 32 TDs as a senior in 2025.

At wide receiver, the Keydets lost potentially their biggest offensive weapon from a year ago, in big-play threat Owen Sweeney, who has opted to continue his career at Marshall University after putting together a strong season for VMI this past season, hauling in 44 passes for 723 yards and a team-leading scores, averaging 16.4 YPR. Also gone is Noah Grievous from the receiving unit, as he led VMI in receiving yards as a redshirt freshman last season, hauling in 52 passes for 728 yards, including three TDs (14.0 YPR) last season.

Stony Brook transfer Brooks Martin is a candidate to be an immediate playmaker at wide receiver this fall, as well as other younger, up-and-coming talents at receiver like rising sophomore Treveion Slaughter.

Just two regulars return along the offensive line for the Keydets this fall, with left tackle Tristan Woodley and right guard Chase Aslett returning to try and help an offense see some kind of improvement after coming off a season which saw VMI rank 111th nationally (291.8 YPG) last fall.

Defensively, as you might imagine, things weren't much better for a team that struggled so much as a whole last season, as VMI completed the campaign with just a 1-11 overall record. Jared Backus is the newly announced defensive coordinator for the red and gold heading into the 2026 season after coming aboard from Cornell where he was the defensive coordinator and associate head coach.

The defensive line will see the return of veterans Elijah Brooks and Jacob Moore, as the Keydets will have a little continuity up front back for the 2026 season.

Three of four starters are back that started at linebacker last season for the Keydets, as outside linebackers EJ Wilburne and Henry Berling both return, as does inside linebacker Camden Clinton. 

Isaiah Grievous is the leading returning tackler on the defensive side of the ball, and he figures to step into Stephen Dean III's vacated defensive line spot vacated inside linebacker spot where he posted 60 tackles, 7.0 tackles-for-loss and 1.5 sacks last season. He also recovered a pair of fumbles and forced one fumble for VMI last fall.

Kouri Crump is a major loss to the secondary, which is a unit that has completely been overhauled during the off-season. 

FINAL PREDICTION: ISU 48, VMI 17

Game 6: East Texas A&M (0-0, 0-0) at No. Mercer (0-0, 0-0 SoCon)

                Date: Aug. 29, 2026

                Location: Macon, GA/Five Star Stadium

                Time: 7 p.m. EST

                How To Watch: ESPN+

                East Texas A&M Head Coach: Clint Dolezel (7-27/4th Yr)

                    Mercer Head Coach: Joel Taylor (12-10 in 3rd Yr/1st Yr at MU )

                    Series: First Meeting

                    Players To Watch For Mercer: WR Brayden Smith (Offense)/DE Kobe McInnis                                (Defense)

                    Players To Watch For East Texas A&M: QB Eric Rodriguez (Offense)/LB Jaheim                            Lowe (Defense)

Previewing The Matchup: 

Mercer opens its 2026 season in the friendly confines of Five Star Stadium in the FCS Classic, which is a luxury not to ever be taken for granted. It's not just the home crowd that makes a difference, but it's allows you the ability to determine if they game can be played or resumed if there is a weather delay, which is definitely something the Bears could not do when they opened the campaign in the FCS Classic in a neutral venue last season.

The Bears saw their game with No. 14 UC Davis declared a "no contest" after about a three-hour lightning delay last season. The Bears had momentum in the game and were driving for what could have been the game-winning score when the game was halted with 7:46 remaining only to never be resumed.  Fortunately for Mercer, the game didn't end up costing them an FCS Playoff spot, but the way things went last year when the Bears hosted South Dakota in a second round matchup, maybe they wished the "no contest" ruling would have. 

That's because that's exactly how the Bears would end up bookending the season, with a contest only in fact the game was played all the way through, but definitely not in competition, as the Bears limped away with a 47-0 loss. With Mercer being the lone SoCon playoff qualifier, taking the auto bid with a dominant 8-0 league mark and second-straight league title, the Bears claimed their second-straight conference title.

There was a bit of a bittersweet feel to that title, however, as it was against maybe the weakest competition in the league in recent memory, as well as by the time the Bears got the postseason, they had no doubt learned head coach Mike Jacobs was on his way to become the next head coach at Toledo well before kickoff against South Dakota. That's not an excuse for a 47-0 loss in the playoffs to the Coyotes in the playoffs, but most would assume it had at least a little to do with such a substantial margin.

A new era will begin in many ways in Macon on Saturday night. Gone are 46 players that were a part of the past two championship runs for the Bears. Replacing Jacobs as the head coach will be Joel Taylor, who was the defensive coordinator at Mercer under Drew Cronic from 2020-23 before leaving to become the head coach at West Georgia, where he would end up leading the Wolves to a breakthrough 8-3 season last fall in just their second season as an FCS member.

Mercer has become the program of everyone's envy in the SoCon. 

Over the past five seasons, the Bears have won 49 games, including a 37-11 mark in league play since the start of the 2020-21 season. The Bears have a 21-3 mark over the past three seasons in league play, and have made three-straight FCS Playoff appearances, and will enter 2026 with a string of 12-straight league wins.

On offense, the Bears were dynamic a year ago, as quarterback Braden Atkinson led an offense that averaged 36.1 PPG and 485.2 YPG to rank second in the SoCon and ranked third nationally in total offense, as well as ranking 13th overall in scoring offense a year ago. Atkinson would go on to claim the Jerry Rice Award, which is given to the nation’s top freshman performer.

Defensively, the Bears were also a team to be reckoned with, as the Bears second in the SoCon and 44th nationally in total defense (353.6 YPG), as well as also placing second in the league in scoring defense (25.5 PPG) and tied for 51st nationally in the same category. 

Mercer was once again exceptional in stopping the run last season, completing the campaign allowing just 110.2 YPG and a lot of that was thanks to a dominant defensive line, which included Buck Buchanan Award winner defensive end Andrew Zock, who ranked second in the nation in tackles-for-loss (20.0 TFL) and seventh in total sacks (11.5). 

Sustaining the success of a year ago and winning a third-straight SoCon title is a tall order for the new head coach, despite the fact the Bears enter the season as the league favorite under a coach well familiar with the program's clout as an FCS power, as he was a big part of helping build this thing originally under Cronic. 

The ’23 season was the start of what has become a “Mercer Machine” on the SoCon gridiron, as two SoCon titles and subsequent FCS Playoff runs later, the Bears look to become the first team since Wofford to win three-straight SoCon shared or outright titles, as the Terriers claimed gridiron crowns in 2017, ’18 (shared with Furman and ETSU) and ’19. 

If the Bears follow through on those lofty preseason predictions, they would be accomplish the feat for just the ninth time and would become the eighth different program in the 93-year history of the SoCon Football to claim three-straight titles, joining Duke (1943-45), West Virginia (1953-56), Furman (1980-84; 1988-90), Georgia Southern (1997-2002), Appalachian State (2005-10); Chattanooga (2013-15) and Wofford (2017-19).

Should the Bears claim a third-consecutive outright SoCon title, it would mark just the fourth time in the history of the league to accomplish the feat, and only second time one of the current members have accomplished the feat. 

Only Furman’s run from 1980-83, which saw the Paladins win four-straight outright crowns under the leadership of Dick Sheridan would mark a better run. The other two programs to accomplish such a feat in the SoCon have long since joined the FBS ranks, with both West Virginia (1953-56) and Duke (1943-45) posting similar dominant runs.

To do so, it will have to overcome a great amount of youth, the Bears’ roster consists of 47 true or redshirt freshmen and 74 of the 116-man roster are made up of either true freshmen, redshirt freshmen or sophomores, while only 42 are either juniors (24) or seniors (18). The Bears will be one of the youngest football teams in the SoCon this fall.

Mercer dominated its way through the 2025 SoCon slate, winning five of its league games by double digits, with only Wofford (W, 23-22), ETSU (W, 38-34) and at Western Carolina (W, 49-47) proving to be real challenges in single-digit affairs. 

The dominant run through the SoCon came a little bit as a surprise when you consider the Bears found the early non-conference slate a bit of a challenge, as Mercer had its season opener against No. 8 UC Davis canceled due to lightning, while getting off to an uncharacteristic start at home, with a 15-10 loss to non-scholarship Presbyterian.

The biggest question for Bears fans is who will be under center to start the 2026 campaign. Will it be JP Pickles, Jaylen King (Florida State/ETSU/Gardner-Webb), Adrian Parker (Franklin Pierce) or uber-talented true freshman Cam Hill out of Thomasville, GA. It's been a good battle throughout fall camp, but it will more than likely end up being Pickles--Atkinson's understudy last season--that ends up garnering the starting job.

Whoever the starter is, getting the ball to Preseason SoCon Offensive Player of the Year Brayden Smith will be of utmost importance. 

Smith is a player that has been the model of consistency over the course of his Mercer career, whether that be providing big plays in the passing game or as a punt return specialist. Smith comes off a 2025 season, which saw him lead the Bears in receiving, hauling in 60 passes for 712 yards and seven TDs, averaging 11.9 YPR.

If you’ve watched Mercer at any length over the past three seasons, then you’ll know that Smith is not only a threat in the passing game, but also on special teams, where he has a pair of punt returns for a scores in his three seasons sporting the Mercer Orange and White. 

As a receiving threat in his Bears career, Smith has played in 33 games, with 104 catches for 1,232 yards and 12 TDs, averaging 11.8 YPR. In addition to being the preseason pick to be the SoCon’s top offensive player this fall, Smith was also selected as a part of the STATS FCS preseason Walter Payton Award Watch List.

Set to lead the ground game for the Bears will be veteran Micah Bell and a pair of talented transfers from the NCAA Division II level, in Zahmari Palode-Gary (Pittsburg State) and Bryson James (Anderson).

Palode-Gary comes to Mercer from a very prominent NCAA Division II program, in Pittsburg State, where he rushed for 1,408 yards and 13 TDs on 215 attempts in 23 games over the course of two seasons, including finishing the 2025 campaign by rushing for 964 yards and 10 touchdowns on 149 attempts.

The former Pitt State RB averaged 6.5 yards-per-carry over the course of two seasons for the Gorillas and figures to be in the mix to start day one for the Bears. James joins the program after a solid couple of seasons at NCAA Division II Anderson, while Bell and Martin are two guys that have been a part of a lot of success over the course of their careers as Mercer Bears. 

James had his most productive season with the Trojans in 2025, as he rushed for 612 yards and six scores on 114 attempts, averaging 5.4 yards-per-game. All told, James rushed for 1,023 yards and eight scores over the course of two seasons at Anderson and will bring plenty of speed to the Mercer backfield as a potential change-up guy coming out of the backfield.

Bell is one of the veterans on the roster and has been around long enough to be at Mercer when his new head coach was a defensive coordinator back in 2023. Since starting his career back in 2022 with the Bears, Bell has rushed for 670 yards and one TD on 159 attempts in 33 games for the Bears over the past four seasons. 

The biggest question mark will be the offensive line for the Bears, which must replace four of five starters from a year ago, but does return at least one from the old guard, in preseason All-SoCon pick and right guard Tyler Murray. 

There are just five returning lettermen (Tyler Murray, Pierson Siers, Luke Schultz, Kelan Washington, and Michael Horton) along the offensive line from a year ago, including just three from the 10 on the two-deep last season. Former West Georgia Wolves starting left tackle Brody Balliew enters the season as a preseason first-team all-league selection. Balliew started his career in the SoCon back in 2024, as he played for the Furman Paladins prior to transferring to West Georgia.

On defense there are even more questions, with preseason all-league selection Kobe McInnis being the lone returning starter from a year ago at defensive end. 

McInnis looks to be the next of those real standouts along the defensive front, as he comes off a rookie campaign that saw him post 25 tackles, 5.5 tackles-for-loss and five sacks. The sophomore from Marietta is more athletic than Zock was, but maybe not quite as powerful and quick off the line of scrimmage. Nonetheless, he’s a force to be reckoned with heading up that Bears pass-rush this fall.

Expected to headline a physical linebacking unit will be Jyarius Carter, who transferred in from West Georgia. One that is already on the roster that could make an impact at inside linebacker this fall is Antonio Butts Jr., who spent time backing up talented former Bears linebacker Drew Clare last fall. 

He saw action as a reserve, as well as on special teams, completing his redshirt freshman campaign with 13 tackles, three tackles-for-loss and had a pair of sacks. In Mercer’s lopsided, late-season win over Samford, Butts Jr. recorded a 1-yard scoring plunge.

Cameron Goggins is a player to keep an eye on for the Bears this fall in the secondary. The junior corner, who transferred in from Florida Atlantic, will also likely compete for a starting role and saw his most extensive action as a part of FAU’s program during his sophomore season back in 2024 when he saw a good amount of reps across eight games, finishing the campaign with 16 tackles and a pair of pass breakups.

One thing Mercer's new head coach Joel Taylor can relate to is East Texas A&M's journey from being a highly-successful NCAA Division II member to moving up a level and trying to sustain such success at the FCS level. That was something Taylor had begun to do at West Georgia in just two seasons before seizing the opportunity to become the new Mercer head coach after Mike Jacobs' departure. 

East Texas A&M hasn't had quite the same quick adjustment to the rigors of FCS football as UWG has had, winning eight games under Taylor in just its second season playing up under Taylor last fall.  

In fact, the Lions enter the matchup with Mercer looking to post its first winning season since 2021, finishing just a 3-9 season a year ago, including a 3-5 mark in the Southland Conference in what was its fourth season since making the move to the NCAA Division I FCS level.

Head coach Clint Dolezel has led three of those previous FCS campaigns, coaching 34 of the 45 games East Texas A&M has played at the Division I subclassification.  The Lions have  posted a 12-33 record over the course of their first four seasons as a member.

There has been both adversity and some embarrassment, which is to be expected for any program making the move up. But heading into its fifth year, Lions fans are growing restless, which is commonplace for a group of fans used to perennial success at the Division II level. After all, it was just nine years ago when the Lions won its second national title at any level, lifting the 2017 national title trophy, defeating West Florida, 37-27. The Lions also claimed the 1972 NAIA National Title. 

Eric Rodriguez leads an experienced Lions offense under center and has passed for 3,429 yards and 29 TDs over the course of what has been an injury-riddled career. He will have some big-play targets as a part of what should be the better side of the ball--at least on paper coming into the season--with Allijah Harrison posting big-time speed at running back and will be a big-play option to watch this season. He will also be a threat on kick returns, and he may get several opportunities in the opener at Mercer.

EJ Oakmon is another running back that, like Rodriguez, sports veteran experience in the Lions' backfield. He is coming off a campaign which saw him rush for 357 yards and nine TDs on 81 attempts.

Defensively, there are far more questions for a team that ranked 106th nationally (422.9 YPG) and 123rd (39.8 PPG) out of 126 teams ranked in scoring defense last season. 

This one won't be close, as Mercer wins big.

FINAL PREDICTION: MERCER 45, East Texas A&M 17

                   

Game 7: No. 22/23 Monmouth (0-0, 0-0 CAA) at  No. 15/14 Tenn. Tech (0-0, 0-0 SoCon)

Date: Aug. 29, 2026

Location: Cookeville, Tenn/Tucker Stadium 

Time:  7 p.m. EST

How To Watch: ESPN+

    Monmouth Head Coach: Joe Gallo (0-0/1st Yr)

    Tennessee Tech Head Coach: Bobby Wilder (95-63 in 14th Yr as a head coach/18-7 in 3rd Yr     at TTU)

    Series: First Meeting

    Players To Watch For Monmouth: WR Gavin Neal (Offense)/DB Jaeden Jones (Defense)

    Players to Watch For Tennessee Tech: RB MJ Flowers (Offense)/CB Cee Rhodes (Defense)

    

Previewing The Matchup: Saturday evening's game between new SoCon member Tennessee Tech and CAA member Monmouth will mark the first-ever clash between the two teams and it will be of some significance, as both teams enter the season nationally-ranked.

The Hawks started the 2025 season with an 8-1 mark and reached a ranking as high as high No. 6 in the nation, but losses in two of their final three games of the season against New Hampshire (L, 34-13) and UAlbany (L, 31-24) was enough to keep the Hawks out of the postseason. 

The Hawks will have a new head coach taking over a program that has been an upper echelon title contender ever since entering the CAA as a new league member prior to the 2022 season, as Jeff Gallo takes over for the highly-successful and founding legendary coach Kevin Callahan (197-151), who stepped down after 33 years as the head coach of the program. He's the only head coach to ever lead the Monmouth football program. He finished his coaching career just three victories shy of the 200-win plateau for his outstanding career. 

Head coach Jeff Gallo inherits one of the most prolific passing attacks in all of FCS football last season, led by quarterback Derek Robertson (2,482 pass yds, 27 TDs) and after he went down with an injury, Frankie Weaver picked up right where Robertson left off, as he would throw for 1,355 yds and 14 TDs and only three INTs. 

Robertson has moved on, but Weaver is ready to step in and lead the prolific Hawks offense that led the nation in total output (498.7 YPG) last season, while ranking second nationally in passing offense (355.0 YPG). 

Another key departure on the offensive side of the ball is running back Rodney Nelson, who rushed for 2,614 yards and 24 TDs in two seasons with the Hawks before transferring to Miami of Ohio. With leading wideouts Josh Derry and TJ Speight no longer around, it will be up to Gavin Nelson to be the go-to-guy in the passing attack this fall, as he comes off a campaign which saw him haul in 30 passes for 514 yards and six TDs. 

There was also some adversity for the Hawks to deal with in the off-season, as defensive coordinator Louis DiRienzo Jr., who was going to be entering his first season in his new role after being promoted from linebackers coach in January, died less than two months before the start of the 2026 season. He was just 34. He joined the program in February of 2025 as the linebackers coach. With DiRienzo's sudden death, the defensive coordinator role will be a collaborative effort this fall.

The unit is headlined by the edge rushing defensive end/outside linebacker posted 29 tackles, 5.5 tackles-for-loss and four sacks last season, while safety Jaeden Jones led the team with 118 tackles, five tackles-for-loss, four pass breakups, one sack, an INT, forced a fumble and had a fumble recovery. The Hawks should be in line to have an upper echelon defense in the CAA once again this fall. 

Tennessee Tech, which is coming off an 11-win season under second-year head coach Bobby Wilder, still has some experience around on both sides of the football. 

The offense was decimated by both graduation and the transfer portal, with Nason Simmons the lone returnee of the five offensive linemen, while the skill positions were also hit hard by the portal, with not much in the way of continuity returning from last season. The good news is the Golden Eagles are solid at the skill spots, where leading rusher Quintell Quinn (101 rush att, 698 rush yds, 9 TDs, 6.1 YPC in 2025) and Maury Sullivan (50 catches, 631 yds, 4 TDs in 2025) are both back to give either Leatherwood or Osborne some great options in the passing attack.

Tennessee Tech ranked ninth in the nation in total defense last season, surrendering just 296.7 YPG in 2025. One of the holdovers from that outstanding defensive unit from last season are defensive backs Omar Philyaw and Leon Thomas, while Idris King, Xavier Randolph and Kanstin Brooks represent three of four starters from the defensive line. 

Some key additions have been made at both linebacker and in the secondary to help reload both units, which were hit hard by the portal and harder by graduation. Among those to watch in the secondary is Cee Rhodes, who joined the Golden Eagles' football program from former rival school UT-Martin. 

FINAL PREDICTION: TENN TECH 31, MONMOUTH 21

                                                                         

Game 8: Eastern Kentucky (0-0, 0-0 UAC) at RV Western Carolina (0-0, 0-0 SoCon)

Date: Aug. 29, 2026

Location: Cullowhee, N.C. /EJ Whitmire Stadium

Time:  7 p.m. EST

How To Watch: ESPN+

    Eastern Kentucky Head Coach: Walt Wells (35-33 in 7th Yr at EKU)

    Western Carolina Head Coach: Kerwin Bell (124-64 in 17th Yr/31-26 in 5th Yr at WCU)

    Series: 8th Meeting/EKU Leads 5-3

    Players To Watch For Eastern Kentucky: RB Brayden Latham (Offense)/DB Derek Taylor            (Defense)

    Players to Watch For Western Carolina: QB Lex Thomas (Offense)/DB Ken Moore Jr.                    (Defense)

Previewing The Matchup: Western Carolina opens the 2026 in all-black uniforms and with the fans encouraged to wear black, as the Catamounts do battle with Colonels in what will be the ninth time the two rivals have met on the gridiron. 

The Catamounts, in fact, started the season with an 0-3 mark, as the were without star quarterback Taron Dickens, who was suspended for the first three games of the season. Not only can Western not afford a start like that this season, but the SoCon also can't afford to have the Catamounts go 1-3 to start the season.

Western dropped games to Gardner-Webb (L, 52-45), at Wake Forest (L, 42-10), and vs Elon (L, 37-31) to start the season, which meant the Catamounts pretty much had to go flawless the rest of the season as a result. The Catamounts nearly did, but in the end would falter, as they would see a six-game losing streak come to an end following a missed 24-yard field goal from Marcus Trout as time expired, allowing Mercer to escape Cullowhee with a 49-47 win, clinching a second-straight SoCon title in the process. The Catamounts came as close as they have since 1983 to winning a Southern Conference title, however, came up short for the 46th-straight season since participating in their first SoCon season back in 1977.

The lone non-conference win of the season for the Catamounts came against Campbell, as the Catamounts picked up a 42-35 win in Buies Creek last season, which marked the second game back for star Taron Dickens. 

While Dickens has moved onto North Carolina, there is a proverbial buzz once again surrounding Catamount football entering the 2026 season. As good as the Catamounts have been in the SoCon in five seasons under head coach Kerwin Bell's leadership, the Purple and Gold have posted just a 6-11 record in non-conference games. Ultimately, that has been what has kept WCU out of the postseason in each of the past two seasons. 

Just like the 2025 campaign, the Catamounts will open the season in the friendly confines of EJ Whitmire Stadium, welcoming the Eastern Kentucky Colonels into town for the late August opener under the lights.

Western Carolina and Eastern Kentucky have established a great rivalry since the two programs first met back during the 1988 season. In a matchup that saw two of the best coaches of that particular era go at in a mid-season, Division I-AA (now FCS) matchup at Whitmire Stadium, in WCU's Bob Waters and EKU's Roy Kid, and it would be the 1982 national champion and the 15th-ranked Colonels that would post a 35-14 win in the first-ever meeting between the two.

The Colonels are 2-1 all-time at Whitmire Stadium, with the only other win coming in what was Bell's very first game as the head coach back in 2021, as the Colonels came in to a packed EJ Whitmire Stadium in the season opener and were able to get a 31-28 win. The lone home win the Catamounts have against EKU in their history came back in 2006, as WCU tookn down the 19th-ranked Colonels, 20-17, as the win gave the Purple and Gold a 2-0 start to the campaign. The only problem was WCU would go on to lose its final nine games of the season.  Kerwin Bell is 1-1 in his five seasons against EKU.

The Catamounts and Colonels last met each other some three years ago in Richmond in was an epic game that Catamount fans won't soon forget. It would really be the game in which Cole Gonzales announced himself as one of the top quarterbacks in the SoCon, as he passed for 340 yards and three touchdowns, which included orchestrating the game-winning drive and TD toss, finding backup running back Branson Adams for the 8-yard scoring strike to give the Purple and Gold the lead (27-24) and the defense would hold the Colonels to out of the red zone, forcing a long 52-yard field goal as time expired, which was well short. It was one of the biggest non-conference road wins for the Catamounts in quite sometime.

That win over a good EKU team certainly felt like WCU had arrived on the national scene, and they have remained in the SoCon Title and FCS Playoff conversation ever since that mid-September evening four years ago.

EKU is supposed to be in the mix for a UAC title this fall after what was a disappointing 2025 campaign, which saw the Colonels post just a 5-7 overall mark, including just a 3-5 record in the UAC under the direction of sixth-year head coach Walt Wells. The Colonels did have some bright spots last season, despite a below standard season, as the Colonels knocked off No. 15 Austin Peay, 34-20, in the middle of the season.

There is some continuity returning as well, with Myles Burkett returning under center as the starting quarterback. He started all 12 games for the Colonels last season, throwing for 1,473 yards and eight scores, while rushing for 317 yards and four scores. 

The experience in the offensive backfield doesn't end with Burkett either, as leading rusher Brayden Latham returns to the fold after leading the Colonels on the ground last season, completing the campaign with 667 yards and three touchdowns on 154 rush attempts. Latham was a preseason All-UAC pick last season. 

The Colonels will have their work cut out for them at wide receiver, as the top two pass- catching options--Marcus Calwise Jr. and Daquan Stanley--have both moved on, but Jayden West does return after a solid 2025 season. The redshirt junior logged action in 11 games, with eight starts, hauling in 20 passes for 244 yards and a pair of TDs last fall. Jarvis Hayes (Georgia Military College) and Jackson House will also play a pretty big role at wide receiver this fall for the Colonels.

Along the offensive line, Antonio Gaines, Samuel Eskridge, Hunter Gulley and Anthony Johns all have starting experience, and were part of an offense that finished the 2025 season that struggled for a majority of the campaign, as the Colonels averaged just 19.3 PPG (ranked 100th in scoring offense in FCS in 2025) and posted just 262.5 YPG (ranked 123 of 126 teams in FCS in total offense) out total output. The Colonels had trouble keeping Burkett upright as well, as the Colonels surrendered a total of 37 sacks last season.

The Colonel defense stayed on the field more than they should have due to the offensive struggles, but the unit was solid throughout the 12-game slate in 2025, finishing 52nd nationally in total defense (364.2 YPG) and 37th in scoring defense (24.3 PPG). 

Defensive back Jaheim Ward (82 tackles) and linebacker Braden Sullivan (79 tackles, 5.0 TFL, 2.5 sacks) have both moved on, however, third-leading tackler--defensive back Derek Taylor (78 tackles/42 solo stops, 1.5 TFL, 1 INT, 1 FR 75 yds for a TD) returns to provide some stability and leadership on the back end of the unit after starting all 12 games for EKU last  season.  

The Colonels, though, were hit hard by graduation and the transfer portal on the defensive side of the ball. Up front, the Colonels will look to Cincinnati transfer Lendric Barber and returning reserve Jalen Hand (14 tackles, 0.5 TFL) are among the players that will be asked to step up and provide the same type of physicality and pass-rush the Colonels were able to generate last season, in guys like Brad Gurley, who posted 10.5 TFL and 5.5 sacks last season, as he was part of a unit that generated 23 sacks last season. 

Jackson Marshall was a big addition from the transfer portal after posting 66 tackles, 4.0 TFL, 0.5 sack and forced a fumble as a key cog in Gardner-Webb's linebacking unit last season. 

FINAL PREDICTION: WESTERN CAROLINA 31, EASTERN KENTUCKY 28

            

Game 9: Samford (0-0, 0-0 SoCon) at North Alabama (0-0, 0-0 UAC)

Date: Aug. 29, 2026

Location: Huntsville, AL/Wicks Family Field at Joe Davis Stadium 

Time:  7 p.m. EST

How To Watch: ESPN+

    Samford Head Coach: John Grass (72-26/9th season as a head coach/1st at Samford)

    North Alabama Head Coach: Brent Dearmon (18-28 in 5th season as a head coach/8-27 in      4th Yr at UNA)

    Series:  13th Meeting/UNA Leads 6-4-2

    Players To Watch For Samford: WR Marquise Henderson (Offense)/ROV Jalen Nelson              (Defense)

    Players to Watch For North Alabama: QB Destin Wade (Offense)/DL Fred Vili (Defense)

Previewing The Matchup: For the first time since 2002, a pair of old Alabama rivals will do battle in a non-conference clash that will feature a pair of teams that are hoping to find some improvement after dismal 2025 campaigns.

For Samford, it will do so under a new head coach for the first time since 2015, as John Grass will lead the Bulldogs into a new era on the gridiron. Grass, who has Alabama roots, having served as the highly successful head coach at Jacksonville State from 2014-21 and became the 37th head coach of Samford back in early December of 2025. He will be looking to help rebuild a program that won 11 games back in 2022, but lost 11 last season. The decline has been drastic. 

The new head coach and brand-new staff will be looking to pick up the pieces from an 11-loss campaign last season, as the Bulldogs finished just 1-11 overall and just 1-7 in league play. It was a sudden end to the Chris Hatcher era last season, as the former Harlon Hill Trophy winning quarterback at Valdosta State didn't even coach the final two games of the season, as he was fired immediately after the Bulldogs' 38-14 loss to East Tennessee State, and Scot Sloan finished out the season as the interim head coach.

In a way, it was a sad ending to the likable Hatcher's career in Homewood, as the very thing he was known for--the Hatch Attack offense--was at its worst in his 10 seasons as the head coach, ranking 86th nationally in total offense (338.1 YPG) and ranked 123rd (14.6 PPG) in scoring offense.

In Chris Hatcher's final three seasons as the head coach, he systematically tore down everything he'd worked so hard to build by completely selling out to the portal because he hit all the right buttons by doing that very thing in the offseason following the 2021 campaign. 

Despite hitting it exactly right in 2022, that same philosophy would fail in three-straight seasons, as Hatcher's final three seasons as the Bulldogs would produce as many wins (11) as the Bulldogs' breakthrough season as a SoCon member in 2022. Samford went 11-23 in Hatcher's final three seasons as the head coach.

Grass was previously on staff at Clemson, where he was a special teams and offensive analyst for the Tigers, and has served in that capacity with the Tigers in the 2022and '23 seasons before serving as the program's offensive assistant and quarterbacks coach assistant in the 2024 and '25 seasons. 

Similar to recent basketball hires, and in particular, former Samford head basketball coach Bucky McMillan, Grass will bring close relationships with local high school talent in the Birmingham area and surrounding because, like McMillan, Grass was at one time a highly-successful high school football assistant and head coach in the area, spending 22 years in one of those two capacities, serving at seven different programs. 

Grass served as an assistant coach at Ashville HS (1990-92) and Eufaula HS (1993-94) before getting the nod as a head coach for the first time at Ashville HS for a four-year stint (1995-99). He would then serve under Rush Probst as the offensive coordinator for two seasons at Hoover (2000-01) before head coaching stops at Albertville (2002), Moody (2003-05), Spain Park (2006-07), and Oxford (2008-12), finishing with a career record of an impressive 123-60 at the prep level.

Grass joined the highly successful Jacksonville State football program in 2013, as the assistant head coach/offensive coordinator before taking over as the head coach the following season in 2014. Grass would be named OVC Coach of the Year in each of his first three seasons as the head coach.

Grass would help lead and maintain JSU's status as an elite level FCS program over his eight seasons as the head coach, posting a 72-26 overall record, which included winning six Ohio Valley Conference titles, including five-straight league crowns from 2014-18, which included reaching the FCS national title game in 2015, where the Gamecocks were beaten, 37-10, by FCS juggernaut North Dakota State.  Following that championship appearance, Grass was named the AFCA National Coach of the Year for the 2015 campaign.

During his time as the head coach of the Gamecocks, Grass coached 31 All-Americans and 109 All-OVC selections, and in 2021, he helped Jacksonville State to a benchmark win as a program, as his FCS Gamecocks garnered a 20-17 upset of Florida State.  Grass has been directly involved with the Clemson offense each of the past four years.

Grass and his new staff have effectively overhauled most of the roster that have chosen to leave, graduated or been asked to leave, as 34 newcomers highlight the two signing day hauls back in December and February, respectively. 

The Bulldogs have now begun the long road back to respectability in the Southern Conference, and now its time to see just how long a climb back to the top of the league as a regular title contender as they were for the most part under Hatcher will, in fact, take. 

While Hatcher was known for his offensive ingenuity, particularly in developing quarterbacks and installing an offense that used a big-play passing offense that constantly put pressure on the opposition's secondary, Grass has his own offensive philosophy and one that was tried and true during his time as the head coach at Jacksonville State. 

The new ball coach's philosophy will have a strong emphasis on the ground attack, which is something that he utilized annually as the head coach of the Gamecocks, having coached two of the top three rushers in program history during his eight seasons in Jacksonville.

Leading the new look Samford offense will be Oregon State transfer Gabbari Johnson, who won the starting job after a fierce battle with Charlie Gilliam and Coulter Cleland during fall camp. 

The leader in the backfield graduate Dominique Thomas, who joined the Bulldogs football program from Ole Miss. Samford will be the fifth program has been a part of during his career. He has also spent time at Union College, Clemson, Georgia State and Ole Miss prior to arriving in Homewood.

Wide receiver should be in good shape with the return of Preston Bird to the fold. Bird was recognized in the preseason as one of the best receivers in the SoCon, with the coaches selecting him to the preseason First-Team All-SoCon selection and he played in started 11 games last season for Samford, hauling 53 passes for 617 yards and four scores to lead the Bulldogs catching the football last season. 

Bird will be joined by Marquise Henderson, who could also end up being one of the exciting young weapons in the SoCon on the offensive side of football this fall. Henderson was a four-star recruit at Clemson. In 14 games as a senior at Belton Honea Path High School, Henderson rushed for 2,122 yards and 26 touchdowns as a senior, while also hauling in 27 passes for 270 yards and a pair of scores.

Sophomores Maddox McKim and Ryan Skinner appear to be the two most likely candidates to compete for the starting spot at tight end. McKim logged action in nine games last season and caught six passes for 35 yards, including posting a pair of receptions against Texas A&M. Skinner logged time in nine games, but didn’t record any stats.

Without question the offensive line was Samford's biggest issue in each of Hatcher's final three seasons as the head coach, however, there is some young talented players within the younger crop moving forward, such as rising sophomores Web Davidson (RT) and Will Turner IV (C) and rising juniors Kaleb May (LG) and Tyler Doughtit (LT). 

In fact, with the return of right guard Duncan Johnson, the Bulldogs are set to return all five starters from the unit that lined up against Texas A&M as the starters in the final game of the regular season. Noah Watts was a preseason Second-Team All-SoCon selection, and he will return to his starting center position where he logged starts in the first eight games of the 2025 season. 

As much as the offense struggled last season, the defensive side of the football will be the bigger question mark for Samford.

Samford welcomes the return of three starters on the defensive side of the football for the 2026 campaign, and there’s plenty of room for improvement for this club moving forward. In fact, things couldn’t have been much worse for the Bulldogs on the defensive side of the ball last season, as the Bulldogs ranked 117^th out of 126 teams ranked in FCS in total defense last fall. The Bulldogs gave up an average of 454.7 YPG last fall. As far as scoring defense was concerned, the Bulldogs weren’t all that much better, ranking 115^th in the country, surrendering an average of 37.9 PPG last fall.

The lone returning starter along the defensive line heading into the 2026 season will be nose tackle Maxton Woodward, while junior Jacob Johnson is the lone returning linebacker from the two-deep from last season. 

Jackson Bussey will be in his second season with the program after transferring in from Appalachian State prior to last season, and he will likely take on a larger role as a part of the unit this fall. He logged action in 10 games, recording three tackles last fall. Tyler Durant, Joseph Shannon and Hank Weber will all look to compete for starting spots along the defensive front in fall camp. Shannon served as a Corey Warren’s understudy at defensive end last season, while Durant could compete for time at one of the interior defensive positions.

Johnson saw action in all 12 games for the Bulldogs as a reserve at weakside linebacker last season, recording 27 tackles, including 17 solo stops.

Jalen Nelson highlights the listed returnees in the secondary listed returnees from the two-deep in the defensive backfield. Nelson is a First-Team All-SoCon pick coming into the ’26 season, and he comes off a campaign that saw him start 10 games in the secondary for the Bulldogs, finishing sixth on the team in total tackles with 46 tackles last season, while also breaking up a pair of passes.

North Alabama is entering its ninth year in FCS Football and looking forward to having its best yet as a member of the UAC, but were predicted seventh in the eight-team UAC. Destin Wade what could be a solid offense this fall. 

The Mr. Football in the state of Colorado had to battle to maintain his starter's status in fall camp, with Banks Bowen having joined the Lions via the transfer portal out of Oklahoma State. Banks Bowen is the son of UNA defensive coordinator Clint Bowen. Wade connected on 92-of-180 passes for 1,188 yards, with 10 TDs and four INTs before suffering an injury midway through the '25 season. 

On defense, the Lions were not good last season, so improvement there is a must if the Lions are indeed going to have their best season yet at the FCS level. The Lions finished the 2025 campaign ranking 121st out of 126 teams ranked in the FCS in total defense last fall, surrendering 464.2 YPG. 

The defensive line returns a pair of veterans, in Samoan-born Fred Vili (41 tackles, 8.0 TFL, 4.0 sacks, 3 QBHs, 1 PBU in 2025) and Jyheam Ingram slated to lead the Lions into action against the Bulldogs Saturday evening. 

FINAL PREDICTION: NORTH ALABAMA 45, SAMFORD 42