TALKIN' SEASON PREVIEW: CUSA KICKOFF 2025
Jerry Mack, JeRico Washington, and Christian Moss head to Frisco as the frontmen for a new era at Kennesaw State.
Don’t let yourself get worked into a shoot on coachspeak, brother. If you go into CUSA Kickoff understanding that everything’s a wrestling promo, that reframes expectations about what matters from media day.
Everyone’s as strong and fast as ever, and your favorite coach just signed an unbelievable group of young men to take this program to the next level. You wouldn’t believe how much team bonding they’ve already done.
College football, at least at this level, works like a cop procedural: A handful of main characters return week-to-week, but there’s a rotating cast of cameos and a new mystery to solve every episode. Think of it like Law & Order: Football, where you can catch the on-field equivalent of someone like Adam Driver playing a minor one-episode role before he’s scooped up by the Walt Disney Company to lead Star Wars.
That’s not too different from G5 teams getting good, then getting raided by the powers. We need to learn the new storylines to keep up with all the changes. Does an event like CUSA Kickoff feel more useful when almost every team churns through rosters on a two-year cycle? A little bit, actually.
Looking through the ‘24 invite list, it’s jarring - even if expected - to see such little carryover from last season’s main characters. Previously, on CUSA media day:
Needless to say, we’ll hear from plenty of new guys this time around. Four fresh head coaches step in as replacements, plus two new programs altogether in Delaware and Missouri State hoping to apply some of the lessons from the highs and lows of CUSA’s recent FCS transition track record. Only MTSU has its player reps from last summer still on the roster.
Mack, our first New Guy since our first New Guy, will step to the podium as one of those coaches making his Conference USA debut. Picked second-to-last in the asinine Bowl Confidence Index, his Owls do not have a tough act to follow for the sophomore season in FBS. Alongside Mack are two compelling salesmen in their own right: Washington, the All-CUSA caliber corner and former walk-on who flirted with the portal before staying home; and Moss, a one-time P4 receiver back for his final college season in an offense that could be extremely friendly to him. They’re both guys Mack needed to recruit from his own roster amid winter chaos, making them valuable tag team partners as Mack tries to pitch his vision to everyone else.
To this point, every one of Mack’s media appearances reacted to something specific: His new job at the intro presser, his first recruiting class on National Signing Day, his first spring spring practice. Actual football always felt so far away, especially for a program that’s been in nonstop existential crisis for the past two full seasons. Now that roster building is finished, Mack’s done his donor roadshow, and summer workouts are coming to an end, there’s not much left to talk about except the real thing.
Will we hear much of substance on Tuesday? You already know the answer. It’ll just be nice to hear something out of a football program that’s mostly a closed-loop system. Last year’s media day schedule was a total mess, so take this schedule for what it’s worth as you plan out Tuesday’s lunch break. Via KSU Owls dot com:
11:40 a.m. ET: Conference USA Press Conference
12:05 p.m. ET: 2025 Conference USA Football Kickoff Show (ESPN+) – Kennesaw State: Watch
There’s a lot to discuss in Mack’s 10ish minute press conference and the KSU segment on the studio show. Let’s take a look at those main storylines and questions for Kennesaw State - and the rest of the league - when they sit down on those tasteful, affordable chairs from Nebraska Furniture Mart.
Year Zero is not a concept that has aged well in the portal era. Back when Banner Society was in business, Steven Godfrey described the idea as such: “Expect nothing on the scoreboard or win column and allow for deep internal cleansing to reposition the foundation of the program.” That checks out in Kennesaw, except it kinda describes the entire last three seasons.
Outside of the most extreme circumstances, if a program finds itself more than two classes away from where it wants to be, that spells trouble for everyone involved.
That leads to the main question for CUSA Kickoff: Does Mack feel like his Owls deserve - or need - a Year Zero?
On the deserve front, that’s an easy answer: Absolutely not. As soon as Milton Overton made the move on Bo, he forfeited the next staff’s ability to tread water without serious progress in 2025. Mack returns enough pieces from a defense that was mostly fine, and there’s nowhere to go but up on offense for a much older group that will at least play in a coherent system. As dismal as last year looked, the Owls still almost won four games on accident. CUSA looks as wide-open as ever this fall for teams looking to make a leap.
Whether the Owls need Year Zero is another story. KSU’s in a total teardown mode while Mack tries to rebuild a culture from the pieces of a program that was already the youngest in FBS. An overhauled offensive line and new schemes on both sides are almost enough on their own to warrant a significant grace period. Elsewhere, the Owls will count on heavy contributions from spring transfers, with two paycheck games out of the gate and another ‘24 bowl team to close the non-conference slate. You can count on one hand the number of active Owls who have ever played a snap on a successful Kennesaw State team: Both Benyard brothers, Adam Watkins, and Joshua Huiet. Everyone else is either some degree of new, or they’ve only ever experienced losing in Kennesaw.
Media day self-hype is a careful balancing act - coaches need to set a bar low enough that they can to clear it, but high enough to impress fans and administration when they stick the landing. Mack won’t assign a win total or talk in very specific terms, but I think you’ll be able to read between the lines if you’ve studied up on Duolingo for Coachspeak. How hard he tries to temper (or stoke the fire on) expectations for a quick turnaround is the clear-cut most interesting storyline out of his media session this week.
The one guy most people want to talk about didn’t make the trip to Frisco. We’re all under the assumption Georgia Southern transfer Dexter Williams will run the show as QB1, taking the reins in Mitch Militello’s sprouting branch of the uptempo Briles/Heupel system. Mack made the move early when Williams jumped in the portal, and reports suggest he’s one of a few Owls to cash a check to date. He’s also of two players to model the new uniform and get the state media Parliament Profile treatment. Small gestures, but not nothing. In both a football and PR sense, KSU has pushed the chips in on the #5 square for a much-needed improvement under center.
Elsewhere in the room, Tommy Ulatowski came over from Kent State in late April, joining spring practice participants Amari Odom (Wofford transfer) and true freshman Skyler Williams. Signing Ulatowski months after he’d been on the market caught my attention as well. In a ☝️ Brian Windhorst ☝️ way - why would they do that? Is it as simple as a low-premium insurance policy on DWII after a few knee injuries? Probably so. I found the timing very interesting.
How does Mack feel about his QB situation? Like the discussion on expectations, don’t expect a clear answer Tuesday. He’ll likely call it an open competition, especially since Ulatowski has not taken a practice snap on campus. That said, there’s a strong argument that DWII could be the most important player in Kennesaw’s short history. Mack’s progress report will pique our interest for what to expect from Lisan Owl Gaib.
Players receive enough media training to effectively say nothing at these events, but Moss should be able to weigh in, too. Choice routes make up a bulk of the downfield threat in the Veer and Hoot, requiring borderline telepathy to know how a WR will react to coverages. Moss doesn’t have a vote in who starts, yet you might be able to translate his confidence about QB1, though.
Elsewhere on offense: Please say like three nice things about the offensive line. That’s all we need to feel much better.
On the other side of the ball, incoming DC Marc Mattioli’s unique coaching passport - including multiple stops in Europe since his last college gig - doesn’t lend itself to much useful film study to prepare for what’s next. From the spring game and practice tape, we can expect to see a 4-2-5 look (or 2-4-5, however you want to label it) reformed using the leftover pieces of the 3-4 tite front system and base personnel that the Owls relied on last year. All told, KSU’s defense ranked around the mid-90s to low 100s nationally depending on your advance stat du jour. They’ll return 78% of defensive production according to Bill C. at ESPN - best in CUSA and third in the nation. Not elite, obviously, but more than workable when paired with anything other than a historically bad offense.
Outside of some quick vignettes on social media for new signings, Mack hasn’t talked much about his defense in conceptual terms or down to the granular detail of what he thinks about the guys on the roster. Mack’s expertise is on offense, and there’s a lot of value in being able to trust Mattioli as the head coach of the defense.
Talking personnel, you can look at some of the portal activity, like loading up on edges or bringing in three safeties after spring ball, as a statement on what’s important to the staff and where they think there’s room for improvement. Marcus Patterson and Rod Daniels appear to be the clubhouse leaders at DE, so let’s hope for a temperature check on the position battle at safety and nickel.
Mack was extremely high on the potential of Michigan transfer Kody Jones - whom Phil Steel listed as a projected starter at nickel - during some of the spring alumni events. If he cuts another promo, there’s probably some fire to go with the smoke to start thinking about him as a centerpiece of Mattioli’s first KSU defense.
I posted this question on Twitter/X/the everything app: If you could ask Mack anything and get a non-coachspeak response, what would you want to know?
My vote: What’s the all-in payroll for the 2025 team? I don’t care to pocket watch individual players, and we won’t get an answer anyway. KSU’s reported $5K NIL budget number from last year was floated as an example a way to show a lack of support for the last regime. We can safely assume the administration turned on the money cannon (water gun?) during the offseason. They’re doing revolutionary things like serve breakfast now.
Alignment, alignment, alignment was the operative word on repeat when KSU introduced Mack in December. We still have a serious messaging problem on rev. sharing, though. Overton won’t talk in a public setting, and we’re still waiting on some sort of statement or explainer post-House settlement. The last football coach didn’t appear to have much of an appetite for talking about NIL. Mack’s most recent college job was at a school that’s certainly not afraid to pass around the offering plate.
How hard does he push the issue (if at all) on Tuesday? A young fanbase likely needs him to lead us in the right direction in terms of how to spend with the program.
Other CUSA subplots
The $8 Million Bulldog Leaving in the Room. Commissioner Judy MacLeod’s presser will no doubt receive the most attention as she addresses Louisiana Tech’s recent Sun Belt announcement and the next steps for CUSA. Does the league stay at 10 when the Bulldogs hit the road with UTEP?
A large portion of CUSA’s online fan base - mostly the strange burner account ecosystem - has tried to convince itself that losing LA Tech and UTEP actually helps the league. If you say so, dude. Combine that with the continued efforts of WKU and Liberty to go literally anywhere else, and you get a scenario worth addressing before getting to the Coachspeak portion of Tuesday’s kickoff.
Does Tarleton get a serious look? That online campaign feels very astroturfed, not that Owls fans can cast much judgment. I’m struggling to care much about this round of conference realignment, to be honest. The Rovell-ification of G5 fanbases arguing about market size and the exact share of media rights deals is a little much.
If CUSA’s set to implode sometime in the distant future, who cares? Kennesaw will be fine sliding into whatever opening’s left by Georgia State’s next move. That’s the whole logic for the FCS-to-FBS jump, anyway: Put yourself in position for that next move, even if KSU and CUSA weren’t a perfect match at the time. I’d cast a vote for Chattanooga if I was drafting expansion candidates.
For the record, I’m also dumb and like old-fashioned concepts such as easy road trips to fun cities.
Most anticipated presser, Non-Kennesaw Division: Scotty Walden, UTEP. Whatever learning curve the Miners dealt with in Walden’s first season will be of great interest to Mack and his staff. His offense isn’t exactly the same as Militello’s Veer and Shoot import, but there’s a ton of crossover between the two ultra-fast, ultra-wide schemes that will rely on a lot of former FCS skill talent.
Walden’s the non-Owls coach I’m most looking forward to hearing from, mostly so that we can hear the debrief on some of the changes we’re going through ourselves. You can probably tie KSU and UTEP’s results together this year in some ways. If the things that UTEP wants to do on offense end up working, could the Owls find some early success, even if they’re not quite as far along in the rebuild process as UTEP?
If we talk about media day like wrasslin’, Walden also has the kind of personality that plays well in this setting. Kinda like Ultimate Warrior without the PEDs.
Someone with Zoom access, please ask Jerry Mack and Willie Simmons about the HBCU influences in their respective programs. That’s an underrated fascinating element of CUSA this season: Two head coaches who made a name in places with deep ties in the community, rivalries, etc. trying to establish a culture at schools that have almost no legacy. I tried unsuccessfully to pitch an outlet on a Kennesaw-centric version of the story, since like 10 players and half the Owls’ coaching staff spent time in the SWAC, MEAC, or CIAA. The story will come from somewhere, I guess. When it does, let’s hope we can talk about the “limited resources” trope by interrogating the causes, and not just applauding coaches for succeeding anyway.
How confident is Jamey Chadwell that Liberty can re-assert control of the conference? Anything other than a CUSA title feels like a massive misstep after a disappointing fourth-place finish. Chadwell’s empire would be much more likable if he realized he’s the villain. It drives me nuts to see him talking like an underdog, quoted in stories about the imbalance between G5 and the power programs, and complaining about players getting poached. A little Dabo Swinney-esque, if Clemson had a highly influential political machine connected to the school. Be the heel, please.
Other Liberty sidequest: Can any media member come up with a question as mindless as “When will Kaidon Salter get the respect he deserves?” That title belt is up for grabs.
Welcome to the show, Delaware and Missouri State. I wouldn’t mind if someone asked the Ryans (Carty and Beard) what they learned watching Kennesaw’s first foray into FBS. I need to hear a perspective from the sidelines, because we’ve thought and discussed it far too much ourselves.
For what it’s worth, CUSA’s rebel media poll of assorted beat writers already believes in both newcomers to finish ahead of the Owls:
Odds are I will be out of the country and drinking mojitos before getting a chance to watch and fully react to CUSA Kickoff. Would my wife enjoy sitting next to me as I carefully think about winners/losers on the plane? I highly doubt it, but I may try to open up a thread for all subscribers to drop some takes tomorrow.
Either way, I’m ready to start talking about some actual football, even if tomorrow turns out to be a total waste of time like last year.
Let me know what you think, Hoots.
Great article as always!