We’re almost fully back. Week 0 is here, with a packed FCS slate getting a Thursday night monopoly on our streaming devices. Would you like to get eyes on KSU’s first opponent? West Georgia kicks off the season tonight at home, with new HC Steve Englehart making his debut against Chattanooga.
Our friends in the desert currently see the Mocs as 2.5-point road favorites in one of the tightest point spreads of the opening night. I think West Georgia is good value at home if you can look past Chattanooga’s advantage in continuity with 13 returning starters from a mid SoCon team.
Looking forward, I’ve gone back and forth on whether there might be some kind of edge for the FCS teams getting a jump on game action prior to their FBS buy games. There has to be some sort of benefit in getting an early game to start figuring out a revamped roster, especially for a team like West Georgia that brought in more than 70 new faces amid the coaching change. The obvious trade-off: They won’t have quite as much time to throw everything into a gameplan, plus they’ll put 60 minutes of a new identity on tape. KSU-UWG will still be a 3 TD+ spread (Owls -23.5 at last glance) regardless of what happens tonight, but it will be interesting to see how the Week 0 FCS teams fare against the spread in their Week 2 paycheck games.
Englehart took home AFCA FCS Coach of the Year in 2025, after a ten-win season completed an Amir Abdur-Rahim-esque climb for the Blue Hose out of the Pioneer League basement. It was just the third time in 113 years that Presbyterian won double-digit games.
(A weird, but small, sliding doors moment: What happens if Florida Tech doesn’t shut down the program during the pandemic? That’s where Englehart coached prior to Presbyterian. Would he have ended up somewhere else? Does LB Evan Thompson still transfer to Kennesaw and become a golf influencer? There’s truly no telling.)
Englehart parlayed the success into making the jump from the non-scholarship Pioneer League to West Georgia in whatever they are calling the ASUN/UAC monstrosity these days. His Wolves won’t be eligible for the FCS playoffs in the final year of the transition from D2. That might be what freed them up to put together a fun, profitable non-conference slate that includes Chattanooga, Kennesaw, Arkansas State (a helpful comp ahead of KSU’s Week 4 matchup), and ETSU. There are a lot of similarities with next week’s matchup and the Owls’ visit to Georgia State in 2018, both of which brought the FCS team’s first exposure to the FBS level.
I think Mack and the staff will appreciate getting an early preview at the Wolves and a roster with about 70% turnover. One question that’s already answered: Presbyterian transfer Collin Hurst will start at QB, coming off two years under Englehart. Last year, he led the PFL in essentially every box score metric before juping in the portal without any doubt as to the next destination. Prior to the Rickie Collins signing, I thought he could’ve been a transfer possibility for KSU if the Englehart switch hadn’t happened.
Here’s West Georgia’s full offense two-deep released earlier this week:
Hurst is one of 12 players who followed the new staff, along with Justin Montgomery, expected to the RB1 who replaces new Owl Latrelle Murrell. Montgomery picked up 745 yards for the Blue Hose last year, 3.84 of which came after contact. Former Louisville walk-on Shammai Gates looks to be second in line, but Englehart mentioned the possibility of seeing some carries from true freshman Christian Monfort out of Madison.
What about the receiving corps? That’s a little less certain. BJ Atkins will be the slot guy and - shocker - comes in from Presbyterian, where he started the back half of last season. Also listed in the slot, TJ Lockley has been around in college football forever, playing with Dylan Gary and Latrelle Murrell in 2024. He missed most of last season with an injury but spent time at ECU and Jax State prior to arriving in Carrollton in 2023. There’s not really anybody else proven in the room, but listing true freshman Brody Jones as a day-one starter caught my eye. His high school coach was none other than Phillip Rivers down in Daphne, AL.
I’m intrigued by a tight end room that includes Aidan Sefa, a lean 6’5”, 226 in-state product from Lowndes entering his second season in the program. Familiar face Joshua Schucts transfers in from UTEP, where he . Both of these guys are worth keeping an eye on for portal reasons. Next to them will be an absolute unit at offensive tackle: 6’9”, 310-pounder Freddie Pelling. He’s an English lad from the NFL Academy who graded out as a 78.7 on PFF last season at Campbell.
Defensive coordinator Dan Owen comes in with Englehart and appears to be opting for a 4-2-5 base with PC transfer Malik Lewis serving as the nickel.
Englehart sounded a little uncertain about the defensive line in his weekly presser. Nobody in the posted two-deep played any defensive snaps at West Georgia last season. He expects basically everyone in the room to get a shot tonight as they try to figure things out. With all the mystery in this unit, this is the main position group to watch to see who will match up against KSU’s retooled offensive line. Do Elijah Barnes (a Wingate teammate of Kai Russell) and Dalton Epps show anything from the edge that will make the Owls nervous?
Lewis is the main name to know behind them, basically the defensive version of Hurst after starting every game for PC last season. UTC targeted their #1 slot receiver 70 times last year so expect a busy night. Will linebacker Chidu Bekee (6’3”, 230) is another incoming transfer that Englehart hyped in his pregame presser, but he comes from Northern Illinois. All four projected starters at safety and corner returned after various levels of playing time for UWG in 2025. Chancellor Bryant is the most experienced at the back end, but looks to be making a move to a safety position after 9 games of mostly playing in the slot and box last season. If redshirt freshman (do we still say that) boundary corner Shawn Cummings can run at all, he’s a guy KSU will look at in their quest to collect every 6’2” DB on earth.
I need to watch more FCS ball in general this year, so I will be locked in for tonight. Not just for scouting the Wolves, but I will have a report in Jerry Mack’s spam folder by 7AM Friday morning. From an outside perspective, the West Georgia/Chattanooga caliber of programs seem to be able to thread the needle in this commercialized era while still keeping the nostalgic cultural element that make the sport unique. Enough money has also trickled down that the lines continue to blur between the two levels, with call-ups having an immediate impact at then next level in a handful of cases.
Look at the SP+ Top 771 from ESPN’s Bill Connelly - an honest effort at a combined power ranking including every level of four-year college football. How much difference is there between the bottom of the G6 and the upper half of FCS? Here’s just one randomly selected example that I picked out:
Very interesting. Owls just need to survive the opener against West Georgia and then they can coast with the step down in competition level for Week 2.
The full Thursday night schedule gets rolling at 6 PM. Virginia-Lynchburg live on FloSports? Fired up.
\via FBSchedules dot com
For the rest of the weekend, I’m a little surprised CUSA didn’t send out a couple jobbers like Sam Houston and MTSU for an early matchup in the league. These are the five I think are most worth your attention, for various reasons:
UNC vs. TCU (in Dublin)
Saturday, 12 PM | ESPN | TCU -9.5
By default, you have to watch the first FBS game of the season - preferably with pint of Guinness. We need to monitor the situation at UNC all season as the Bill Belichick regime continues to unravel, especially if Jerry Mack keeps the Owls operating at a close level to last season. I don’t know that the Carolina job would be in play, but a vacancy in Chapel Hill would start a chain reaction that could make Owls fans nervous.
Jacksonville State @ North Dakota State
Saturday, 5:30 PM | CBS Sports | NDSU -6.5
Former Owl DJ Scott is slated to start at running back for NDSU’s FBS debut in the Fargodome. Brian Kelly will be on the call in his CBSSN debut and will actually seem like a cool, well-adjusted guy in comparison to the evil empire on the away sideline. I have to get eyes on this new-look Gamecock offense, which replaces workhorse RB Cam Cook and seriously needs a playmaker to emerge and share the ball with Caden Creel. This Split Zone Duo episode from back in February was a helpful listen to understand why the Bison would jump to the Mountain West after roughly 25 national titles in FCS.
New Mexico State @ Florida State
Saturday, 7 PM | The CW | FSU -30.5
New Mexico State made sure to let everyone know Tony Sanchez spent some money this year, priming the pump if (when?) the administration needs to make a change. Week 0 takes them to Tallahassee, where Mike Norvell really needs a blowout win in front of a restless FSU fan base. Lyndon Ravare could see some playing time for the Aggies at receiver after leaving the Owls to go back west in the portal. I will watch but not feel good about it.
Alabama A&M vs. Howard
Saturday, 7:30 PM | ABC | Howard -2.5
The MEAC/SWAC Challenge is the only show in town over the weekend, taking place at Center Parc Stadium. Everything comes full circle for Alabama A&M quarterback Cornelius Brown IV returning to Georgia State, where he started his career. Year 8! If you want some context on how long he’s been in college, he was a backup to Owls WR coach Dan Ellington in the 2019 Georgia State QB room.
Memphis @ UNLV
Saturday, 10 PM | Fox | UNLV -5.5
Memphis’ coaching search made KSU fans sweat a bit in the winter, with Mack deeply involved in the process. Charles Huff ended up getting the job and will make his Tigers debut against another team projected toward the top end of the G6. Interesting QB matchup, with newly-minted Memphis starter Marcus Stokes - a D2 transfer that KSU checked in on - and UNLV still undecided between Alex Orji and Jackson Arnold. A great nightcap that will set the table on the G6 playoff conversation.
