Eastern Michigan Eagles 2026 Season Preview

Twelve Years Running

Chris Creighton is now the longest-tenured constant in a program that just went 4-8 overall and 3-5 in the Mid-American, with a power rating that sits at #131 nationally. That combination, a losing record and a bottom-tier ranking, is exactly the profile that invites scrutiny of any staff, though the length of his run in Ypsilanti means 2026 will be judged against a body of work, not a single bad stretch. The number that matters most for evaluating this season is whether the on-field product can climb out of that #131 range, because another year in that territory changes the conversation regardless of tenure.

Kim Returns, Line Must Hold

Noah Kim is back after throwing for 2,817 yards, and the bigger story is that he'll do it behind a line that allowed just 11 sacks a year ago, one of the sturdiest pass-pro units in the country. The problem is everything Kim doesn't control: a run game that managed only 143 yards per game and a defense that gave up 231 yards on the ground, ranking 136th, with a front that generated a mere 13 sacks. Eastern Michigan's 2026 math is simple: Kim and a protected passing attack have to outscore what could again be one of the country's most porous run defenses.

Noah Kim is back after throwing for 2,817 yards and 18 touchdowns, and his 11 interceptions matter less than the continuity he gives an offense that ranked 61st in passing yards per game while protecting him well enough to allow just 11 sacks all season. With Cameron Edge and Jeremiah Salem gone and no proven arm behind him beyond unproven backups Bryce Button and Jace Stuckey, Eastern Michigan's passing attack is Kim's to run, and incoming three-stars Nick Kinsey and Brogan McCaughey are developmental pieces, not competition. The path to improving on a 92nd-ranked scoring offense runs through Kim taking a step forward, not a change under center.

Dontae McMillan's 1,014 yards and Tavierre Dunlap's 428 walk out the door, wiping out virtually the entire 2025 rushing attack in one offseason. What's left is Joey Mattord, who managed just 48 yards a year ago, plus unproven names in Amareon Blue and XaVior Tyus, so Eastern Michigan went shopping for a fresh room rather than trust internal growth. Braydon Bennett (Virginia Tech) and Malachi James (Syracuse) arrive with modest transfer production, while three-star freshmen Nazir Jones-Davis and Decorie Johnson add long-term pieces, but nobody in this group has proven he can carry a Mid-American backfield yet.

Nick Devereaux's 34 catches for 510 yards and 7 touchdowns is the only proven weapon left after Jamarien Wheeler and Terry Lockett Jr. took their combined production out the door. Harold Mack and Benson Prosper give Eastern Michigan a workable second and third read, but four incoming three-star freshmen in Carl Jean-Bart, Shawn Fishwick, CJ Miller and Bacori Minner arrive with zero game tape, meaning Devereaux has to carry the room while a middling passing attack (61st in passing yards per game) waits on unproven pieces to grow up fast. That leaves the receiving corps thinner in experience than a year ago, and Eastern Michigan's 2026 passing game rides almost entirely on how quickly Mack and Prosper turn snaps into production alongside Devereaux.

Joshua Long's 37 catches for 357 yards and 3 scores were the real bright spot of a middling passing attack, and he comes back as the clear centerpiece of this group. What changes for 2026 is the depth around him: Tanner Lemaster returns with modest production, but Jackson Holt, Payton Kokaly and Adon Turner add bodies with no track record yet, while three-star arrivals Nathan Piggott, Armaad Sharp and Brady Shelton give Chris Creighton fresh options to develop behind Long. None of the departed tight ends (Nick Harris, Braden Laux, Caden Vanderbush) were doing much on the stat sheet, so this is addition by subtraction paired with Long simply doing it again as the proven piece.

Eleven sacks allowed last year, a number most rebuilding lines would envy, walks out the door with 13 departures along the front, including Everett Small, Owen Snively, Dodji Dahoue, Andrew Steger and Tamarley Smith. Chris Creighton is patching the gap with a mix of paths in, bringing in Oklahoma State transfer Tyler Brumfield, Michigan State transfer Cole Dellinger and Illinois transfer Tyler McMillan at tackle and guard, plus high school signees Nily Taylor and Carter Miculka. Seniors Nathan Henry, Joshua Anderson, Nicholas Gallegos and Dennis Strey Jr. give the group some grown-up faces, but with more gone than back, the line that helped produce 143 rushing yards per game and a 5.71 yards-per-play mark is very much a question mark heading into 2026.

The run defense that bled 231 yards a game a year ago loses its two most productive linemen in Donovan Green and Sterling Miles, and Eastern Michigan is answering that hole with volume rather than a proven fix, five three-star freshmen led by edge rushers RJ Alphonse and Kijon Braxton. That means 2026 rides on the returning core actually growing into difference-makers: Quincy Byas already has 5.5 TFL and 3 sacks to build on, while Carter Evans (37 tackles) provides the interior snaps to free him up. A defense that finished 129th in sacks and 134th in havoc rate needs Byas to become a legitimate disruptor before the freshmen are ready to help, not the other way around.

Barry Manning's 75 tackles and 5.5 TFL are the only real production coming back at linebacker after Andrew Marshall (61 tackles, 3.5 TFL) and Marco Patierno (42 tackles) both left, and that gap matters for a run defense that gave up 231 yards per game on the ground, 136th nationally. Zach Mowchan adds 40 tackles beside him, but the rest of the room, Bryce Eliuk, Solomon Bell, Kadin Bailey and newcomer Zach Brown, arrives with next to no track record to lean on. Eastern Michigan's pass defense held up at 20th nationally in yards allowed, so 2026 comes down to whether Manning's group can turn stops behind the line into more than the 49 tackles for loss and 13 sacks this front managed a year ago.

Eastern Michigan's front seven couldn't get off the field last year, but the secondary was the one unit actually pulling its weight, finishing 20th nationally in passing yards allowed while the run defense sank to 136th. Bryce Llewellyn (103 tackles, 5 TFL) anchors a group that returns nearly everyone who mattered, with Jason Marshall and Juan Salas both back after combined seasons of 56 and 34 tackles. None of the five incoming defensive backs, led by corners Fa'Rel Carter and Horace Glenn III, project to crack that starting mix right away, which means 2026 is about this same core cleaning up a defense that still ranked 124th in tackles for loss and letting Llewellyn's group carry the weight the front line isn't providing.

Rudy Kessinger already produced the numbers that matter, 17 of 23 field goals and a 50-yarder last fall, so the incumbent has the job to lose even with Van Krisiloff arriving as a 3-star addition from Cathedral and Adam Samaha in from Akron. The bigger question is the punt game, where Mitchell Tomasek and his 45.1-yard average are gone and Daniel Hull steps in with no track record to lean on. Eastern Michigan is betting its placekicking stays steady while the punting unit rebuilds from scratch under Chris Creighton in year 13.

Backfield Exodus

Eastern Michigan's 26 portal departures gutted the run game, taking Dontae McMillan (1,014 yards) and Tavierre Dunlap (428 yards) with them, and Virginia Tech transfer Braydon Bennett arrives with only 8 career rushing yards to show for it. Noah Kim returns at quarterback off a 2,817-yard, 18-touchdown season, but he also lost his top three pass catchers in Jamarien Wheeler, Terry Lockett Jr. and Porter Rooks, so the passing game is being rebuilt around him with largely unproven pieces. A 106th-ranked class and a defense replacing Andrew Marshall and Donovan Green up front means Chris Creighton is leaning on Kim to carry an offense that lost its identity in the backfield.

Braydon Bennett's Ground Game

Dontae McMillan's 1,014 rushing yards walk out the door, and Virginia Tech transfer Braydon Bennett arrives with just 8 career rushing yards to show he can fill that void. Noah Kim's 18 touchdowns against 11 interceptions means Eastern Michigan needs a run threat to lighten his load, and Bennett's ability to turn a bit part at Virginia Tech into a real workload is the swing factor for this offense. If he cannot handle the volume, Kim gets forced into more of the mistakes that already plagued him.

The Value Play

Eastern Michigan went 4-8 on the scoreboard but covered at a 64% clip, the kind of gap that tells the real story of Chris Creighton's 12th year: this team kept games closer than the record showed, especially at home where it covered 80% of the time despite going just 3-3 straight up. The number that stands out most is 6-1 against the spread the week after a loss, proof this group did not unravel after setbacks even when it could not finish games off. With Creighton back for year 13, bettors should expect Eastern Michigan to again be live in spots where the scoreboard says blowout risk and the market has not caught up.