UL Monroe Warhawks 2026 Season Preview

Vincent's Third Year

Bryant Vincent's third season follows a rough stretch, a 3-9 mark that included just one win in Sun Belt play, and the roster he fields in 2026 carries the weight of a program ranked 138th nationally. That gap between conference record and league membership is the real story here, not the calendar flip. Whatever comes next in Monroe will be measured against that 1-7 league mark, since climbing out of the bottom of the Sun Belt starts with simply winning games inside the conference again.

Armenta Inherits an Explosive Offense

The strangest number on this card is offense that ranked 6th nationally in explosiveness while finishing 125th in success rate and 131st in scoring, a boom-or-bust attack that could never string together enough snaps to matter. Aidan Armenta returns as the settled starter after throwing for 1619 yards with 12 touchdowns against 8 interceptions, and the swing between those touchdowns and picks is the whole story of whether 2026 looks different. A -10 turnover margin and a 32.7% third down rate did as much damage as any pass rush, so Armenta cutting down the interceptions matters more than chasing more of those explosive plays.

Aidan Armenta owns this job in 2026, and the 12 touchdowns against 8 interceptions from a year ago tell the real story: an offense that was explosive in flashes (6th nationally in explosiveness) but couldn't sustain drives, ranking 124th in third down rate and 125th in success rate. Armenta's ceiling was never the problem, it's the surrounding math, a passing game stuck at 160 yards per game while the ground game quietly produced. Houston transfer Austin Carlisle adds athleticism to the room, but with Bryson Kimbrough and Ty Purdy unproven and Landon Graves limited to mop-up snaps, Armenta taking a leap in efficiency is the only path to this offense escaping the bottom third of the country.

UL Monroe wipes out its entire rushing production from a year ago, with Braylon McReynolds (614 yards) and Zach Palmer-Smith (660 yards) both gone, and turns the backfield over almost completely to newcomers. Charlotte transfer Donald Chaney Jr. and Utah State transfer Derrick Jameson arrive as the presumed lead options, joined by juco addition Julian Walker and Arkansas Tech's Bryson Roland, none of whom have logged a single college carry. That's a lot of blind faith to place in a ground game that was the rare bright spot on a 131st-ranked scoring offense, and until one of those four separates himself, the ceiling on this rushing attack is a total guess.

No returning wideout topped 368 yards last season, and the group still loses its top producer in Jonathan Bibbs (26 catches, 383 yards, 3 TD) along with Jake Godfrey and Tyler Griffin. Nic Trujillo (23-368-4) and JP Coulter (21-234) are back as the closest thing to proven hands, but a passing attack that ranked 124th in yards per game needs someone else to emerge behind them. Five three-star arrivals, headlined by Parker Fulghum out of Clemson and fellow transfer Damarcco Blanton, plus unproven returners like Demarcco Blanton and Javon Campbell, will decide whether this room can be more than a checkdown outlet for a run-first offense.

ULM didn't just lose its tight end production, it imported an entirely new group to replace it. Julian Nixon and Rylan Green are both out the door, and the returning names, Steven Gorski, Nate Green, Quad Harrison, Dalen Huston, carry no real receiving track record between them. Cade Callahan arrives from Merrimack having caught 19 balls for 279 yards and 3 scores, and Bryce Anderson adds 12 catches from Memphis, giving a passing offense that ranked 124th in yards per game an actual proven target at the position for the first time in this preview.

This group protected the passer reasonably well in 2025, allowing 20 sacks, but the offense still stalled behind it, converting only 32.7% of third downs and ranking 125th in success rate. Most of the room is back, led by seniors Adameon Botley, AJ Vinson, Drew Hutchinson, Edarius Green and John Curtis Goodman Jr., with only four linemen gone. Sean Dugery and Jeremyah Green arrive to push for interior spots and Bright Fagbamiye and Van Martinez add tackle depth, but the real burden falls on the returning veterans to turn continuity into actual movement on early downs.

This group loses its entire production base at once, with Dylan Howell's 4 sacks and Cliff Mosley's 22 tackles both gone, leaving James Smith (14 tackles, 1 sack) as the only returning lineman with a stat line to his name. Bryant Vincent had to hit the portal to answer that, bringing in edge rushers Le'Kell McGowan from Memphis and CJ Wilson Jr. from Butler, while Ethan Bailey, Charles Binet, Marvin Hall, Levontae Jacobs and Moses Madubuike all return without a single recorded snap of production. Given a 2025 unit that finished 120th in points allowed per game and 100th in havoc rate, the newcomers need to produce immediately or the front seven's pressure numbers stay stuck near the bottom third of the country.

Noah Flemmings is the whole ballgame here, and his 80 tackles and 10 TFL dwarf every other returning linebacker's production combined, which is exactly the problem for a defense that gave up 31.9 points per game. Marcus Ross and Jaeden Calender are back with modest tackle numbers, but the group loses Billy Pullen and Seidrion Langston, who combined for real disruption at the position, and nobody in the returning group besides Flemmings has proven he can replace that. Unless Kelbee Holmes or Cooper Eldridge takes a real step forward, ULM is still relying on one linebacker to cover for a front that finished 100th in havoc rate.

ULM waved goodbye to five contributors from last year's secondary, including D'Arco Perkins-McAllister's 4 sacks and Kamrin Canterbury's 31 tackles, gutting a group that already let opponents complete 223 yards a game through the air. Jabari Tiller, whose 46 tackles and 7.5 TFL made him the closest thing to a disruptor on the back end, now anchors a room stocked with unproven imports: Taijh Overton from Arkansas, Larell Howling from Coastal Carolina and Armoni Rue from Michigan State all arrive with minimal game tape to lean on. With Carl Fauntroy and Zy Jackson the only other holdovers carrying real snaps, this secondary is being rebuilt on projection rather than proof, and the passing defense figures to take a step back before it takes one forward.

Luke Stagg's departure leaves a wide-open placekicking job, and the answer likely arrived from California in Abram Murray, who hit 4 of 6 field goals with a 49-yard long last season, a stronger track record than incumbents Max Larson and Gavin Polk carry on paper. Punter Makenzie Ryan returns but managed only 2 points with no field-goal attempts logged, so the kicking operation is essentially being rebuilt around a transfer rather than restored. For a team that went 1-7 in Sun Belt play, cleaning up close-game margins starts with getting Murray on the field.

Armenta Inherits a Bare Backfield

Aidan Armenta returns after throwing for 1,619 yards with 12 touchdowns against 8 interceptions, but the two backs who carried the ground game, Zach Palmer-Smith (660 yards) and Braylon McReynolds (614 yards), are both gone, along with leading wideout production from Jonathan Bibbs and Jake Godfrey. Bryant Vincent rebuilt around the position groups he could control instead, importing tight ends Cade Callahan and Bryce Anderson and adding Houston transfer Austin Carlisle as a dual-threat complement in the backfield mix. With a 127th-ranked class and 17 departures to offset, Armenta's ability to lean on those new pass-catchers early will decide whether Monroe's offense is functional or stuck replacing too much at once.

Aidan Armenta's Decision-Making

Armenta comes back with 1,619 yards and 12 touchdowns already on his résumé, but the 8 interceptions are the number that actually shaped ULM's 3-9 season. With Zach Palmer-Smith's 660 rushing yards gone and no replacement of that stature on the roster, Monroe's offense tilts even more toward Armenta's arm, feeding Nic Trujillo and new tight end Cade Callahan. Cut the turnovers and this offense has real playmakers to work with, keep them and 1-7 in Sun Belt play looks generous again.

Vincent's Home Chalk Problem

The market has learned to stay away from Bryant Vincent's teams at Malone Stadium, where UL Monroe has covered just 1-4 and gone 2-3 straight up, a sharper split than the road numbers show. Put this team on the road as an underdog and the picture flips entirely, 3-3 against the spread with three outright wins, evidence that the roster competes when nobody expects anything at home or away. Vincent's third year arrives with a program that still can't be trusted as a home number, 1-1 as a favorite, but has quietly built value everywhere else, including a 3-5 mark in conference spread play that beat its 1-7 straight-up record on the scoreboard.