Alabama State Hornets 2026 Season Preview

Robinson's Program Keeps Rising

Eddie Robinson Jr. just put together a 10-2 season with an 8-1 mark in SWAC play, and the No. 28 power rating says this was not a fluke against a soft schedule. The bar for 2026 is set by what already happened on the field, not by any outside noise, and a program running this level of conference play has earned the benefit of the doubt heading into the fall. Alabama State looks like a team built to defend its league standing rather than one searching for answers.

Body Runs It Back

The number that matters most for Alabama State's offense is not a yardage total but the fact that Andrew Body is back running the show after an attack that led the SWAC in yards per play and offensive success rate. That efficiency, not explosiveness, was the engine behind a 10-2 season, and with Body settled in at quarterback there is no reason that identity changes in 2026. The bigger question is a defense that let opponents stay on schedule at a 114th-ranked clip and got gouged on the ground at 105th nationally, meaning this team's ceiling still depends on Body and the offense outscoring problems rather than a defensive leap.

Andrew Body takes over an offense that ran the nation's most efficient attack a season ago, with the unit's 53.4% success rate and 8.14 yards per play both leading the sport behind Te'Sean Smoot's 985 yards and 9 touchdowns without an interception. Smoot returns as insurance, and James Hayes gives Eddie Robinson Jr. another arm with game experience, so the passing game does not have to be reinvented, just handed off. Aaron Frye arrives out of high school at Clay-Chalkville with no stats on file yet, a developmental piece behind a room that already has its answer at the top in Body.

Jahbari Kuykendall (386 yards, 2 TD) and Karl Ligon (262 yards, 2 TD) are the returning pieces tasked with replacing production that walked out the door in Marcus Harris II (323 yards, 14 TD) and Jamarie Hostzclaw (615 yards, 5 TD). That's a lot of touchdowns and yardage gone from a backfield that helped power an offense ranked 1st nationally in yards per play and success rate, so the ground game does not need to reinvent itself, just find a new lead scorer among Kuykendall, Ligon, JR Gardner (41 yards, 1 TD) and Ashton Ashford (54 yards). With Eddie Robinson Jr.'s attack still averaging 212 rushing yards per game a season ago, whichever back seizes the early-down role should have room to work behind that same efficient system.

Jalen Jones (47 catches, 1,119 yards, 9 TD) and Dylan Djete (28-435-4) are both gone, stripping away most of the production behind that No. 1 national mark in yards per play. Ajai Harrell (22-396-4) and Asa Gregg (17-236-2) are back as the proven pieces, but neither approaches Jones' role as a downfield threat, and the passing game ranked just 19th nationally even with that firepower around it. Transfer Dylan Vickerson arrives from Western Kentucky with modest numbers (5-59-0), which makes Harrell the closest thing this room has to a go-to target as Alabama State tries to keep pace with an offense that scored at a top-two national clip.

Manny Thompson caught only two passes last year, but both went for touchdowns, and he heads a tight end room that never needed heavy target share on an offense that led the country in yards per play at 8.14 and success rate at 53.4%. Derick Harden's 84 yards and two scores are the production to replace, and Jaden Moore and Joshua Washington, both without a catch on record, are the in-house options Eddie Robinson Jr. will lean on to keep that efficiency machine humming. With the passing game already 19th nationally at 254 yards a game and the run at 212, this position does not need to produce gaudy numbers so much as keep moving the chains, and Thompson's touchdown rate says he can do exactly that.

The line that paved the way for 8.14 yards per play, best in the country, is being almost entirely reassembled. Eddie Robinson Jr. loses five-plus starters worth of experience up front, including tackle Desmond Daniels and guard DJ King, the kind of turnover that would sink most units producing 212 rushing yards a game. Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep product Tyja Starks arrives as the lone tracked addition to the interior, and how quickly he and the rest of the rebuilt group gel will decide whether that explosive, 53.4% success-rate offense holds its identity or takes a step back in 2026.

The rushing defense sagged to 190 yards allowed per game (105th nationally) even with Cameron Gordon and Detrick Jones patrolling the interior, and now both are gone along with Davier Fairrow. That leaves Eddie Robinson Jr. needing his front to clean up a unit that let opponents stay on schedule 46.8% of the time (114th), a problem that starts up front, not in the secondary, where the pass defense (187 yards allowed, 21st) already carried the load last fall. Whoever fills the interior gaps inherits a line that has to fix the run fits first, because the back end already did its job.

None of Alabama State's returning linebackers posted more than 4 tackles in 2025, a stat line that looks jarring next to a defense that ranked 22nd in points allowed per game, and it points to a room that made its impact in run support without racking up gaudy individual numbers. Kayvon Henderson (4 tackles) and Corey Lucius (1 tackle) are the most experienced names left after Rhoody Jean-Louis, Jalil Lenore and Denzel Johnson all departed, so the front seven's actual production has to come from somewhere new. Jerimia Collier arrives from Jonesboro to add a body to that mix, but the bigger issue on tape was tackles for loss, where Alabama State ranked 79th nationally, and until this group starts winning those down-and-distance snaps behind the line, the rushing defense (105th in yards allowed per game) will keep bailing out the pass defense's strong 21st-ranked showing.

Alabama State's pass defense ranked 21st nationally a year ago, but the tackle production behind that number is nearly gone, with Keane Lewis, Tre Phillips and Twillie Lovett all off the roster. Ta'Shaun Sims (7 tackles) is the clear returning anchor at safety, and Eric Tarrant becomes the veteran voice at corner after logging just 3 tackles in a backup role last fall. Vincent Burrell IV returns without a stat line to speak of, and Zion Crawford arrives from Hapeville Charter to add a fresh body at corner, but this group has to defend its ranking with far less tackling experience than it had in 2025.

Andrew Abu-Akel didn't miss last season, going a perfect 9 of 9 with a long of 46 and 73 points, and he's back as the automatic option in 2026 while Brandon Gilliam's 5-of-6 leg is the only kicking production out the door. The bigger question is at punter, where Stewart McCall II returns with no recorded production after Harrison Tuck's 41.6-yard average departs, leaving Eddie Robinson Jr. needing McCall to establish himself as a real weapon rather than just a name on the depth chart. Long snapper is fully intact with Garrett Wilemon, Will Hocutt and Thomas Lauria all back, so the operation around Abu-Akel should stay steady even as the punting picture gets sorted out.

Andrew Body's Passing Attack

Andrew Body runs this offense in 2026, and the swing factor is whether he can turn Ajai Harrell into the same kind of chain-mover Jalen Jones was before his 1,119-yard departure. Harrell's 22 catches and 4 touchdowns are proven, but Alabama State needs him to roughly double that workload while Dylan Vickerson, a 3-star arrival from Western Kentucky with just 59 yards on his resume, tries to become a second option rather than a project. If that passing game clicks, Jahbari Kuykendall's 386 rushing yards give Body a complementary run game instead of the whole burden.

Bettors Still Underrate Them

A 9-1 cover mark in 2025, including a cover in a loss to a ranked opponent, means oddsmakers still have not caught up to what Eddie Robinson Jr. built, especially at home where Alabama State went a perfect 3-0 against the number as a favorite. Road trips barely dented the value either, with backers cashing at 83 percent away from Montgomery and covering both times as an underdog. Until a number actually accounts for this program, fading Alabama State on a Saturday slate is the play that keeps losing money.