Bethune-Cookman Wildcats 2026 Season Preview

Steady Hand in the SWAC

Raymond Woodie Jr. closed 2025 at 5-3 in league play, a mark that outran the No. 89 power rating attached to his roster. That gap is the story heading into 2026: Bethune-Cookman is winning conference games at a level its overall talent rank does not explain. A .500 overall record with a plus league mark is exactly the kind of split that says the SWAC schedule, not raw horsepower, has carried this program, and it puts real weight on Woodie continuing to coach up a roster that grades out below most of its conference peers.

Jones Inherits a Fast Offense

The bigger story for Bethune-Cookman in 2026 is not the 29.7 points per game the offense put up last season, it is whether that attack can hold together with Amari Jones projected to take over at quarterback after rushing for just 3 yards and no touchdowns in his limited 2025 look. He is stepping into a unit that already moved the ball at 6.10 yards per play and 404 total yards per game, so the pieces are there, but the real problem sits on the other side of the ball, where a defense allowing 439 yards per game and 6.51 yards per play has to find stops or Jones will be chasing points every week.

Amari Jones takes the first-team reps into 2026 as the front-runner, but the job is not settled, with Jaden Page and incoming freshman Joel Morris out of Booker both in the mix. Jones threw for zero touchdowns and carries just 3 rushing yards on his ledger, a thin sample to replace Cam'Ron Ransom, who accounted for 1,743 yards and 13 touchdowns last season, plus Timmy McClain's 857 yards and 3 scores. Whoever wins the camp battle inherits an offense that moved the ball at 6.10 yards per play (26th nationally) but converted only 38.8% of third downs, and closing that gap starts with whoever Woodie names his starter.

Khamani Robinson's 444 yards were the modest lead of a committee that scored plenty on volume but rarely broke off chunk plays, and now he inherits the load outright with Ali Scott Jr.'s 399 yards and Marqui Johnson's 206 both off the roster. Rashon Brown (131 yards) and Juan Rodriguez (65 yards) return to spell him, and South Florida transfer Jaylen Johnson adds a change-of-pace option, but none of them approach Scott's per-touch juice. That leaves Robinson as the engine behind an offense that already moved the ball at 6.10 yards per play, and Bethune-Cookman's ceiling in 2026 tracks directly with how much bigger his workload gets.

Lorenzo Jenkins (23 catches, 361 yards) becomes the clear top target now that Maleek Huggins (56-808-7) and Javon Ross (50-603-3) are both gone, a combined production hit for a passing game that ranked 35th nationally in yards per game last season. Rickie Shaw II and Josh Evans return with modest but real reps, and Bethune-Cookman needs one of them to grow into a second reliable option rather than leaning on Jenkins alone. Willie Anderson returns without prior stats on file, so the room's actual ceiling behind Jenkins is still unproven on tape.

Jaylin Mobley's modest 2 catches for 3 yards barely registered in a passing game that put up 236 yards per game, so the tight end room was never the engine of Bethune-Cookman's offense in 2025 and it isn't inheriting one now. Wistanson Mathurin, William Roberts III and Micheal Walker return without a catch between them on record, meaning whatever this group becomes in 2026 will be built from scratch rather than carried forward. With Raymond Woodie Jr.'s offense already leaning on its 168 rushing yards per game and 40th-ranked ground attack, the tight ends look like blockers first until one of these three forces a bigger role.

A line that helped push 404 yards and 6.10 yards per play a season ago now loses its identity up front, with six linemen out the door including Trevaris Hammond, Christian Loving, Isaiah Maumalanga, Antuan Wells and Teko Shoats. That kind of turnover on a unit ranked just 63rd in explosiveness means Raymond Woodie Jr. cannot simply plug bodies in and expect the same push, especially with the rushing attack already a middling 40th nationally in yards per game. Mark Holloway arrives from Lakewood as a three-star interior addition, and how quickly he handles SWAC-caliber defensive tackles will decide whether that 38.8% third-down rate climbs or sinks further.

Opposing lines gashed Bethune-Cookman for 184 rushing yards a game and 6.51 yards per snap in 2025, numbers that trace straight back to a front that could not get off blocks. Adrian Hall Jr. and Laron Davis are both gone from the tackle spots after combined single-digit tackle production, and edge piece Bryson Boone has also departed, so the interior push and the pass rush both have to be rebuilt from what is left in the room. Coach Raymond Woodie Jr. inherits a defense that let opponents stay on schedule 49.1% of the time, and fixing that starts up front, not in the back seven.

Malik Stinnett's 8 tackles were the top mark among returning linebackers, which says plenty about a group that watched opponents stay on schedule 49.1% of the time and finished 114th in yards per play allowed. Stephen Sparrow, the leading tackler at 14 with the group's only sack, is gone, so the rebuild leans on Jaylen Lewis and Montravius Lloyd, each with a tackle for loss in limited snaps, plus UCF transfer Malakhi Boone and Temple transfer London Hall to add bodies with pedigree. The bigger issue than personnel is scheme results, this defense still ranked 18th nationally in tackles for loss but only 20th in sacks and let up 439 yards a game, so Bethune-Cookman needs its returning core to turn disruption behind the line into actual stops.

A secondary that allowed 254 yards passing a game a year ago, 111th nationally, lost its whole back end of production at once: Antwone Watts (14 tackles), Gabe White (12), Johnny Harris III (9 tackles, 2 TFL) and Joshua Thornhill (7) are all gone. Georgia State transfer Sam McCall, a 4-star corner who logged 7 tackles last season, steps into that void and gives Raymond Woodie Jr. a proven body to plug in immediately rather than break in cold. The bigger issue is scheme-wide: opponents kept plays on schedule against this defense at a 49.1% clip, 119th nationally, and no single transfer fixes that without the rest of an experienced secondary tightening up behind McCall.

Juan Dominguez was money in 2025, hitting 11 of 14 field goals with a long of 42 and piling up 72 points, and he returns as the steady piece of this operation. The bigger question is the punting job vacated by Max Tulen, who averaged 43.8 yards on 41 kicks, now handed to Lex Duarte with no prior statistics to lean on. Long snappers Cole Hash and Malachi Porter both return, at least keeping the mechanics of the operation intact while Duarte tries to replace real production.

Amari Jones Takes Over

Cam'Ron Ransom's 1,743 yards and 13 touchdowns walk out the door, and Amari Jones, a rushing-only asset a year ago with 3 yards on the ground, is projected to run the offense in his place. Everything around him has a pulse, Khamani Robinson's 444 yards, Lorenzo Jenkins' 361 receiving, but none of it matters if Jones cannot produce as a passer at a level he has not shown on tape yet.

Money Backs the Wildcats

Bethune-Cookman went 6-6 straight up, but bettors made money on this team, covering at a 64% clip overall and never blinking after a loss, going a perfect 5-0 against the number in those spots. The split between home and road tells the real story: Bethune-Cookman won every home game outright and covered 75% of the time at home, then went winless straight up on the road while still managing to cover half its true road games. Raymond Woodie Jr.'s group is a different team once it leaves Daytona Beach, and a 2026 schedule that leans on that home comfort should keep this squad live against the number even if the road results stay ugly.