Eastern Kentucky Colonels 2026 Season Preview

A Sturdier Foundation

Walt Wells closed 2025 at 5-7 and 3-5 in league play, a record that undersells a roster that grades out at No. 35 in power rating nationally. That gap between the win column and the underlying talent is the real story heading into 2026, a team that can play better than its record without a single marquee name confirmed on the depth chart yet. An experienced secondary gives Wells a base to build around, and if the offense finishes games the way the ratings suggest it should, the record catches up to the roster rather than the other way around.

Burkett's Show Now

Myles Burkett threw for 1,473 yards but a rough 8-to-9 touchdown-to-interception mark last season, and he owns the job in 2026 with no competition muddying the picture. The bigger problem sits up front and beyond him: an offense that managed just 4.62 yards per play and cracked a 35.4% success rate has to give Burkett actual room to operate, not just hand him the keys. Eastern Kentucky's defense, which held teams to 198 passing yards a game, can keep this thing close, but Burkett cleaning up those interceptions is what turns close losses into wins.

Myles Burkett is the answer to a passing game that managed just 132 yards per game through the air and an offense that stalled at a 32.3% third-down clip in 2025. Walt Wells is not searching for a quarterback here, he is building around one, and that stability matters on a unit that ranked 120th nationally in total yards per game. The bigger question is whether Burkett gets more support this time, because an offense averaging 4.62 yards per play cannot lean on him to fix everything alone.

Eastern Kentucky's ground game managed just 132 rushing yards per game a year ago, and neither Jalen Montgomery (39 yards) nor Telly McCallister (13 yards) did enough to hold their spots into 2026. Ryder Hooks, a three-star signee out of Lakota East, arrives with no college numbers to his name, which means the backfield production has to be found rather than continued. With the offense already sitting 109th in success rate and 112th in explosiveness, Hooks stepping into real carries would be the clearest way for Walt Wells to change how that unit finishes plays.

Marcus Calwise Jr.'s 32 catches and 5 touchdowns walk out the door, along with Dequan Stanley's 221 yards, leaving Walt Wells to reconstruct a passing attack that already ranked 120th in passing yards per game and 112th in explosiveness. Nothing about last year's 132 yards through the air suggests this group can simply plug in bodies and expect improvement, since the offense's 35.4% success rate and 32.3% third-down conversion rate point to a unit that struggled to sustain drives even with those targets on the field. Whoever emerges through the portal or an experienced room left off this sheet inherits a passing game that has to be rebuilt from the route tree up, not just restocked with names.

Eastern Kentucky's tight end production was already invisible last season, with Zach Russell's single catch for 12 yards essentially the extent of the room's contribution, and that name is now off the roster entirely. That fits an offense that managed just 132 passing yards per game, 120th nationally, so the position was never asked to stretch the field or move chains on third down, where the Colonels converted only 32.3% of the time. Walt Wells needs whoever fills that spot to at least become a safety-valve target, because an offense averaging 4.62 yards per play cannot afford another position group that produces almost nothing.

Walt Wells watched a line last season that managed just 4.62 yards per play, 113th nationally, and a 35.4% success rate that made every third down a struggle at a 32.3% conversion clip. Five linemen who played through that stretch, including Isaiah Bunn, Liam Coppinger, Blake Gamez, O'Brien Jackson and Brandon McGraw, are gone. Southeast Missouri State transfer Yusef Sanogo-Kendrick brings interior experience from another program, while high school signee David Pellman arrives as a three-star addition up front, and how quickly either settles in will shape whether Eastern Kentucky can escape the bottom third of the country in yards per play again.

Eastern Kentucky's front produced a respectable 5.34 yards per play allowed (29th) last season, but the group that got there is almost entirely gone, with all eight departures wiping out the tackle totals of Jeremiah Bailey, Tommy Ziesmer, Brad Gurley and Andrew Hines. Walt Wells rebuilt the room through the portal rather than promotion, adding Payne Miller from Western Illinois and interior pieces Lendric Barber and Chenellson Exume, while Keshawn Hayden arrives off a 15-tackle, 2-sack season at Central Michigan to anchor the edge. Hayden's production is the closest thing to a proven pass-rush number on the roster, and whether he can scale it up against UAC tackles will decide if this defense holds anywhere near its 2025 form.

Cam Junior and Braden Sullivan each finished with 12 tackles last fall, and both are gone along with the rest of a linebacker corps that lost nine players off a defense that ranked 29th in yards per play allowed. Walt Wells has to piece together a front seven without naming a single returning name to build around, which puts real weight on whatever transfer help arrives to stabilize a group that helped hold opponents to 165 rushing yards per game. The bigger question is whether the tackling production the departed group left behind, modest as it was, gets replaced by committee or by a newcomer who wins the job outright.

A secondary that ranked 32nd in passing yards allowed per game and 29th in yards per play allowed last season loses six defensive backs, headlined by Jaheim Ward's 20 tackles and Rishad Hence's 7. Walt Wells restocks with App State transfers Cristian Conyer, who logged 3 tackles in 2025, and Kaleb Neal, addressing corner and safety in the same breath. The pass defense held up well enough to build around, but replacing Ward's tackle production with an experienced group and two new transfers is the swing factor for whether that 24.3 points-allowed mark improves or slips.

Jacob Baker's departure leaves Walt Wells without the leg that handled all 66 punts a year ago at a 42.3-yard clip, a specific and significant hole rather than a vague one. Eastern Kentucky has not identified a transfer answer in the punt game, so whoever wins that job inherits a heavy workload immediately. The bigger question is whether the coverage units around him can hold up, since a new punter learning distance and hang time under UAC competition is a tougher adjustment than replacing a placekicker.

Myles Burkett's growth curve

Myles Burkett threw for 1,473 yards but posted more interceptions (9) than touchdowns (8) last season, and Eastern Kentucky handed him the job outright for 2026 rather than importing a portal arm to push him. With Marcus Calwise Jr.'s 32 catches and 417 yards gone from the passing game and a 193-ranked signing class offering little instant help, Burkett has to tighten his decision-making on his own or the offense stalls out again.

Live Dog

Eastern Kentucky finished 5-7 but covered at a 55% clip, and the number that jumps off the sheet is what happened against ranked competition, where the Colonels went 2-0-1 against the spread despite losing two of those three games outright. Walt Wells' group also bounced back well after a loss, covering four of seven such spots, a sign the roster did not fold when games got away from it. Backing this team as a live underdog against better competition is a sharper play than expecting straight-up wins.