Fordham Rams 2026 Season Preview

Rebuilding Under Conlin

A 1-11 finish with a single conference win is the baseline Fordham works from in 2026, and the power rating (No. 111) says the roster gap is just as real as the record suggests. Joe Conlin's group did not lose close in 2025, going 1-5 in Patriot play, so the bar for 2026 is simply competing week to week rather than chasing a league title. Anything resembling .500 in conference play would mark a real jump from where this program just was.

Smith Returns, Ball Still Loose

Gunnar Smith is back after throwing for 2,680 yards last fall, but his 13 interceptions were part of a turnover margin that sank to -12, 118th nationally, and that leak is the real story of this offense. Fordham's passing game ranked a respectable 44th nationally in yards, yet a ground game stuck at 86 yards per game and an offense that stalls out on 33.2% of third downs left Smith with too little margin for error. If Smith cuts down the giveaways, the passing volume he already produces is enough to make this offense functional again, but until he does, the same turnover bug that wrecked 2025 will keep capping it.

Gunnar Smith threw for 2,680 yards last season but also tossed 13 interceptions against 14 touchdowns, and that ratio is the real story behind Fordham's 15.9 points per game, which ranked 117th nationally. Smith is back as the starter, and the passing game around him actually held up relatively well, at 223 yards per game (44th), while the offense's larger problems were an explosiveness rate that ranked 117th and a run game averaging just 86 yards per game (121st). Cutting the turnovers without a shift in that supporting cast falls squarely on Smith, since Thomas Rosso and Tripp Holley return with no meaningful production behind him.

Yohan-Li Louis (249 yards) and Jamell James (190 yards, 1 TD) split carries in a ground game that ranked 121st in rushing yards per game, and neither back topped Ricky Parks' departed 334-yard mark from a year ago. That gap is the story: Fordham's rushing attack was already stuck at 86 yards a game and 4.58 yards per play, and now the leading returning back has fewer yards than the guy who left. Louis and James get first crack at carrying the load, but Jacob Rodriguez's presence as a receiving option out of the backfield hints Fordham may need to lean on catches, not carries, to get its backs involved.

Nodin Tracy's 45 catches and Jack Freeburg's 446 yards give Fordham a passing attack that actually worked in 2025, ranking 44th nationally even as the offense sputtered to 15.9 points a game. Troy Worrell's 5 touchdowns on just 25 catches and Jabril Carter's 22 grabs add juice behind them, so the passing game returns nearly everyone who mattered while losing only Jack Betten's 338 yards to the departure column. With the ground game stuck at 86 yards per game and 121st nationally, Joe Conlin's offense in 2026 lives or dies on this receiving corps carrying the same load it did a year ago.

Jaden Allen's 19 catches and 187 yards walk out the door, leaving John Morris as the only tight end in the room with a catch to his name, and just 6 for 41 yards at that. That thin production matters on an offense that already ranked 117th in scoring and 99th in success rate, meaning Morris, Max Polin and Dallas Reece are being asked to add a receiving dimension that barely existed last season rather than simply replace what left. Fordham's passing game actually graded out respectably at 44th nationally, so if Polin or Reece can turn into real targets, Joe Conlin has a plausible lever to lift an offense that averaged just 4.58 yards per play.

Fordham's rushing attack managed just 86 yards per game on the ground, a mark that sat 121st nationally and forced the offense to live through the air behind a line that could not consistently open lanes. Duke Leonard, Kevin Loughlin and Kurt Plakans are all gone from that group, and the passing game's relative success (223 yards per game, 44th nationally) only underscores how lopsided the operation had become. Joe Conlin's staff needs the front to hold up in protection well enough to keep that air game afloat while finding any way to push the rushing numbers off the bottom third of the country.

Joe Conlin watched Fordham's front give up 136 rushing yards a game, a respectable number that got buried by a pass defense allowing 264 through the air, and the line's pressure never showed up enough to change that math. The production Fordham does lose up front is modest on paper, Sam Buerkle's 6 tackles and lone sack, Claudy Robinson's 4 tackles, Colby Spencer's lone TFL, but seven departures still clear out most of the names who logged snaps there in 2025. With the room built around whoever returns and any transfer additions rather than a proven pass rush, the yards-per-play number (5.70, 61st) is the realistic ceiling until someone new starts affecting the quarterback.

Joe Conlin's front seven gave up 136 rushing yards a game last fall, a middling number that masked the real issue: opponents shredded Fordham through the air for 264 yards per game, 114th nationally, exposing coverage linebackers as much as the secondary. James Conway's 17 tackles and Nick Pasquarella's modest snaps are both off the depth chart now, along with Patrick Nichols, so the answer to that passing-game leak has to come from an experienced linebacker corps rather than any proven name in the room. Until Fordham finds someone who can hold up in coverage the way Conway's group could not, 33.1 points allowed per game will not move much either.

Fordham's pass defense was the problem, giving up 264 yards a game through the air, 114th nationally, and none of the returning back seven did much to stop it, with Drew Minich and Boogie Owens topping the group at just 3 tackles apiece. Alex Kemper's 10 tackles and Trey Bradford's 4 walk out the door, but Joe Conlin brings in Camaul King, a 3-star safety from True North Classical Academy, and high school corner Kemaury Tye out of Anderson to add real bodies rather than just recycle last year's group. With the run defense already solid at 136 yards allowed per game, 37th nationally, fixing the coverage is squarely on Minich, Owens and the incoming pair.

Bennett Henderson made just 8 of 13 field goals a year ago but still hit from 46 yards, and that leg is the one proven weapon in a kicking operation otherwise full of question marks. Will Haslett's 41.4-yard average on punts is gone, leaving Dominic Sansone, who logged a nearly identical 41.8-yard mark on 28 punts, to take over the full punting load rather than share it. Snapper depth is unproven on paper, with Jack Jedlicka, Lachlan McIntyre and Deacon Prince all lacking prior stats, but with Henderson and Sansone both back, Fordham at least knows who is kicking and punting for a program coming off a 1-11 season under Joe Conlin.

Gunnar Smith's turnover rate

Gunnar Smith threw for 2,680 yards but matched his 14 touchdowns with 13 interceptions on a team that went 1-11, and with zero portal additions and a 220-ranked class, there is no reinforcement coming to bail out that ratio. Jack Freeburg and Nodin Tracy give him a proven pair of targets, so the swing for Fordham's offense is simple: if Smith cuts the interceptions closer to his touchdown total, this offense functions.

Backdoor Covers, Nothing Else

Fordham's on-field product was miserable, but the number gamblers actually watched was the spread, and even that split the difference at 5-7 overall against it. The road underdog trend is the honest tell here: Fordham went 3-4 against the number away from home while losing every one of those games outright, the kind of program that keeps games respectable without ever finishing them. Joe Conlin's group covering 50% in conference play says this roster was competitive within a possession more often than the 1-5 league mark suggests, which is a low bar but a real one heading into 2026.