Howard Bison 2026 Season Preview

A Season Below the Line

Ted White's 2025 didn't clear the bar: a 5-7 finish with a losing mark in league play at 2-3, paired with a power rating that sits at 106th nationally. Those three data points pull in the same direction, a program that struggled to separate itself in the MEAC and lost more than it won. Nothing about the results points to progress yet, and 2026 becomes the year to show this roster can flip close conference games.

A Bottom-Line Offense

The number that defines this Howard team is 4.43 yards per play, 119th nationally, on an offense that managed just 19.8 points per game a year ago. That's the backdrop for Terrell Russell, projected to run the offense in 2026 off a sliver of a sample, 49 yards and a touchdown, so essentially everything he does will be new information rather than a continuation. The defense held up its end, allowing just 169 passing yards per game (8th) and 330 total yards per game (18th), which means Howard's 2026 outlook rides almost entirely on whether Russell and this offense can climb out of the bottom tier of the sport.

Terrell Russell takes the first-team reps into 2026, the front-runner off 49 yards and a touchdown in limited action, but Ja'Shawn Scroggins (37 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) keeps the camp battle from being settled. Whoever wins the job inherits an offense that managed just 158 passing yards per game and a 35.1% success rate a year ago, numbers Tyriq Starks' since-departed 1,638-yard, 8-TD, 10-INT season did little to fix. With sacks allowed at just 2 last season, the line at least buys time, the question is whether Russell or Scroggins can finally turn protection into production.

Travis Kerney's 299 yards and 3 scores make him the closest thing Howard has to a lead back, but he was a complementary piece behind Anthony Reagan Jr.'s 549-yard, 7-touchdown season, and Reagan is gone. Billy Roberson II adds 188 yards to the mix, while Rufus Ferguson II and John Washington III bring little to no track record, leaving Kerney and Roberson to carry a ground game that managed just 117 yards per game and ranked 103rd nationally in that category. With the passing game stuck at 112th in yards per game, Howard needs Kerney to turn last year's secondary role into a real workload if the offense is going to move off 97th in scoring.

No Howard receiver topped 275 yards in 2025, and the group's leading producer, Andre Cooper II (22 catches, 350 yards, 2 TD), is gone. Antonio Hunter returns as the volume option after 23 catches for 275 yards, but zero touchdowns among his group underscores an offense that ranked 113th in success rate and 72nd in explosiveness. Zaden Jackson, Breylin Smith and CJ Neely all managed touchdowns on modest catch totals, and Rice transfer Semaj Pierre arrives as a rushing threat rather than a downfield fix, so any real jump in Howard's 158 passing yards per game falls on that returning corps finding more explosive plays, not a single new arrival solving it.

Montrell Walker's 154 yards and KD Mosley's two touchdowns walk out the door, leaving Nathanial Clark, who managed just 3 catches for 26 yards last fall, as the lone proven pass catcher at the position. David Parks returns without a stat line to lean on, which means Howard's tight end production is essentially starting from zero after an offense that already ranked 112th in passing yards per game and 113th in success rate. Ted White needs someone from that room to threaten downfield, because last year's group barely registered as a receiving threat at all.

A line that produced 4.43 yards per play (119th nationally) and helped cap the offense at 275 total yards per game now loses five-plus bodies up front, with Zaire Cooper, Ibrahim Giwa, Sam Hill, Bryce Leos and Joe Maxwell III among eight departures. Ted White brings in Zion Britt from Berkeley to plug an interior spot, and Levi Mallette arrives as a high school signee out of Hope College Prep rather than through the portal, meaning neither has a snap of college tape to lean on. Given how little the ground game generated last year, 117 rushing yards per game, this group's early push up front will decide whether Howard's offense can get off 97th in scoring or stays stuck grinding out 38.1% on third down.

Howard's front lived off havoc last season, holding opponents to just 37.5% of plays staying on schedule (18th nationally) even while yielding 5.76 yards per play (66th) once blocks were beaten. That production is largely walking out the door, with seven linemen gone, including CJ Wesley, Noah Miles and Keion Mitchell, the three most productive tacklers up front. Marcus Ogbogu arrives from The St. James as an unproven edge piece, and Ted White needs him to grow into a disruptor fast if Howard wants to keep bottling up the pass the way it did in allowing just 169 yards per game through the air (8th nationally).

Howard's defense held opponents to just 169 yards passing a game in 2025, a number that stands out given the linebacker corps producing that result is now unrecognizable on paper. Ja'Quavion Smith, Cam Dyson, Judah McJimpsey and Jay Jones II are all gone from a group that helped keep 37.5 percent of opponent snaps behind schedule, one of the better marks in the country. Ted White has to find tacklers to replace that production, but the scheme that limited teams to 330 total yards a game gives whoever fills those spots a real structure to lean on rather than a rebuild from scratch.

Howard's secondary was the surprise strength of this defense in 2025, allowing just 169 passing yards per game, 8th nationally, even as five defensive backs including Ben Chandler and Zuri Watson move on. That production held up despite modest raw tackle numbers from that departing group, a sign the scheme under Ted White gets these guys in position more than it relies on any one name making plays. Kavontae Whipple arrives from Taft to add to an experienced back end, and if the pass defense numbers hold anywhere close to last year's mark, this unit stays the backbone of the Howard defense in 2026.

Matt Conord hit just 7 of 11 field goals a year ago but topped out at 43 yards and piled up 45 points, giving Howard a known commodity to lean on again in 2026. Liam Allen IV handled all 56 punts and averaged 41.5 yards, so the Bison are not searching for answers in the kicking game the way plenty of MEAC rosters are. The swap comes at long snapper, where Justin Hogue takes over for departed Michel Bergeron, and punter Alexander Quinn returns without a stat line attached, leaving the operation's more anonymous jobs as the real swing factor for Ted White's group.

Terrell Russell

Tyriq Starks threw 10 interceptions against 8 touchdowns and is gone, and Howard hands the offense to Terrell Russell, who has thrown all of 49 yards and one score in his college career. Russell will lean on Travis Kerney and Billy Roberson II on the ground while he learns on the job, but with a 164-ranked class and just one portal addition behind him, how fast he cuts down mistakes decides whether Howard's offense is functional or a repeat of last year's turnover problem.

Ted White's Road Betting Trap

Howard's overall 6-5 cover mark hides a split personality that bettors should note for 2026: this team went winless on the road at 0-6 straight up while covering just 33% of the time away from home, yet conference games told a different story at 3-2 against the spread. Ted White's group actually sharpened after losses, going 3-3 against the number the following week rather than spiraling. The lesson carrying into 2026 is simple, fade Howard on the road and pay attention once MEAC play starts.