Mercyhurst Lakers 2026 Season Preview

A Program Splitting Signals

Thomas Sydeski's team told two different stories in 2025: a 4-3 mark inside the NEC that reads like a competitive, middle-of-the-pack club, and a 5-7 overall ledger dragged down by results outside league play. The No. 80 power rating lines up closer to the overall record than the conference mark, suggesting the non-conference slate exposed depth or talent gaps that league play didn't. Heading into 2026, the more meaningful marker for Sydeski's group is whether that in-conference competitiveness can carry over into the results column across the full schedule, not just the NEC portion.

Gevaudan Inherits a Lopsided Team

Mercyhurst's defense held up its end, ranking 10th nationally in passing yards allowed and 38th in total yards allowed, while the offense stalled at 102nd in scoring. That gap is the whole story for 2026, and it now runs through Alex Gevaudan, projected to start after throwing for just 246 yards with a 1-to-1 touchdown to interception mark a year ago. If Gevaudan cannot push the passing game past last season's 222 yards per game and lift a unit that ranked 79th in success rate, the defense will again be doing more than its share.

Adam Urena's 2,401 yards through the air walk out the door, and Alex Gevaudan is the front-runner to replace that volume after throwing for just 246 yards a season ago. The job is not settled, Kolten Ruark, Tyler Tusai and Nevada transfer Anthony Wolter are all in the mix, but Gevaudan takes the first-team reps into camp. Whoever wins it inherits a passing game that ranked 47th nationally in yards per game even while the offense stalled at 102nd in scoring, so the ceiling is arm talent, the floor is finishing drives.

Brian Trobel's 981 yards and 12 touchdowns walk out the door, and nobody left on this roster has come close to that workload. Jameir Gamble, who managed just 152 yards a year ago, is the leading returning back by default, with Jonathan Askew's 87 yards the only other real experience in the room. That gap matters on an offense that already ranked 99th in rushing yards per game at 122 per contest, meaning Gamble or Askew has to produce far beyond their 2025 numbers just to keep Mercyhurst's ground game from sliding further backward.

Dylan Evans (44 catches, 579 yards, 4 TD) and Evan Van Dyke (41-396-3) are the constants in a passing game that actually outperformed the rest of the offense, ranking 47th nationally in yards per game while the run game sat at 99th. The bigger question is who replaces Rylan Davison's 582 yards and 46 grabs, since Jason Woods and the rest of the returning group combined for single-digit or negative yardage lines last season. Evans and Van Dyke give Thomas Sydeski a real one-two punch to build the 2026 passing attack around, but the No. 2 receiver spot behind them is wide open production-wise.

Ashton Wilson's 11 catches for 91 yards paced a tight end room that never turned into a real weapon, part of an offense stuck at 122 rushing yards per game (99th) and forced to lean on a passing game that ranked 47th. Camden Lewis and Colin Melendez combined for modest production of their own, and with Alejandro Vazquez gone, Sha'lik Hampton and Mason Marchbank give Thomas Sydeski two unproven names to fold into the rotation. If Wilson takes a real step forward as a receiving threat, this group can help push a 38.6% success-rate offense (79th) toward the explosive plays it lacked at 1.26 (69th).

Mercyhurst's rushing attack managed just 122 yards per game (99th nationally) a year ago, and four linemen who helped produce that output, Joey Balgo, Cadavius Gary, Samuel Petros and Caden Pustelak, are no longer in the room. Navi Arretche, Eugene Avei, Coy Bell, Colin Bruno and Dylan Ellenberger head the returning group up front, but with no way to know who actually started, Thomas Sydeski is piecing together protection and run lanes largely on trust. The passing game held up relatively well at 222 yards per game (47th), so the priority for this line is simple: find enough push to lift a ground game that stalled well below the national middle.

Mercyhurst's pass defense was legitimately good in 2025, ranking 10th nationally in passing yards allowed per game, but the run defense lagged at 87th and the line let 46.1% of opponent snaps stay on schedule, 110th in the country. That's the problem Thomas Sydeski has to fix at the point of attack, and he's doing it with six returners rather than a full rebuild: Kai'Ree Chavez-Harrington, Jacob Clulow, James Graham V, Lucien Griffin, Victor Iaquinta and Shanard Lo-Ray all come back to a room that lost Cedric Carter, Donovan Everette, Khalil Jackson, Jonas King and James Royal. None of the returners carry prior stat production on the books, so 2026 is really about whether that group can finally win the run-down snaps that slipped away last fall.

Jaiden Allos, Elijah Binakonsky, Gavin Burt, Patrick Carter, Corey Cobb Jr. and Timmy Fleischood Jr. all return at linebacker, a rare wholesale carryover for a Mercyhurst defense that leaned on the back end more than the front seven in 2025. Opponents stayed on schedule against this defense on 46.1% of plays, 110th nationally, and the run defense gave up 178 yards a game, 87th, numbers that point squarely at the linebacker corps rather than the secondary that ranked 10th in pass yards allowed. With Daniel Dlugos, Blaze Grabowsky, Kyler Laing and Jake Miller all gone, the six returning names above have to convert that continuity into actually winning downs, not just occupying them, if Thomas Sydeski wants the run defense to catch up to what the pass defense already does well.

Mercyhurst's secondary was the strength that carried a shaky front last year, ranking 10th nationally in passing yards allowed at 171 per game even as the run defense (87th) leaked yardage. That production returns largely intact behind JC Cloutier at safety and corners Da'Sean Anderson, Braylon Beckwith, Camariyon Bridges, Arron Chaney II and Mark Hawkins Jr., a group that stayed together despite five departures elsewhere in the room. With five of Thomas Sydeski's top coverage pieces back, the bet for 2026 is that Mercyhurst again wins games in the air even if opponents keep finding room on the ground.

Max Young hit just 6 of 9 field goals last fall but connected from as far as 38 yards and provided steady value on extra points, giving Mercyhurst a known commodity to lean on rather than a guessing game. Garrett McGuire returns after averaging 37.5 yards on 39 punts, a workload that says the Lakers spent plenty of 2025 backed up and needing him to flip field position. The one unknown is long snapper, where Aidan Lin departed without stats on file, leaving Thomas Sydeski to plug in a new snapper behind two proven specialists.

Alex Gevaudan's Passing Game

Brian Trobel's 981 rushing yards walk out the door, and Jameir Gamble's 152 yards in relief do not look like a ready-made replacement for that load, so Mercyhurst's offense tilts toward the arm of Alex Gevaudan. He threw for just 246 yards with one touchdown against one interception a year ago, but he gets Dylan Evans (44 catches, 579 yards) and Evan Van Dyke (41 catches, 396 yards) back outside, and how much he leans on that duo determines whether this offense can replace Trobel's production or stalls trying.

Sydeski's Road Cover Streak

Mercyhurst finished 5-7 straight up, but Thomas Sydeski's team was the road bet nobody wanted to take, covering at 71% away from home and going 4-1 as a road underdog. That gap between the losing record and the 8-4 betting mark says the line consistently overrated Mercyhurst's opponents, especially as a road dog. The soft spot is Erie itself, where the Lakers covered at just 60% and lost five straight ones outright, so 2026 bettors should keep fading home chalk and following the road number.