Merrimack Warriors 2026 Season Preview

Gennetti's Rebuild Continues

Mike Gennetti closed 2025 at 4-8, with a lone conference game already lost, and a No. 86 power rating that puts Merrimack toward the back of the FCS Independents picture. The record shows a program still finding its footing rather than one trending toward a breakout, and 2026 reads as another year of Gennetti trying to turn scattered wins into real conference traction. Nothing here points to a leap so much as a grind back toward respectability.

Hairston Inherits a Lopsided Attack

The story here is the split personality of that 2025 offense: a ground game that ranked 26th nationally in rushing yards per game against a passing attack that sat 107th, with an offensive success rate down at 97th overall. AJ Hairston, who threw for 957 yards with 4 touchdowns against 4 interceptions, is projected to take over that offense, and his job is less about reinventing the wheel than avoiding the turnovers that undercut an efficient run scheme. Mike Gennetti's real lever for 2026 is whether Hairston can just be steady enough that the run game, not his arm, keeps deciding games.

Merrimack's quarterback room is a projection, not a resume: AJ Hairston, who threw for 957 yards with a 4-4 TD-INT split at Massachusetts, arrives as the front-runner for first-team reps, but Cole Meehan and Michael O'Connor are still in camp without a snap on file. That's an upgrade in pedigree over what walked out the door, since Ayden Pereira's 1,846 yards and Aveon Smith's turnover-prone stint are both gone. The passing game was the drag on a rushing-heavy attack (180 yards per game, 26th) last season at 164 yards per game (107th), and Hairston's job is to make that lopsided offense a two-way threat rather than a one-note grind.

Brendon Wyatt's 304 yards and 3 scores anchor a backfield that actually worked in 2025, with Merrimack running for 180 yards a game, good for 26th nationally, even as the passing game sagged at 107th. DeMarcus McElroy (256 yards) and Galamama Mulbah (240 yards, 2 TD) give Mike Gennetti a three-headed rotation with real carryover production, and Matthias Latham adds another proven ball-carrier behind them. The path back to respectability runs through leaning on that ground identity again rather than fixing the pass game overnight, since a 5.08 yards-per-play offense with a 36.4% success rate needs its most reliable weapon to stay the workhorse.

Seth Sweitzer's 31 catches for 403 yards were the closest thing to a go-to option in an offense that ranked 107th in passing yards per game, and he heads a receiving corps that stays largely intact. Austin Palmer (21 catches, 287 yards) and Jalen McDonald give Merrimack a real three-man rotation, while Middle Tennessee transfer Ethan Crite arrives to add a fresh look after Hayden Fisher's 231 receiving yards left with him. The bigger swing factor is up front and on the ground, where a 180-yard rushing attack ranked 26th nationally, so if Mike Gennetti's passing game can even approach that efficiency, Sweitzer and this returning group have the volume to turn 164 yards a game through the air into a real complement rather than an afterthought.

Cade Callahan's 19 catches and 279 yards walk out the door, and nobody left in the room has caught more than one pass. Kyle Doney is the only tight end with a reception on the books, a single grab for 4 yards, which means Andrew Korkosz, Landen Lilly, George Percy, Jake Pfeifer and Dean Pullman are all blank slates as receivers. With passing offense already a weak link at 164 yards per game (107th nationally), Merrimack needs one of these six to turn into a real target, not just a blocker, or the ground game stays the whole offense.

Merrimack ran the ball well enough behind this group last season (180 yards per game, 26th nationally) even as the passing game lagged badly at 107th, and the room now loses four pieces up front in Nolan Gunning, Will Jones, Beau Lanzidelle and Steven Lizama. Anthony Aviles, Mike Bowman, Nick Caruso, Cael DeNigris and Tommy Dickinson are back to anchor whatever Mike Gennetti builds around them, and freshman tackle Lance Wegman arrives out of St. Vincent de Paul as a high school signee to add to the competition. With that much turnover up front, protecting the modest gains in the run game while cleaning up a passing attack stuck near triple digits is the real task, not just replacing bodies.

Merrimack's front let opponents stay on schedule at a below-average clip and gave up 6.28 yards per play, a number that sat 103rd nationally and made every third down a coin flip even as the back end held passing yards to 202 a game. Jason Compoh, Kelvin Cheridor and James Wilborn Jr. are all gone from that group, taking the room's experience with them. Mike Gennetti's defense can still lean on a secondary that limited the pass, but the line has to find answers up front or that 6.28 mark repeats itself.

Merrimack's front seven gave up 167 rushing yards a game and 6.28 yards per play (103rd) last fall, and the linebacker corps now has to answer that without Kendal Sims, who racked up 17 tackles, or Mike Johnson. Mike Gennetti's defense actually held up fine on the back end, ranking 39th against the pass and 38th in points allowed per game, so the linebacker room's job in 2026 is simple: tighten the run fits and stop letting opponents stay on schedule, a mark that sat just 61st a year ago. An experienced secondary buys this group cover, but whoever fills the middle has to be the one closing that yards-per-play gap.

Merrimack's secondary held up its end last season, ranking 39th in passing yards allowed per game at 202, even as the run defense lagged at 74th and the overall yards-per-play mark sat at 103rd. That pass-defense identity now has to survive the exits of RJ Chapman, Garry Rosemond Jr., Nate Palanica Jr., Nasir Maryland and Jabari Echols, part of a group of seven defensive backs gone from the two-deep. Mike Gennetti still has an experienced secondary to lean on, but replacing that much tackle production behind the line while keeping the pass defense ranked among the nation's better units is the real test for 2026.

Mike Ryan's specialty is booming punts, not kicking field goals, so his 42.6-yard average does nothing to fill the void left by Carlton Thai, who made 17 of 25 field goals and scored 76 points last season. Nick Araujo, Noah Hamilton and Ronald Juarez are the placekicking options on the roster, but none carries a single logged attempt, so coach Mike Gennetti is trusting the job to a name with zero on-field track record. That gap between last year's steady points-producer and this year's blank stat lines is the story of Merrimack's kicking game heading into 2026.

AJ Hairston at Quarterback

Ayden Pereira's 1846 yards walk out the door, and Merrimack hands the offense to AJ Hairston, a Massachusetts arrival who threw for just 957 yards with a 4-4 TD-to-INT mark in his own limited action. Seth Sweitzer and Austin Palmer give him proven targets and Brendon Wyatt and DeMarcus McElroy can lean on the run game to ease him in, but a 228-ranked class means Merrimack has no cushion if Hairston does not cut down the mistakes that plagued last year's passing attack.

Live Underdog, Dead Favorite

Merrimack went 4-8 on the field but 7-4 against the number, and the split tells the real story of Mike Gennetti's 2025: this team was live for cash every time it left campus. Road underdogs went 5-1 against the spread while going winless straight up on the road, meaning bettors backing the Warriors' cover consistently got the better of the line even in losses. The bounce-back number matters too, a 5-2 spread mark the week after a loss, so 2026 sets up as another year where Merrimack's true competitiveness outruns its record, especially when the number is favorable and the games are away from home.