Monmouth Hawks 2026 Season Preview

Gallo's Program Is Rolling

Jeff Gallo closed 2025 at 9-3 with a 6-2 league mark, and a No. 29 power ranking puts Monmouth in territory most CAA programs are not touching. That kind of results-based standing changes the conversation entering 2026, the Hawks are not a team hoping to stay competitive in the league, they are one built to contend for it. Gallo's staff walks into the season with the on-field proof already stacked up rather than anything left to argue for.

Weaver Inherits a Machine

Monmouth's offense was the story of the CAA last fall, moving the ball at 499 yards a game (1st nationally) behind a passing attack that hit 317 yards a game, and Frankie Weaver, who threw for 1331 yards with 14 touchdowns against just 3 interceptions, is projected to run it again in 2026. That efficiency, a 52.7% third-down rate and a 51.5% success rate, is what actually separates this team, not the defense, which allowed 405 yards a game and ranked 110th against the pass. If Weaver keeps distributing the ball the way he did, Monmouth's ceiling is tied to whether that defense can find enough stops to stop bleeding points at 27.8 a game.

Derek Robertson's 2439 yards and 27 touchdowns walk out the door, but the machine he ran barely blinks: Monmouth's offense led the country in total yards and finished top three in passing yards, third down rate and success rate a year ago. Frankie Weaver takes the first-team reps as the front-runner to replace him, backed by 1331 yards and 14 touchdowns of his own experience, though Jagger Matera, Brad Seiss and TJ Valerio make this an actual camp battle rather than a coronation. Whoever wins the job inherits an offense that only needs a game manager, not a savior, since the yardage totals were already elite even before accounting for Weaver's ceiling.

Rodney Nelson's 1805 yards and 18 touchdowns walk out the door, and nothing in this room replicates that workload on paper. Elijah Jennings is the incumbent, with 320 yards and 6 scores a season ago, while Kenny Smith managed just 38 yards and Justin Silva arrives with no prior statistics on file. Monmouth's ground game ranked only 24th in yards per game even with Nelson churning out that total, so Jeff Gallo's offense will keep leaning on the pass-first identity that made it 3rd in passing yards and 2nd in yards per play, letting Jennings work as a complementary piece rather than the engine.

Tra Neal is the only proven target left standing after Josh Derry (73 catches, 1101 yards, 13 TD), TJ Speight (69 catches, 813 yards, 6 TD) and Gavin Nelson (30 catches, 514 yards, 6 TD) all cleared out, and his own 30 catches for 431 yards and 7 TD look modest next to what just walked out the door. That trio accounted for most of the production behind a passing game that ranked 3rd in the country in yards per game and helped Monmouth post the No. 1 total offense, so Jeff Gallo is betting that Greg Randall, Destin Hill, Owen Bill, Kendall Dorsey and Zach Garmont can turn unproven roles into real snaps fast. Nothing on this list beyond Neal carries a receiving number, which means 2026 hinges less on replicating last year's explosive passing attack than on someone in that group forcing his way into it.

Marcus Middleton's 13 catches for 149 yards were matched almost stat-for-stat by departed Jack Neri, who turned an identical 13 grabs into 119 yards and 4 touchdowns before leaving the room without its top red-zone weapon. Middleton is the only tight end back with a catch on record, and Kevin Dougherty Jr., Shane Garrett, Arturo Johnson Jr. and Charlie Warren all return without a documented target between them, so Jeff Gallo's passing attack, which ranked 3rd nationally in yards per game, has to find its scoring punch at the position from players who have not yet shown it on paper. That is less alarming with a 499-yard, 7.04-yards-per-play offense running through it, but replacing four Neri touchdowns with zero proven production at the position is the real swing factor for 2026.

A line that helped produce 499 total yards a game and 7.04 yards per play, both top-two nationally, loses five identifiable starters plus a sixth unnamed departure, wiping out almost the entire group that paved that production. Brady O'Hara, a transfer from Penn State, arrives to fill interior line duty, but replacing that kind of continuity up front across six spots is a different challenge than replacing skill talent. Monmouth's passing game and third-down rate should carry the offense early while a rebuilt front finds its rhythm, though the modest 24th-ranked rushing mark suggests the ground game was already the softer half of this attack even before the overhaul.

Monmouth's front surrendered 253 passing yards a game (110th) even while the pass rush found ways to keep plays off schedule, and now the room turns over at the top with Josiah Graham gone after leading the departed group with 8 tackles. Jeff Gallo went to the portal for an answer, landing Syracuse edge Jahide Lesaine Jr., whose 3 tackles came in a backup role last season but who arrives with a chance to become the disruptive presence this defense lacked. If Lesaine can turn that opportunity into snaps on passing downs, a defense that ranked 58th in yards per play allowed has a path to closing the gap through the air.

Monmouth's pass defense bled 253 yards a game through the air (110th) last season, and the linebacker corps that watched it happen is now entirely turned over, with Ryan Russo, Evan Rutkowski, Brody Hock and Andrew Conklin all gone. Jeff Gallo brings in Jahide Lesaine Jr. via transfer to help reset a front that still stood up the run well enough (152 yards allowed per game, 57th) but couldn't get opposing plays off schedule (42.9%, 69th). If Lesaine Jr. can anchor the second level quickly, the run-stopping foundation is there to build around, but the passing-game issues that plagued this defense in 2025 won't fix themselves at linebacker alone.

Monmouth's pass defense was the soft spot even in a 9-3 season, ranking 110th in passing yards allowed at 253 per game, and the offseason exodus in the secondary does nothing to erase that number on its own. Deuce Lee, Jaeden Jones, Justin Bennin, Israel Clark-White and Coleon Williams are all gone, part of an eight-man departure count that strips out real tackle production from a group that already gave up 5.68 yards per play. Omar Ibrahim arrives from Temple to compete at corner, and an experienced secondary around him has to tighten the back end faster than last year's numbers suggest it will.

Luke Schabel handled the punting load last year at a 41.9-yard clip and comes back as the steady leg, while Byron McCann gives Jeff Gallo a second punter option with no logged track record yet. The bigger swing is at placekicker, where Hudson Fiene's perfect 2-of-2 kicking and 66 points are gone, leaving no returning statistical production at that spot heading into 2026. Payton Wieczerzak steps in at long snapper for departed Steven Langton, a low-visibility change that only matters if it goes wrong.

Elijah Jennings' backfield

Rodney Nelson took 1805 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns out the door, and Elijah Jennings, who managed only 320 yards and 6 scores as the change of pace back last year, is the one being handed that entire workload. Frankie Weaver still runs the offense at quarterback, but if Jennings cannot scale up into a lead-back role, defenses tilt everything toward Weaver and Tra Neal and Monmouth's balance disappears.

Jeff Gallo's Road Cover Edge

Monmouth went 9-3 straight up but split the ledger against the number, and the divide is geographic: 6-1 on the road with a 57% cover rate under Jeff Gallo, against just 3-2 straight up and a 40% cover mark at home as favorites. Conference games sharpened that further, 6-2 on the field and 63% covering inside the CAA. Bettors chasing this team should follow it off campus, not onto it, especially with the lone road-underdog spot going uncovered as the outlier to note.