Norfolk State Spartans 2026 Season Preview

A Season to Forget

Mike Vick's 2025 offered no cover: 1-11 overall, 0-5 in MEAC play, and a power rating that landed at 116th nationally. There is no unit or number on this card that softens that ledger, the losing showed up everywhere from the standings to the ranking. For 2026, the bar is simply finding wins that didn't exist last fall, starting with conference play where Norfolk State couldn't crack the win column at all.

Explosive Plays, No Payoff

Norfolk State's offense had the 7th-most explosive successful plays in the country in 2025, but a 28.5% third-down rate (120th) and a minus-8 turnover margin turned big chunks into a 1-11 record anyway. Vinson Berry, who threw for 310 yards, 4 TD and 2 INT, is projected to run that offense again in 2026, and the real swing factor is whether Norfolk State can turn its explosiveness into sustained drives instead of empty splash plays. The defense, allowing 35.6 points and 424 yards per game, has to find stops too, or every one of Berry's big plays just becomes a footnote in another shootout loss.

Otto Kuhns took 2,090 passing yards and 15 touchdowns out the door, and Norfolk State replaces that production with an open camp rather than a proven arm. Vinson Berry, who threw for 310 yards and 4 touchdowns against 2 picks in limited work, is the front-runner heading into 2026, but Israel Carter and Parker Lancaster are both still in the mix after seeing snaps last fall. Whoever wins the job inherits an offense that moved the ball efficiently at 5.88 yards per play (37th) but stalled on third down at just 28.5% (120th), so the bigger issue may not be who throws it but whether this group can finally sustain drives.

Norfolk State's entire backfield production from a season ago is gone, with Kevon King's 733 yards and X'Zavion Evans' 528 both walking out the door alongside Jaylen Laudermilk, Kiron Benjamin and Jaylen White. That leaves Mike Vick needing production from names not yet on the roster sheet to replace a ground game that managed just 141 yards per game and ranked 71st nationally in rushing yards per game. The passing attack (50th in yards per game) and the explosive-play numbers (7th in explosiveness) were the actual engine of this offense last year, so whoever emerges at running back mostly needs to keep defenses honest rather than carry the load.

DreSean Kendrick and Kam'Ryn Thomas combined for over a thousand yards and 10 touchdowns last season, and neither is walking back into the building. What Norfolk State has back is Taron Biles-Walker, who caught 14 balls for 110 yards, and Elyjah Mitchell, who turned 8 catches into a touchdown, plus a group in Jayden Anderson, Jahee Blake, Jordin Cooper and Shane Kelley with no game production on record. Brevin Caldwell arrives from Johnson C. Smith to add a fresh body to the room, but the passing game that ranked 50th in yards per game now leans on unproven hands to replace its two most productive targets.

Ikeem Wright's 12 catches for 130 yards and a touchdown walk out the door, and none of the three tight ends listed to replace that production, Jabari Blake, Avir Johnson and Jamison Stevens, have a catch on record. That blank ledger sits inside a passing game that actually worked, 218 yards per game and a 1.41 explosiveness mark that ranked 7th nationally, so whichever of the three carves out targets steps into a scheme built to reward big plays rather than checkdowns. Norfolk State's offense moved the ball well enough overall, 5.88 yards per play, but a 28.5% third-down rate means this tight end group has real chances to be the answer on money downs if one of Blake, Johnson or Stevens turns unproven into productive.

Norfolk State's offense actually moved the ball efficiently up front last season, ranking 37th nationally in yards per play and 7th in explosiveness, but that line couldn't finish drives, converting just 28.5% of third downs (120th) and settling for 20.9 points per game. Mike Vick now has to replace four departed starters up front in Vincent Byrd Jr., Emariyon Johnson, Julian Soriano and Dyral McMillan, wiping out most of the continuity behind those numbers. The 2026 group has to prove it can hold third-down protection and short-yardage push, not just spring the big plays that flattered last year's stats.

Mike Vick's front allowed 5.94 yards per play a season ago, a middling number that still let opponents stay on schedule less than half the time, the one thing this defense actually did well. The production that was there is now gone: David Ojiegbe's lone sack and Major Dillard's four tackles walked out the door along with Keshawn Lynch and Cameron Darmody, leaving a line that has to find pressure from scratch rather than replace it. With the rushing defense already sitting at 91st nationally in yards allowed per game, whoever fills these snaps has to show up against the run immediately or 2026 looks like last year's 35.6 points allowed per game all over again.

Norfolk State's front seven gave up 180 rushing yards a game and 5.94 yards per play last season, numbers that trace straight back to a linebacker corps that is now almost entirely dismantled. Kendric Nowling, Rontravious Perry and the rest of the departing group account for six linebackers out the door, taking whatever open-field tackling continuity existed with them. Mike Vick is rebuilding the second level from scratch, and until a transfer arrival is confirmed there, that gap up front is the reason a defense allowing 35.6 points a game has no obvious floor for 2026.

BJ Blake's team-high 7 tackles from the safety spot tell the story of a Norfolk State secondary that got picked apart in 2025, giving up 244 passing yards per game and ranking 97th nationally in that category. Blake returns alongside Amir Mateo, Nasir Bashir, Tormon Laprade and Mayoy McGodfred, a group that combined for barely double-digit tackles last season while Kahleef Jimmison, Jayden Smith and Stephon Hall departed. With so little proven production and a defense that finished 106th in yards allowed per game, Mike Vick needs these returning names to take real snaps, not just occupy the depth chart, if the back end is going to stop bleeding chunk plays.

Norfolk State's kicking picture is muddled by design, not injury: Evan Helfrich (2 of 5, long of 34) and Marco Peery (3 of 7, long of 36) both missed on more than half their tries in 2025 and both are back to sort it out again. Noah Tracey gives the Spartans their one settled leg, having punted 39 times at a 40.3-yard average, and figures to matter plenty behind an offense that went 1-11 and 0-5 in the MEAC. Long snapper Benjamin Heffron returns to a unit that otherwise still needs someone to prove he can make field goals when it counts.

Vinson Berry

Otto Kuhns is gone after throwing for 2090 yards, and the job now projects to Vinson Berry, who threw for just 310 yards with 4 TD and 2 INT in his limited look last season. Norfolk State went 1-11 with Kuhns running the offense, so a jump from Berry, with Taron Biles-Walker and Elyjah Mitchell back to catch passes, is the difference between another lost fall and actual competitive snaps in MEAC play.

A team nobody trusts

Norfolk State did not just lose games in 2025, it lost bettors' confidence right along with them, covering just 18% of the time overall and going winless against the number at home. The road split, a 1-4 cover mark, is the closest thing to a silver lining, but a 0-4 home spread record under Mike Vick shows a program the market has given up backing even with points. Until Norfolk State proves it can cover as a favorite of any kind, its 2026 line will keep opening as an invitation to fade.