Princeton Tigers 2026 Season Preview

A Rough Fall in Ivy Play

Bob Surace's roster went 3-7 and slipped to 2-5 in the Ivy League, a step back that has nothing to do with talent gaps league-wide and everything to do with results not matching up. A #62 power rating shows this was not a bottom-tier group on paper, which makes the conference record more of a red flag than the raw win total. The 2026 season is about whether Surace's staff can turn competitive scheduling metrics into actual Ivy wins again.

Smith Inherits a Stuck Offense

West Smith, who threw for just 24 yards last season, is projected to take over an offense that finished 89th in scoring and 96th in explosiveness, a unit that couldn't hit big plays or run the ball at a respectable rate (119 yards per game, 101st). The bigger issue for Princeton in 2026 is that defense actually outperformed offense last year, ranking 37th in points allowed, yet the Tigers still went 3-7 because nothing up front could sustain drives at 40.7% success rate. Smith's ability to push the ball downfield, where Princeton's passing attack was middling at 218 yards per game, will decide whether this offense stops dragging down a defense good enough to win more games.

Kai Colón's 1,699 yards walk out the door, and West Smith takes the first-team reps to replace them after throwing for just 24 yards a season ago. He is the front-runner, not a settled starter, with Asher Weiner, Ty Ciongoli and Eli Friend all in the mix for a job that stays open into camp. Whoever wins it inherits a passing game that actually ranked a respectable 49th nationally in yards per game, so the bar is producing through the air while a ground game stuck at 101st in rushing yards per game gets sorted out elsewhere.

Ethan Clark is the engine here, having run for 596 yards and 6 touchdowns behind a Princeton offense that still finished 101st in rushing yards per game. Kai Honda (214 yards) and Christian Lynch (91 yards) provide the depth behind him, and both are back even with Dareion Murphy's 137 yards and 3 scores gone from the room. The addition worth watching is Vann Hopping, a high school signee out of Lake Travis, who joins a backfield that needs more explosiveness after ranking 96th in that category a year ago.

Josh Robinson's 46 catches for 569 yards were the only real volume in a Princeton passing game that still finished 49th nationally in yards per game despite an offense stuck at 5.00 yards per play. Jackson Green and Roman Laurio combine size and burst behind him, with Green's 3 touchdowns on just 17 catches hinting at big-play upside this offense rarely found last season, ranking 96th in explosiveness. Bob Surace returns essentially his full catching corps, so 2026 hinges less on replacing production than on whether Robinson's targets finally translate into the third-down conversions (38.6%, 61st) and explosive plays this group has lacked.

Joey Wassler is the only tight end with real production back, and his 12 catches for 103 yards look thin next to a passing game that ranked 49th in the country while the offense as a whole stalled at 20.8 points per game. Charles Kaludis caught just one pass a year ago, and Jack Comeau, Max Gainey, Jake Kessner and Thomas Sheehan all return without a stat line, so Bob Surace is leaning on Wassler to be the proven target in a room still finding its production. Hunter Stepanich joins from York as an incoming freshman with no college numbers yet, adding a body to the room rather than an answer, which keeps this a Wassler-centric group until someone else forces the issue.

Princeton's ground game managed just 119 yards per game (101st) a year ago, and four linemen who took the field last fall in Cooper Koers, Justice Musser, Jaden Wedderburn and Scott Becker are gone. Will Beargie, Brian Brennan, Barrett Eddlemon, Derrick Eddlemon and Phil Eichelzer sit atop the depth chart entering 2026, with Matt Bowers and Ryan Myers arriving from Central Catholic and Batavia to add interior options. Bob Surace's group has to rebuild push up front if that 5.00 yards-per-play mark and 218-yard passing attack it protected are going to hold steady.

Bob Surace's front allowed a modest 150 rushing yards per game a year ago but let opponents stay on schedule at a 46.0% clip, 109th nationally, a sign the pressure up front never got consistent. Six returners, including Ethan Brown, Rocco Marcelino and Dustan Mark, come back without a single departed lineman's production to erase, giving this line rare continuity even as Bakari Edwards, Charlie Lingon and Aaron Richard move on. The additions of Jack Burnham, Mycah Mitchell and edge piece Cooper Bauer add fresh juice to a group that already knows Surace's scheme, and if that experience finally translates to more disruption, the 41st-ranked yards-per-play mark should climb rather than repeat.

Bob Surace hands the middle of his defense to a group with no statistical track record, but Matthias Banks, Chase Christopher, Connor Cronin, Ryker Jones, Jason Lu and Sam McCormick all return to a front that had opponents staying on schedule at just a 46.0% clip, 109th nationally, even while the overall defense held up respectably at 375 yards and 24.4 points allowed per game. Will Beesley, Jalen Jones, Ethan Puckett, Sekou Roland and Marco Scarano are all gone, so this is effectively a new committee learning on the job together rather than a unit replacing one or two pieces. Anthony Bitonti and Fifita Moore arrive as three-star additions, but the 2026 outlook rides on whether the returning names can tighten a run defense that already ranked a solid 54th against the ground game and turn splash returners into the players who actually get opponents off schedule.

Five defensive backs are gone from a secondary that gave up 225 yards a game through the air, 70th nationally, but Bob Surace still has Justice Croffie, Glenie Cross III, Josh Dalgetty, Bradley Eaton, Casey Etienne Jr. and Clayton Gary back to rebuild around. That volume of returning bodies matters more than name recognition here, since none carry prior stats on file, and the bigger issue this group has to fix is structural: Princeton let opponents stay on schedule 46.0% of the time, 109th nationally, a number that undercuts a defense otherwise sitting in the 30s and 40s in points and yards per play allowed. If this same six-man group tightens third-down discipline, the overall defense numbers could jump.

Esteban Nunez Perez was the steadier leg in 2025, hitting 8 of 10 field goals with a long of 38 and 47 points, and he heads into 2026 as the more proven option over Will Cluskey, who went just 1 of 1 on a 26-yard long. Brady Clark returns after a 44.8-yard average on 39 punts, giving Bob Surace a specialist who can flip field position even when the offense stalls. The bigger question is at long snapper, where Logan Rager is gone and Luke Gnepper takes over with no prior statistics on file.

West Smith at Quarterback

Kai Colón's 1699 yards and 9 touchdowns walk out the door, and Princeton hands the offense to West Smith, who has thrown for all of 24 yards in his career. With Ethan Clark and Josh Robinson back to catch and run behind him, Smith does not need to be dazzling, but with no transfer help arriving and a class ranked 187th, his growth from that thin resume is the swing between another rough Ivy season and real improvement.

Cover Team, Not Win Team

Princeton went 3-7 straight up but 5-5 against the number, and the split tells the real story of Bob Surace's 2025: this team kept games close even while losing them. The road underdog mark of 3-1 (75% covering) stands out against a 1-4 straight-up mark at home, suggesting a group that plays looser away from Princeton Stadium than in front of its own crowd. The 4-2 bounce-back cover mark after losses points to a team that did not spiral once games got away from it, even if the ranked-opponent showing (0-2, no covers) shows the ceiling against the league's best still is not there.