Samford Bulldogs 2026 Season Preview

A Season That Stalled

Samford closed 2025 at 1-11, 1-7 in league play, and the power rating (No. 109) backs up how thin the results were across the board. That kind of one-win season under John Grass leaves almost no margin, and the on-field product simply has to look different in 2026 for the record to move off the floor it hit last fall. Nothing in the 2025 results points to a quick fix, but a program at No. 109 has room to climb without needing to be confused with the top of the league.

Pass-Happy, Still Broken

Samford's offense was a lopsided operation in 2025, ranking 13th nationally in passing yards but 124th in rushing, and an offense that can't run the ball or protect a lead cost Grass a 1-11 season. Brady Stober, projected to start again after throwing for 1,240 yards with 7 touchdowns against 7 interceptions, has to cut down the turnovers that helped bury a defense allowing 37.9 points a game. Fix the ground game around Stober and the passing numbers finally mean something; leave it at 70 rushing yards per game and 2026 looks like the same one-dimensional attack that just went 1-7 in league play.

Samford's passing game put up 267 yards a game through the air, 13th nationally, while the ground game managed just 70 yards a game, 124th, a split that defined how lopsided this offense was. Both quarterbacks who ran that attack are gone, with Quincy Crittendon (1,672 yards, 6 TD, 6 INT) and Jake Bobo off the roster, taking the only proven arm out of a passing unit that was actually productive. Whoever John Grass installs under center inherits a rare situation, a bad offense (14.6 points per game, 122nd) that still found something through the air, and the job is to keep that passing identity intact while the rest of the offense catches up.

Ken Cherry (197 yards, 1 TD) and Cam Bland (145 yards, 1 TD) split carries behind a line that managed just 70 rushing yards per game, 124th nationally, so the ground game's problem was never a lack of bodies but a lack of push. C.J. Evans and his 243 yards are gone, but Clemson transfer Marquise Henderson, a four-star arrival, gives John Grass a back with a talent level this room hasn't had, and if he claims the early-down job over Cherry and Bland, Samford's rushing attack looks different than the 4.51-yards-per-play offense that finished 116th a year ago. With 267 passing yards per game already ranking 13th nationally, the ceiling here is not volume, it's whether Henderson or Zamarcus Lindley can turn a few more of those touches into explosive gains and take pressure off the pass.

Preston Bird's 53 catches for 617 yards and 4 scores are the foundation of a passing game that ranked 13th nationally in yards per game despite Samford's 1-11 season, and that gap is the story here: the ball moved through the air even as the offense stalled everywhere else. Jaden Gibson (44-405) and Torrey Ward (17-200, 1 TD) return to soften the loss of Calvin Jones, who paced the departed group with 61 catches and 6 touchdowns, while Sam Pickett III's 450 yards also walk out the door. With Bird, Gibson, Nick Crayton and Nicholas Bookman all back, John Grass has the pieces to keep pushing the ball downfield, but a 31.3% offensive success rate and a rushing attack stuck at 70 yards per game mean the receivers will again be asked to carry more than their share.

Samford's passing game ranked 13th nationally in yards per game a year ago, yet none of the five tight ends on the roster produced anything close to a target that stuck. Landon Beck, Grant Hidalgo, Cannon Pigg, Christian Roberts and David Theado all return without a catch on file, taking over a room whose only departing production was Vance Nicklaus's single grab for 21 yards. That volume of experience without a résumé leaves the position as pure projection for John Grass, even as the passing attack around it already ranks among the nation's best.

The numbers tell the real story up front: 70 rushing yards per game, 124th nationally, next to 267 through the air. Samford's front five got manhandled at the point of attack even as the passing game masked it, and John Grass brings in Moussa Seck and Beau Ball to help fix a run-blocking problem that a 31.3% success rate on offense made obvious every Saturday. Justin Perritt's departure adds to the rebuild along the interior, but the bigger question is whether either newcomer can turn 4.51 yards per play into something closer to respectable before the ground game costs this offense another season.

Samford's defensive line surrendered 6.51 yards per play (113th) and watched opposing passers pick apart a unit that finished 123rd in passing yards allowed, and none of that pressure came from the edge names now gone. Conroy Cunningham II and Donovan Grayson combined for just 8 tackles apiece, hardly game-wrecking production, but even that modest total departs alongside Maxton Woodward's lone sack and Andrew Jordan off the roster entirely. John Grass inherits a front that finished 115th in total yards allowed with essentially no proven pass rush to point to, which makes the passing-down problem, not the run defense that ranked a more respectable 81st, the unit's real inheritance for 2026.

Samford's defense allowed 455 yards a game last season, 115th nationally, with the passing defense sinking to 123rd, and the linebacker corps that watched it happen is nearly entirely gone. Jaden Mosley (22 tackles), Carson Sloan (14 tackles), Mailk Gaither and Deuce Caldwell II all depart, taking their combined tackle production off the field. John Grass adds Greg Williams, a three-star high school signee, to the room, but with no college statistics to his name yet, the immediate fix for a defense that let opponents stay on schedule 43.0% of the time has to come from whoever else is still in the building.

Samford's secondary was the season's soft spot, giving up 283 passing yards a game, 123rd nationally, and turning most trips down the field into scoring chances against a defense that allowed 37.9 points per contest. Nine defensive backs are gone, including both safeties who topped the tackle sheet, Amari Wansley and KeShawn Washington, and corners Nahil Perkins, Malik Thornton and Dee Newsome, so John Grass is reshaping the back end almost entirely through whoever arrives via transfer rather than trusting last year's group to fix itself. Until that transfer help is on campus and proven, the yards-per-play number (6.51, 113th nationally) is the more honest predictor of 2026 than any hope of quiet improvement.

Ty Ippolito made just 1 of 2 field goals last year, so the placekicking job is up for grabs among him, Ethan Fisher and Jacob Gettman, none of whom has proven anything yet in game action. The bigger swing is at punter, where Noah Jones and his 88 boots at 41.3 yards a punt are gone, handing the job to Will Thorley with zero recorded snaps to lean on. For a team that went 1-11 last season, special teams cannot afford to be a liability, and right now Samford is trusting two spots to players without a track record.

Brady Stober

Stober threw for 1,240 yards with as many interceptions as touchdowns last season, and now the job is his without Quincy Crittendon around to split snaps or absorb blame for a 1-11 team. Preston Bird's 53 catches give Stober a proven target, but with a recruiting class ranked 177th and almost no reinforcements arriving via the portal, this offense goes only as far as Stober can cut down the turnovers that plagued both quarterbacks in 2025.

Road Dogs, Home Duds

Samford's number tells a split story. On the road as an underdog, John Grass's team covered 80% of the time, four backdoor covers dressed up a 1-6 stretch of actual losses. At home the same club went winless against the spread, 0-5, including both tries as a favorite. Books priced Samford like a program still finding its floor, and the home number backed that up even when the road line let bettors sneak away clean.