Stetson Hatters 2026 Season Preview

Jasper's Slide Continues

Mike Jasper's 2025 closed at 3-9 overall and 2-6 in Pioneer play, and the power rating (No. 124) backs up what the record shows on the field. There is no name in this fact set to point to as the fix, just a program that has to find footing in league games it is currently losing more often than winning. Nothing here points to a quick turnaround absent real improvement in those conference results.

More Turnovers Than Touchdowns

Chris Stephenson returns as the settled starter off a 2025 line that reads 454 yards, 2 touchdowns and 4 interceptions, and that ratio is the whole problem for a Stetson offense that finished 106th in success rate and 118th in passing yards per game. A minus-11 turnover margin (117th nationally) sank a 3-9 team last fall, and until Stephenson tightens the ball security, the run game's respectable 161 yards per game (51st) will keep getting wasted. Nothing about this unit's talent points to more than incremental progress in 2026, and the numbers say the offense has to simply stop giving games away before it can start winning them.

Chris Stephenson threw four picks against two touchdowns on just 454 yards last fall, yet he's Mike Jasper's guy again in 2026, which says more about the passing game around him than about Stephenson himself. Kael Alexander actually out-produced him in relief, tossing 8 touchdowns against 5 interceptions on 954 yards, so the ceiling behind Stephenson is real even if the job isn't in question. Stetson's passing attack ranked 118th nationally in yards per game a year ago, and until Stephenson tightens the ball security, the offense stays capped no matter how much rushing help it gets.

Trey Clark's 360 yards and 4 touchdowns were the only real juice in a run game that still finished 51st nationally despite an offense stuck at 101st in points per game, and he returns as the clear focal point of the backfield. Zion Griffin, Troy Flowers and Marvin Duffey Jr. all managed touchdowns or steady yardage in reserve roles last season, giving Mike Jasper a stable of proven runners even as Jaden Dailey, Joe Ziegler, Almari Brown and Donovan Snyder move on. The bigger issue was never the ground game itself but everything around it, a passing attack that ranked 118th and a 32.2% third-down rate that kept Clark and company from ever controlling a game.

Dylan Redmon's 23 catches for 341 yards and 4 touchdowns were the only real production in a passing game that ranked 118th in the country, and the whole room comes back around him. Wyatt Rogers and Beau Bankston combined for modest totals of their own, but none of the departures, Austin Hill included, ever cracked double-digit catches, so the losses are marginal next to what Redmon and company retain. The bigger problem sits behind them, Stetson threw for just 151 yards per game, so unless someone forces more volume through this trio, the passing numbers stay stuck near the bottom third of the FBS regardless of who lines up outside.

Anthony Benzija's 15 catches for 137 yards and a score were modest production for a passing game that finished 118th in yards per game, but they still made him the most proven piece in this room. Matis Gibson, Colin Hochmuth, Foster Houlton, Jayden Massey and Mason Scott all return without a catch on record, so Mike Jasper's staff is betting that reps rather than results will carry this group. With the offense stuck at 4.68 yards per play and a 35.9% success rate, Stetson needs Benzija to become a real safety valve, not just a name on the depth chart.

Stetson's ground game held up reasonably well behind this group, running for 161 yards a game (51st nationally), but the passing attack ranked 118th and the whole offense finished 101st in points per game, so the line's pass protection is the bigger question entering 2026. Three linemen who took snaps up front are gone in Chris Izaguirre, Matthew Stewart and Vincent Chen, and the reshuffled front now leans on Samuel Ballentine, Eric Brust Jr., Luke Cloer, Rowan Collins and Richard Dennis to keep building the run game while finally giving the passing offense room to operate. Mike Jasper's staff does not need to reinvent this unit, but it does need those returners to grow into bigger roles fast if Stetson wants its 32.2% third-down rate and 106th-ranked success rate to move in 2026.

Points allowed piled up to 39.1 a game last fall, 117th nationally, and the line's 6.40 yards allowed per play (110th) says the trench work was the root problem, not just secondary busts. Mikey Allen, Cade Davis, Colin Douthit, Noah Elkhander, Zachary Goodwin and Boluwatife Jetawo all return to try to tighten that, but five contributors including Gavin Peacock, Henry Watkins and Sampson Okorafor are gone from a front that let 104th-ranked drive-derailing numbers slip. Mike Jasper needs that returning group to win more snaps at the point of attack, because Stetson's 78th-ranked run defense and 67th-ranked pass defense both trace back to a line that couldn't keep opponents off schedule.

The 39.1 points allowed per game last year, 117th nationally, told the story of a defense that couldn't get stops when it mattered, and the linebacker corps takes the hit for it with Andrew Martin, Carter Gaskins and Tyron Harris Jr. all gone. Opponents stayed on schedule 45.8% of the time against Stetson, 104th nationally, a number that points squarely at a linebacker group that couldn't set an edge or win on early downs. Mike Jasper needs whoever fills these three vacancies to tighten up run fits fast, since the 170 rushing yards allowed per game last season won't move on its own.

Points allowed cratered to 39.1 a game last fall, a number that had less to do with talent than continuity, and Mike Jasper now hands the back end to Devin Carson at safety alongside Cooper Aurilia, Joshua Banks, Kane Berryman, Jadon Blakeslee and Caleb Blunt. That is five bodies back with real reps, even without a single tracked stat to their names, in a league where 388 yards and 6.40 per play allowed were symptoms of a defense that let 45.8% of snaps stay on schedule. The five departures at DB clear the way for this specific group to own the room in 2026, and how quickly Carson's group tightens underneath will decide whether Stetson's pass defense, respectable at 219 yards allowed, keeps that identity or slides with the rest of the unit.

Daniel Holbrook made just 3 of 6 field goals last season, a 35-yarder his long, and his 34 points speak to a kicking operation that never stretched the field. Stetson brings back four other placekickers on the roster in Paul DeSousa, Trey Hess and Liam Kelly, none with a game snap on file, so Holbrook's modest track record still makes him the closest thing to a known commodity at the position. Punter Brett Gonda returns without prior stats either, and with both long snappers, Wesley Choate and Chase Ortiz, gone, Mike Jasper is breaking in new snap operations behind an unproven specialist corps.

Chris Stephenson

Chris Stephenson is the projected starter under center for 2026, and the job is his to lose after a 2025 line of 454 yards, 2 touchdowns and 4 interceptions that offered little separation from backup Kael Alexander's 954 yards and 8 touchdowns. With Austin Hill's production gone and no portal help arriving, Stephenson needs Dylan Redmon, who caught 23 passes for 341 yards and 4 scores, to be his steadying target while he tries to cut down the turnovers that plagued last year's passing game.

No shelter on the road

Stetson lost every road game outright in 2025 and covered just once in five tries away from home, a split that made Mike Jasper's team a near-automatic fade for bettors once it left campus. The home floor covered a bit better at 40%, but the deeper problem shows in the week-after-a-loss number, 2-5 against the spread, meaning this group did not respond to adversity so much as compound it. Until Stetson proves it can steady itself after a bad Saturday, backing it on the road in 2026 is betting against the closing evidence.