Texas Southern Tigers 2026 Season Preview

Winning Despite the Numbers

Cris Dishman got Texas Southern to 6-5 and 5-3 in the SWAC in a season where the underlying power ratings, No. 97 nationally, said this roster had no business being over .500. That gap is the story going into 2026: a program outperforming its rating profile in league play, which is exactly the kind of result that buys a staff room to keep building without needing to explain away the record. The conference mark is the real receipt here, not the overall number, and it is the piece worth watching to see if it holds up again.

Built on Borrowed Margin

Texas Southern went 6-5 largely because the ball bounced its way, a +9 turnover margin and a 3-1 mark in one-score games that rarely repeats two years running, and the underlying yardage battle in league play actually pointed to a losing record. The offense scored efficiently without needing chunk plays, ranking 106th in explosiveness while still finishing 55th in points per game, a formula that's fragile if the ground game (33rd in rushing yards per game) slips. Cris Dishman's defense bent without snapping, allowing 382 yards a game but only 23.4 points, and that discipline on the scoreboard, not the underlying yardage or trench numbers, is exactly the kind of thing that tends to regress first in 2026.

Jordon Davis, who threw for just 168 yards and a touchdown in limited action last season, is the projected starter and takes the first-team reps into fall camp, but the job is not settled. Carter Barnes, Khalib Johnson and Cameron McCalister are all still in the mix, and none of the three carry prior stats to lean on. That competition matters because KJ Cooper's 1,497 yards and 11 touchdowns are gone, and last year's passing game already ranked 103rd nationally in yards per game, so whoever wins the room has to make Texas Southern's offense less one-dimensional than a run attack that finished 33rd in rushing yards per game while the pass game lagged behind it.

Texas Southern ran the ball well enough in 2025 to rank 33rd nationally in rushing yards per game, but the names behind that number are gone, with Da'Veon Ford (145 yards, 1 TD) and Jonathan Lewis (29 yards) both off the roster. That production gap gets filled by transfer Daveon Walker, and the passing game's struggles (167 yards per game, 103rd nationally) mean Cris Dishman needs the ground game to carry the same weight it did last fall. If Walker can approach the per-carry efficiency this offense leaned on, the run-heavy identity survives the turnover.

Roriyon Richardson (30 catches, 444 yards, 4 TD) is the only proven target back in a passing game that ranked 103rd in passing yards per game, and Texas Southern went out and got him help through the portal in Daveon Walker, who put up 37 catches for 526 yards and 6 TD at Alabama A&M. That pairing matters more than the numbers suggest, since Trenton Leary and Kerien Charlo combined to leave with their production, and unproven names like Zyion Claville and Marcus Willis have to grow into bigger roles fast. If Walker slides in as an immediate outside complement to Richardson, Cris Dishman finally has a passing attack that can pair with a run game that already ranked 33rd nationally in rushing yards per game.

Kordell Rodgers is the one proven weapon at tight end, having hauled in 19 catches for 172 yards and 3 touchdowns, with Xavier Phipps' 12 grabs for 93 yards giving Cris Dishman a second option who already produced. That duo matters more given how the passing game struggled overall, ranking 103rd in passing yards per game and 106th in explosiveness, so any downfield juice this offense finds likely has to come through underneath work from tight ends rather than a vertical passing attack. Kevin Magera and Jalen Williams return without a stat line to lean on, meaning the ceiling of this room in 2026 still runs through what Rodgers and Phipps built last fall.

Texas Southern ran the ball at a 33rd-ranked clip a year ago, but the group that opened those lanes is gone entirely, with Nick Cribbs, Gabriel Martin, Dennis Jones and Braden Cain all departed. The bigger concern is what happened when the Tigers had to throw it, with passing yards per game ranked 103rd and explosiveness at 106th nationally, numbers that point to a line that struggled to sustain protection on longer downs. Cris Dishman inherits a front with no verified returning starters on record, so whatever push Texas Southern got on the ground in 2025 has to be rebuilt from scratch heading into SWAC play.

Texas Southern's front gave up 181 rushing yards a game and 6.14 yards per snap last season, numbers that trace straight to a line that could not keep opponents off schedule, ranking 112th in that category. The two-deep loses tackles Damarcus Thompson and Thurman Rayborn along with edge Michael Akins, so Cris Dishman is replacing the entire interior rotation rather than tweaking it. The fix has to come from the transfer market and general roster carryover up front, since none of last year's departed linemen posted more than 2 tackles to replace.

Texas Southern's defense held up against the run well enough (181 rushing yards allowed per game, 92nd nationally) but let plays go off schedule at a troubling rate, ranking 112th in keeping opponents behind the sticks, a linebacker problem as much as anything. Isaiah Bogerty, Alex Bouldin and Jacob Williams are all gone from that room, taking with them what little tackle production the group logged. Cris Dishman needs the linebacker corps to tighten those chains-moving downs in 2026, or the same 6.14 yards-per-play bleed that plagued last year's defense repeats itself.

Texas Southern's pass defense held up well in 2025, ranking 36th nationally in passing yards allowed per game even as the overall unit slipped to 95th in yards per play. That distinction matters now that Edric Whitley is gone from the cornerback spot, since the back end carried this defense's identity a year ago and can't afford to backslide while Cris Dishman's front tries to fix the run defense (92nd nationally). The staff brought in Daveon Walker via transfer to help stabilize the secondary, and an experienced group around him gives the Tigers a chance to keep leaning on coverage as their primary defensive strength in 2026.

Jeremy Ramirez's leg is the one proven commodity here, having averaged 36.3 yards on 47 punts a year ago, but the placekicking job is a blank slate with Christian Avelar and his shaky 6-of-13 field goal mark gone. Brian Mays, Malakai Robinson and Jonathan Sanchez all return with no field goal history to lean on, so Cris Dishman is essentially auditioning three unproven legs to see who can convert what Avelar could not. Given how unreliable that kicking group was in 2025, Texas Southern's margin in close SWAC games likely comes down to whichever of those three claims the job outright.

Jordon Davis at Quarterback

KJ Cooper's 1497 yards and 11 touchdowns walk out the door, leaving Jordon Davis, who threw for just 168 yards and one score in his limited look last year, projected to run the offense. Athean Renfro's 730 rushing yards and Alabama A&M transfer Daveon Walker give Davis a proven runner and a ready-made target, but Texas Southern's ceiling rides on whether Davis can turn a small sample into a full season worth of production.

Bad Bet After a Loss

Texas Southern won six games straight up in 2025 but covered just four times, and the split against the spread tells the real story of how those wins came together. Cris Dishman's team was fine as a road underdog, going 2-1 against the number, but the numbers collapse after a defeat, with a 1-4 mark against the spread the week following a loss. Bettors backing the Tigers straight up got a competitive SWAC team; bettors backing the number got a squad that struggled to bounce back and covered barely a third of its conference games.