Valparaiso Beacons 2026 Season Preview

A Long Rebuild

Andy Waddle's Pioneer squad closed 2025 having won a single Pioneer League game, and the on-field product backed that up with a national power rating stuck at No. 121. That kind of output, a 2-10 season with just one league win, means 2026 is about building a floor rather than chasing a leap. Nothing in the results says this program is close to competitive in its own conference yet.

Same Signal-Caller, Same Problems

Rowan Keefe returns as the settled starter, but that continuity did nothing for an offense that managed just 20.3 points and 4.78 yards per play a year ago. The bigger drag is the minus-14 turnover margin, 121st nationally, which turned a bad offense into an unwatchable one and buried Valparaiso at 1-7 in Pioneer play. Keefe cleaning up the ball security is the whole story here, not a scheme tweak or a new face at quarterback.

Rowan Keefe is the settled answer at quarterback, but the numbers around him last season explain why Valparaiso scored just 20.3 points a game. Caron Tyler's 400 yards with 2 touchdowns against 2 interceptions were the extent of the passing production in 2025, in an offense that ranked 108th in passing yards per game and 100th in success rate. Keefe takes over an attack that needs to find explosive plays beyond its 78th-ranked explosiveness mark, and there is little returning passing volume behind him to lean on if he struggles early.

Noah Long paced Valparaiso's backs with 310 yards and 2 scores a year ago, but the more productive pair, Michael Mansaray and Dawaiian McNeely, who combined for seven touchdowns, are both gone. That leaves Long as the clear early-down option alongside Michael Rumoro, who managed just 137 yards on a rushing attack that ranked 109th nationally and averaged only 4.78 yards per play. Amir Simmons offers a wrinkle as a pass-catching back with 90 yards on just three grabs, but until Andy Waddle's offense finds more explosive plays than last year's 78th-ranked mark, this group is fighting the same efficiency problems that capped Valparaiso's ground game in 2025.

Chris Gundy's 18 catches for 270 yards and Micah Mackay's 12 grabs for 196 yards were modest complementary numbers behind Jay Melchiori and Ryan Ricketti, who combined for the bulk of Valparaiso's production before departing. Now Gundy and Mackay become the top returning options for a passing game that ranked 108th in the country in yards per game, with Marty O'Keeffe and Jack Elgin needing to turn a handful of catches into real volume. Andy Waddle's offense was already limited through the air last season, and replacing 78 combined catches with two lightly-tested holdovers is a step down before it can be a step forward.

Colin Hayes was the closest thing to a reliable target Valparaiso had at tight end last season, turning 11 catches into 128 yards and 2 touchdowns, and he anchors a room that returns fully intact into 2026. Brayden Welch flashed with a touchdown on just 2 catches, and Jackson Crawford and Dom DiNuzzo return without a stat line to lean on, giving Andy Waddle experienced bodies but not much proven production behind Hayes. That matters because this offense finished 108th in passing yards per game and 100th in success rate, so any real jump in the passing attack likely runs through Hayes claiming a bigger share of the targets.

Valparaiso's line put a rushing attack that managed only 113 yards per game and 4.78 yards per play, numbers that ranked 109th and 106th nationally, and that offense scored just 20.3 points a game. Jorge Benavente, Michael Biesboer, Cooper Bothwell, Mathew Gasior and Jacob Gorberg are back up front, with Justin Hemmersbach also in the mix, but the loss of Niko Paic removes a name who anchored the group's continuity. Andy Waddle needs that returning core to actually gel into a cohesive front, because last year's version could not consistently move anyone off the ball.

Valparaiso's front allowed 182 rushing yards a game and 6.07 yards per play last season, numbers that had opposing offenses staying on schedule more often than not against a line that produced almost nothing statistically. De'Andre Wilborn, whose 28 rushing yards were the only box-score trace this group left behind, is gone along with Shawn Fester, Jacardon Hardemon and George Trojanek. Andy Waddle now hands the room to Caleb Baczek, Gabriel Batres, Jonathan Bauzon, Bertrand Berry II, Kamren Bryant and Nathan Fletcher, none of whom have logged prior stats, which means 2026 is less a continuation than a clean look at whether this front can actually get off blocks.

Valparaiso surrendered 35.6 points a game a year ago, a number that landed the defense 107th nationally in that category, and the linebacker corps returning intact this fall is the group tasked with cleaning that up. Anthony Feltrinelli, Nathan Harris, Easton Hill, Justin Jurmu, Micah Markley and Tyler McBride are all back, with Hunter Nabers and Carsen Burckhardt the only losses at the position, so continuity of bodies is not the issue. The issue is whether that returning group can close the gap on the ground, where Valparaiso allowed 182 rushing yards a game, 95th nationally, and turn familiarity into fewer schemes stopping them cold.

Points allowed cratered to 35.6 a game last fall, a number that had as much to do with a secondary that let opponents stay on schedule 42.7% of the time as anything up front. Colin Abercrombie, David Akinbosoye, Frank Bartell, Nick Beidl, Aaron Briggs and Donovan Brown are all back to take another swing at it, with Tavion Grant and Uriel Richardson gone from that group. The pass defense actually held up relatively well at 208 yards allowed per game, so the path to fixing Andy Waddle's defense in 2026 runs through this same core group tightening the details rather than replacing talent.

Luke Scoma converted just 4 of 7 field goals last season, but a 43-yard long and the departure of Liam Shepherd's scoreless kicking line leave him as the clear incumbent with room to sharpen his percentage. The bigger swing is at punter, where Nate Hillenburg's 49 boots at a 40-yard average are gone and Zander Lankford, who averaged 33 yards on just five attempts, has to prove that workload was a fluke rather than a preview. Morgan Smith arrives with no prior statistics to lean on, so Valparaiso's net punting in 2026 rests almost entirely on whether Lankford can scale up his sample size without his average sinking further behind what Hillenburg produced.

Rowan Keefe's Passing Game

Valparaiso lost its top target in Ryan Ricketti, and with zero transfer additions arriving to soften the blow, Rowan Keefe has to build chemistry with Chris Gundy, who caught 18 passes for 270 yards last season, to keep the passing game functional. Noah Long's 310 rushing yards give Keefe a ground-game outlet, but after a 1-7 conference finish this offense only turns the corner if Keefe and Gundy click as a real 1-2 punch.

Andy Waddle's Road Trap

Valparaiso backers who chase the number on the road have been burned every time, going 0-6 straight up and 2-4 against the spread as visitors, with the road-underdog mark sitting at that same 2-4. Home is where Andy Waddle's group has actually been playable, splitting 2-2 against the number and covering half its conference games at 4-4, even while going 1-7 on the field in league play. The gap between that flat conference cover rate and the road collapse is the whole story for bettors in 2026, not the 2-10 record itself.