Weber State Wildcats 2026 Season Preview

Kjar's Rebuild Year

Eric Kjar's 2025 slid to 4-8 and 2-6 in Big Sky play, a step back that puts real pressure on the on-field product to look different in 2026. The national power rating (No. 51) still sees more in this roster than the league record showed, which is exactly the disconnect Kjar has to close. Another skid in conference play would make last season look less like a blip and more like a trend.

Jennings Inherits a Broken Offense

Dijon Jennings is projected to start after throwing for 831 yards with 4 touchdowns against 5 interceptions in 2025, numbers that match an offense that ranked 107th in success rate and 111th in explosiveness. Fixing the low-efficiency passing game matters less than stopping the bleeding on defense, where Weber State allowed 38.3 points per game (114th) and finished 103rd in turnover margin. Jennings does not need to be flashy in 2026, he needs to avoid the giveaways that turned a shaky offense into a losing one.

Dijon Jennings heads into fall as the front-runner after a 2025 in which he threw for 831 yards but tossed 5 interceptions against just 4 touchdowns, numbers that explain why the door is still open behind him. Kingston Tisdell, who put up 442 yards and 3 touchdowns to 2 picks, gives Eric Kjar a real alternative rather than a token backup, and Cal transfer Devin Brown, a 4-star arrival, adds another arm to the mix even without passing production to his name yet. The pieces around whoever wins the job did not make life easy last season, an offense that ranked 106th in passing yards per game and 111th in explosiveness, so this competition is as much about finding a passer who can turn checkdowns into chunk plays as it is about naming a starter.

Spencer Ferguson is the returning piece of this backfield after 239 yards and 3 scores, but the bigger truth is that Weber State's leading rushers from that 158-yard-per-game ground game, Davion Godley (512 yards, 4 TD) and Chauncey Sylvester (305 yards, 4 TD), are both gone, along with Colter May, Zach Hrbacek and Bird Butler. That production has to come from somewhere else, and the notable name added is Dyson Parker, a high school signee out of Weber rated a 3-star recruit, who arrives with no college stats yet. Eric Kjar's offense already ranked 107th in success rate and 111th in explosiveness, so Ferguson's ability to turn that rushing efficiency into more than 3 touchdowns will decide whether the run game can carry an offense that struggled to move the ball through the air.

Marvin Session is the one proven target in this room, having turned 32 catches into 415 yards and a score, and he steps into an even bigger role with Jayleen Record's 37 catches and 398 yards gone. Kelton Wafer (19 for 188) gives Weber State a second reliable option, while AJ Jayroe, Noah Kjar, Mason York and Marcus Chretien all found the end zone on limited touches and can grow into bigger roles behind Session. Jayce Evans arrives out of high school at Brighton with no college numbers yet, but the real problem for this group is structural: a passing attack that managed only 164 yards per game through the air (106th nationally) and an offense whose explosiveness ranked 111th, meaning the ceiling on this receiving corps is tied to whatever Weber State's passing game can fix around it.

Ammon Munyer's 8 catches for 60 yards were the only touchdown production this room managed last year, and losing Noah Bennee's 23 grabs for 264 yards leaves a real hole in an offense that already ranked 106th in passing yards per game. Munyer and Dahlyn Jones both return, but neither has proven to be a vertical threat in an attack that finished 111th in explosiveness, so this group looks built to block for a rushing attack that ranked 52nd rather than stretch defenses through the air. Dyson Richards and Terion Mathis arrive with no game tape yet, which means Eric Kjar's passing game upgrade at tight end is still a projection, not a proven fix.

Eric Kjar watched a line that managed just 5.00 yards per play and a 35.9% success rate a year ago, numbers that trace straight back to five departed starters up front in Cole Casto, Vae Soifua, Zoom Esplin, Gavin Ortega and Will Way. That group still ran the ball reasonably well, 158 yards a game on the ground, but couldn't protect enough to let the passing game function, finishing 106th in passing yards per game. Whoever fills those five voids inherits a line whose ceiling is already proven on the ground, the fix has to come in pass protection.

Weber State's front gave up 6.38 yards per play in 2025, a number that explains the 38.3 points allowed per game more than any single loss did. That production is largely gone with Keahnist Thompson, Matt Herron and Easton Payne all departed, so the rebuild falls on newcomers rather than proven names: Coen Richards and Wyatt Ferguson arrive to fill the interior, while Will Monroe, a 3-star edge piece from Columbine, gives Eric Kjar a pass rusher to build around off the corner. None of the three carries a prior stat line, so 2026 is about whether that group can get the run defense (187 yards allowed per game, 102nd nationally) closer to respectable before it becomes another year of chunk plays allowed.

Weber State's defense allowed 187 rushing yards a game and 6.38 yards per play last season, numbers that trace straight through a linebacker corps now stripped of its top tacklers. Sione Hala and Aizik Mahuka, who combined for the group's only real disruption behind the line, are both gone, leaving Eric Kjar to plug the gap with Will Cornelson, who arrives from Idaho after logging 3 tackles in 2025, plus Ridgeline's Cooper Clark and Cedar Hill's Kenneth Youngblood Jr. None of the newcomers carry a track record of production, so the immediate question is whether Cornelson's Big Sky-ready frame translates faster than an unproven front seven can afford against a schedule that already exposed the run defense.

Weber State gave up 38.3 points and 239 passing yards per game a year ago, numbers that cost Angel King, Montae Pate and Ishaan Daniels their jobs by attrition rather than performance, since all three depart after combining for the bulk of the group's tackle production. Eric Kjar brings in Jaxon Toala and Malachi Jackson at safety and signs Sean Boyd at corner out of Williams Field, restocking a secondary that ranked 88th in passing yards allowed without any proven production to point to yet from that trio. The floor here is an experienced back end that stayed on schedule against opponents just 43.1% of the time, so the newcomers are being asked to tighten coverage, not just fill a depth chart.

Sloan Calder's 18-of-20 clip and 83 points walk out the door, leaving Weber State's placekicking a blank slate between Oscar Dominguez and Thien Hoang, neither with a college kick on record. The punting job is steadier: Henry Way is back after 62 boots at a 39.8-yard average, giving Eric Kjar at least one specialist he does not have to guess about. Everything else in the kicking game, including the long-snap chair vacated by Caden Kellow and now handed to returner Justin Lutz, will be settled on the practice field rather than the stat sheet.

Dijon Jennings at quarterback

Jennings threw for 831 yards but posted more interceptions than touchdowns last season, and Weber State handed him the job again for 2026 anyway, betting that reps matter more than the mistakes. Devin Brown arrived from California as a four-star name to watch, but he logged just 1 tackle and offers no proof he can unseat Jennings this year. With Jackson Gilkey's shaky 9-interception season gone and Marvin Session back to catch passes, Jennings has the weapons and the opportunity to justify the staff's faith or expose why this offense keeps stalling.

Backing Weber State Cost Money

Weber State did not just lose games in 2025, it lost bettors' money almost every week, covering just twice against the spread across the full slate. The road-underdog spot was a total trap, with the Wildcats going 0-5 against the number away from Ogden, and ranked opponents beat them outright and against the spread every time. Even a loss did not reset anything, since Weber State covered only twice the week after dropping a game, and until Eric Kjar's group finds a way to hang around as an underdog, fading them is the play.