By: Kenneth Harrison

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Kennesaw State kicks off the 2026 football season Thursday, September 3^rd at home (Walens Family Field at Fifth Third Stadium) against West Georgia. We are going to take a look at how the Owls will do this season.

Jerry Mack took over as the head coach on December 1, 2024. KSU went 2-10 the previous season after Brian Bohanon stepped down in November after a 1-8 start. Bohanon was the head coach for the Owls since the inception of the program in 2013.

He led the team from the FCS level until they moved up to FBS and joined Conference USA in 2024. His overall record was 72-38.

Coach Mack was the head coach at North Carolina Central from 2014-17, with a record of 31-15. He was the offensive coordinator/assistant head coach at Rice (2018-20) then he became the running backs coach at Tennessee (2021-23). He was hired as the RB coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars for the 2024 season.

The Owls shocked everyone and went 10-4 last season. They started the season on the road against Wake Forest and Indiana, who won the national championship last year. KSU almost pulled the upset against Wake Forest, losing 10-9.

They went 7-1 in C-USA, with their only loss on the road against Jacksonville State, 35-26. They met them again in the C-USA Championship Game, which was also on the Gamecocks home field. They beat them, 19-15 and went to the Myrtle Beach Bowl.

With the success of last season, the expectations are high coming into 2026. They have 6 Owls selected to the Pro Football Network Preseason All C-USA team. The First team selections are RB Latrelle Murrell, DL Marcus Patterson and LB Baron Hopson.

WR/KR Davis Bryson was selected to the Second team. DB Isaac Paul and WR/PR Zion Booker were selected for the Third team.

In 2025, Murrell rushed for 894 yards and 3 touchdowns, while averaging 5.1 ypc. He also had 22 receptions for 246 yards and 4 TD’s.

Last season’s starting QB, Amari Odom transferred to Syracuse. Ironically, QB Rickie Collins transferred to KSU from Syracuse. He was at LSU from 2023-24.

KSU added a total of 28 players from the transfer portal. Some of the marquee players are LB Josh Anglin (Tulsa), OL Luke Duska (Elon), DB Perry Fisher (UAB), DB Kaleb Gray (West Virginia), OLB Corey Kelly (Baylor), P Matt McKenzie (Arizona State), DB Tony Williams (UCF) and DB Maliki Wright (Duke).

“This is an excellent group of young men and we’re excited to have them join the Kennesaw State family,” coach Mack said. “Our coaches worked extremely hard this offseason to add both experience and depth, and I can’t wait to see them out on the field this spring.”

West Georgia moved up to FCS from Division II in 2024. That will be an easy win to start the season.

The rest of the non-conference schedule is against Georgia State, at #18 Tennessee and at Arkansas State.

Conference play begins October 7^th against Jax State.

The rest of the CUSA schedule is at Missouri State, Liberty, at Middle Tennessee, Delaware, at Sam Houston, FIU and at Western Kentucky. The first four CUSA games are played on Wednesday or Thursday.

With the transfer portal, rosters change drastically each season. I believe KSU can continue the momentum from last season but they also have a lot of new players on the team.

I expect them to contend for the C-USA championship again and make a bowl game. I believe they will win seven or eight regular season games.