returning 42 percent of their production from last season<\/a>, which ranks 110th of 138 FBS teams. 33 percent of the offense is back (122nd in the country) and 50 percent of the defense returned (75th). However, most of the returning players are occasional or non-starters.<\/p>\nECU lost their starting quarterback (to Illinois), running back (Florida), wide receiver (SMU), two offensive linemen (South Carolina, NC State), and top two tight ends (Vandy, FSU) to the Upgrade Portal. On the other side of the ball, a defensive tackle (Virginia) and two members of the secondary (UGA, Fla) were among those who transferred to bigger programs. ECU also lost several players to graduation – including 1,000+ yard receiver Anthony Smith who was drafted by the Cowboys.<\/p>\n
Defensive coordinator Josh Aldridge assembled one of the AAC\u2019s top defenses in 2025, but he left for South Florida in the off-season. Former OC John David Baker now heads up Ole Miss\u2019s offense.<\/p>\n
Top returnees: Third-leading receiver Brock Spalding (42 rec, 554 yds, 3 TD), DL Jasiyah Robinson (5 sacks), DL Kendrick DuJour (3 sacks), LB DJ Johnson (29 solo, 31 asst).<\/p>\n
Top newcomers: Offensive coordinator Jordan Davis arrives from North Texas where he helped guide one of the most potent passing attacks of 2025. Coming with him from UNT are RB Ashton Gray (58 rush, 377 yds, 5 TD) and WR Landon Sides (34 rec, 449 yds, 1 TD). The QB battle is between 6th year Mitch Griffis (from Wake Forest > Texas Tech) and RS-JR Emory Williams (Miami-FL).<\/p>\n
Jordon Hankins was hired away from Memphis to serve as defensive coordinator. He had been with the Blue Tigers since 2021 under former head coach Ryan Silverfield who took the head job at Arkansas and did not bring him along.<\/p>\n
Other major new players of note include RB Michael Allen (Marshall; 77 rush, 385 yds, 4 TD) and C Brandon Best (Georgia Tech>Kennesaw State). They are among the 23 new players who are portalling in – many of whom are expected to start.<\/p>\n
Strengths: Head Coach (defensive background) and new OC are hot up and comers that should put up some points\u2026 wide receiver depth\u2026experienced defensive line\u2026 decent schedule\u2026<\/p>\n
Weaknesses: SO much personnel turnover, both coaching staff and players. Can they gel in time to get something going?\u2026 offensive line rebuild\u2026 Neither QB really wows\u2026 all new secondary\u2026 special teams coverage\u2026<\/p>\n
Outlook: Harrell is an exciting young coach and has done some good things in his short tenure in Greenville. This rebuild will be tough but the Pirates should be top half of the AAC and get to a bowl game.<\/p>\n
Odds: FanDuel has Bama as a 25.5 point favorite with an over\/under of 54.5. Vegas Win Total for the Pirates is set at 7.5. Eight wins seems about right.<\/p>\n
2026 ECU FOOTBALL SCHEDULE:<\/p>\n
Sat, Sep 5 @ Alabama – LSat, Sep 12 vs App State – WSat, Sep 19 @ Old Dominion – WSat, Sep 26 vs North Carolina Central – W Sat, Oct 10 vs Rice – W Thu, Oct 15 @ UAB – W Thu, Oct 22 @ Memphis – LSat, Oct 31 vs Temple – W Fri, Nov 6 vs South Florida – LSat, Nov 14 @ Charlotte – WSat, Nov 21 @ Army – LFri, Nov 27 vs Florida Atlantic – WSat, Sep 5 vs East CarolinaSat, Sep 12 @ KentuckySat, Sep 19 vs Florida StateSat, Sep 26 vs South CarolinaSat, Oct 3 @ Mississippi StateSat, Oct 10 vs GeorgiaSat, Oct 17 @ TennesseeSat, Oct 24 vs Texas A&MSat, Nov 7 @ LSUSat, Nov 14 @ VanderbiltSat, Nov 21 vs ChattanoogaSat, Nov 28 vs Auburn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s still hot outside, the kids are still out of school, and fall camp has yet to open.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[35956,57568,57569,399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":["post-760169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-alabama-crimson-tide-football","tag-alabama-opponent-previews","tag-alabama-preseason-football-coverage","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}