Sam Houston Bearkats 2026 Season Preview

Landyn Locke has settled the position that undid the offense a year ago. A sophomore who followed Longo from Wisconsin and learned the system before ever arriving in Huntsville, Locke appeared in half of Sam Houston's games and started the final three, completing 71 of 141 passes for 765 yards with four touchdowns and four interceptions. He reportedly added strength over the offseason, and simply giving a single quarterback an entire spring, summer and fall camp with the first team is a meaningful upgrade over last year's rotation. The scheme is regarded as sound; last season it lacked a signal-caller who fit what it asks.

Locke throws to a returning group that should benefit from continuity. Senior Chris Reed is the steadying presence, having played all 12 games and led the team in receiving yardage at 460 on 30 catches with five scores. Senior Grady O'Neill paced the roster in receptions with 38 for 392 yards, and sophomore Kamari Maxwell adds a further outside option. Tim Burns Jr., a senior who doubles as a return man, offers a vertical element after hauling in 12 passes for 228 yards. Senior Max Whisner anchors the tight end spot. With everyone back for another year in the system, more is expected from a unit that only flashed in 2025.

The backfield returns its two primary carriers. Junior Landan "Coco" Brown led the team with 518 rushing yards, and senior Alton McCaskill is back alongside him; together the pair accounted for 858 yards on the ground. The bigger question for their production is not the backs themselves but the blocking in front of them.

This is the offense's clear concern. The Bearkats must replace their entire starting front, with last year's regulars gone to graduation and the transfer portal, and the projected lineup is very much unsettled; the two most prominent preseason reads disagree on who lines up where, a reflection of how open the competition remains. Sam Houston has folded a mix of holdovers from the room together with a wave of portal additions, and new line coach Jack Bicknell Jr., most recently at West Virginia, will spend camp sorting it out. Longo has suggested the group could ultimately become a strength, but that projection will have to prove itself over the course of the preseason.

The rebuild starts up front, where senior defensive tackle Dylan Frazier is a genuine building block after posting 41 tackles, four tackles for loss and two sacks. The staff leaned on the portal for the rest, headlined by defensive end Josh Alexander-Felton, who arrives from NC State, where he spent the 2024 season with coordinator Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay and is expected to take on a large role. Junior tackle Jarra Anderson, a three-star addition from Arizona and a Katy, Texas, native, is a candidate to make an immediate impact; he flashed as a true freshman at Memphis in 2023 with 10 tackles, two for loss and 1.5 sacks, though he has not played a full season since. Senior Chauncey Chidi adds depth on the edge.

Sam Houston needs steadier play at the second level. Sophomore Dean Ford is the returning centerpiece after starting five of his eight games and recording 35 tackles, including 6.5 for loss and two sacks, but he and senior Tokyo Gordon both endured up-and-down 2025 seasons and will have to be more consistent. Arizona transfer Stacy Bey is among the Power 4 additions the staff hopes can immediately upgrade the group.

The secondary blends returners with newcomers as it tries to firm up a pass defense that ranked near the bottom of the league. Seniors Tyler Bailey, Joey Hunter and Octavius Henderson bring experience to the back end, and junior Jaylon Jones is in the mix at safety. This is Aughtry-Lindsay's first offseason with a full runway to recruit his own defenders and shape his staff, and every one of those moves will need to pay off for a unit that surrendered 37.8 points and 483.5 yards per game.

Both kicking jobs turn over. The placekicking competition looks like a battle between Sam Carpenter, a junior transfer who went 1-of-3 on field goals at Pitt, and Tate Ryan, who redshirted last year; given that the staff used two kickers on field goals in 2025, a split cannot be ruled out. Sophomore Cal Joseph takes over the punting after averaging 38.1 yards per attempt at Wake Forest, replacing a strong-legged predecessor who left for the portal. Tim Burns Jr. returns as a threat in the return game.