Charles Huff Reboots Memphis With a Portal-Built Roster and an Open Quarterback Race
Memphis went 8-5 (4-4 in the American) in 2025, a season that started 8-1 and unraveled into a four-game losing streak capped by a 7-31 Gasparilla Bowl loss to NC State. The bigger story is the reset around it. Ryan Silverfield is gone, and first-year coach Charles Huff arrives after a 39-25 run and a Sun Belt title at Marshall. A Nick Saban disciple running his third program in three years, Huff brought a large contingent of Southern Miss players north and rebuilt the roster almost entirely through the portal.
The staff is new top to bottom. Offensive coordinator Kevin Decker imports a fast, wide-splitting spread that worked at Old Dominion, while defensive coordinator Lance Guidry, an analyst at LSU last fall, installs a 4-2-5. With as little as one full-time starter returning by some counts, how quickly the pieces fuse will decide the year.
Offense
There is no settled QB1 heading into camp, and Huff has said he does not intend to choose early, preferring to keep two capable options. Marcus Stokes is the front-runner, a Division II award winner at West Florida who threw for roughly 3,300 yards with 30 touchdowns and ran for 10 more, a dual-threat fit for Decker's tempo. The open question is how that production translates to FBS speed. South Carolina transfer Air Noland pushes him. A former Ohio State signee, Noland has just a handful of career throws after appearing in only two games for the Gamecocks, so the talent is real but the resume thin. The lack of a clear answer is the offense's biggest uncertainty.
Decker's scheme spreads receivers wider, and the room is rebuilt to fit it. Southern Miss transfer Tychaun Chapman is a plug-and-play starter who averaged nearly 18 yards a catch a year ago. Alante Brown, a Michigan State transfer granted a seventh year, brings deep speed, and Terrell Timmons Jr. arrives from NC State with a similar vertical profile. Jemyri Davis adds a veteran outside, and holdovers Brady Kluse and Bryce Dorsey should see expanded roles. At tight end, Hunter Tipton looks like a frequent target after catching 39 passes for 411 yards and two scores at Middle Tennessee.
The backfield is deep. Jaylin Carter followed Huff from Southern Miss and is the projected starter, one of the fastest players on the roster. Colorado transfer Dallan Hayden, a Memphis native, is a powerful runner who gained 326 yards a year ago, and Cincinnati's Manny Covey rounds out the rotation. True freshmen Jordan Thompson and Eric Perry add to a pipeline Memphis has stocked with 1,000-yard backs for years.
Guard Parker Mitchell is the lone returning starter, and the transfers around him bring real mileage even if it was earned elsewhere. Left tackle Riley McGehee comes from Arkansas State, right tackle Aaron Karas from Colorado State, guards Maarten Woudsma and Skyler Grant from Old Dominion, and center Koby Keenum from the SEC. The group totals roughly 90 career starts, on par with last year's line, which surrendered 33 sacks while paving the way for a 5.0-yard rushing average. Cohesion, not talent, is the variable.
Defense
Three-fourths of the projected starting front played for Huff at Southern Miss, and he has called this the team's potential best unit. J'Mond Tapp anchors it, a first-team all-conference edge who piled up double-digit tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks and carries genuine NFL upside. Returnee Taylor Burton is worth watching inside, with Jaden McKinney and Charlotte transfer Xavier Miles adding size and Elijah Kinsler more pedigree off the edge. The talent is there to be stout against the run.
Mike Montgomery is the headliner, another Southern Miss transfer who logged 105 tackles and all-conference honors and slots cleanly into Guidry's 4-2-5. Florida State transfer Jayden Parrish is penciled in alongside him. Beyond that pairing the depth is thin, with the reserves having only a couple dozen career tackles between them, so finding reliable complements is Guidry's task. Prized recruit Elijah Fernandez headlines a class meant to backfill here.
The secondary has a chance to be the strength of the team. Ian Foster is the centerpiece at nickel, a punishing tackler who can blitz off the edge and cover in man, with 75 tackles and 10 breakups a year ago. Ellis Ellis Jr. arrives from Austin Peay as a first-team all-conference corner with 14 breakups and four interceptions, and Chauncey Logan Jr. brings a long record of ball production from James Madison opposite him. Ahmere Foster followed Huff from Southern Miss and should start at safety, with Oklahoma State transfer Dylan Smith aiming for the other spot.
The kicking operation is remade, with Phillippe Laforge in from Coastal Carolina on placekicks and Harrison Tuck, a former Australian rules player who punted at FCS Alabama State, taking over after a 41.8-yard average. The return game is a strength: Foster led the nation in long kickoff returns as a Marshall freshman, Brown averaged 53.5 yards on four returns last season, and Covey handled punt returns effectively at Cincinnati.
Overview and Prediction
The schedule offers no easy runway. Memphis opens at UNLV and visits Boise State by mid-September, with later road trips to Charlotte, Tulane, South Florida and Navy. The home draw of Arkansas State, UT Martin, UAB, East Carolina, Army and Temple is manageable, but the early stretch will test a young team.
The preseason consensus is split between an optimistic read that pegs Memphis near the top of the American and a more cautious one expecting a step back after so much turnover. Both are defensible. There is clear talent here, particularly on a defense that could carry the group early, but a quarterback battle without a settled answer and an offense full of new faces invite growing pains. Huff's stated goal is to reach the American Championship Game for the first time since 2019. The most likely outcome is a bowl-eligible season in the upper half of the league, with the ceiling tied to how fast the passing game finds its footing. If Stokes or Noland settles the job early, this roster can chase the conference race; if the position stays unsettled, a rebuilding year in the middle of the standings is the safer bet.