In a different era, this would look scary.
New coach.
One returning starter.
A roster that barely resembles last year’s team.
Ten years ago, you probably would have looked at Memphis and said, “This is going to take a while.”
But this is not that era anymore.
In the NIL and transfer portal world, a roster can change quickly. A team can lose almost everything and still patch together enough talent to stay competitive. That is what makes Memphis so interesting going into 2026.
The Tigers went 8-5 last season and 4-4 in the American, but the season faded after it briefly looked like Memphis might have a real path toward the College Football Playoff.
Now Charles Huff takes over, and the job is very clear.
Keep Memphis from slipping while rebuilding almost the entire roster.
HEAD COACH:
- Charles Huff, entering year one at Memphis
- Huff is 39-25 as a head coach.
- Memphis went 8-5 last season.
- The Tigers finished 4-4 in the American.
- Memphis has not had a losing season since 2013.
I like the hire.
Huff has won. He went 32-20 at Marshall, then led Southern Miss to a 7-5 regular season in his one year there after the Golden Eagles had gone 1-11 the year before. Memphis hired him in December after Ryan Silverfield left for Arkansas.
That matters.
Memphis is not a rebuild in the traditional sense. This is one of the better Group of Five programs in the country. The Tigers expect to win. They expect to be in the American race. They expect to be part of the playoff conversation when everything breaks right.
That is a different challenge than taking over a broken program.
Huff has to win quickly.
And he has to do it with a team that looks completely different.
QUARTERBACK:
This is the first big question.
The quarterback battle looks like Marcus Stokes against Air Noland, and the two could not have taken more different paths to get here.
Stokes comes from West Florida, where he was the Gulf South Conference Offensive Player of the Year. He threw for 3,297 yards, 30 touchdowns, averaged 275 passing yards per game, and also ran for 367 yards and 10 touchdowns. He was also a former four-star prospect out of Nease High School in Florida.
That is real production.
Yes, it came at the Division II level. That matters. The speed, size and week-to-week pressure will be different in the American.
But Stokes has played a lot of football. He has carried an offense. He has thrown touchdown passes. He has run for touchdowns. He has been the guy.
That counts for something.
Then there is Noland.
Noland was a big-time recruit who started at Ohio State, then went to South Carolina, and now lands at Memphis.
The talent is obvious.
The experience is not.
Noland barely played last season, so this is more projection than proof. He may have the higher recruiting profile, but Stokes has the better college production.
That is what makes the battle interesting.
Stokes feels like the more proven football player right now.
Noland feels like the upside swing.
Either way, Memphis needs somebody to take the job and calm everything down. With this much roster turnover, the Tigers cannot afford a quarterback battle that drags deep into the season.
THE REST OF THE OFFENSE
The offense basically starts over.
Parker Mitchell is the only returning starter, and he is an important one. He is a redshirt senior offensive lineman, and before Memphis he started 23 games and appeared in 27 at Richmond.
That is a nice piece.
But one returning starter is still one returning starter.
The running back room is almost completely new. Jaylin Carter comes in from Southern Miss, Manny Covey comes in from Cincinnati, and Dallan Hayden comes back home to Memphis after stops at Ohio State and Colorado.
Hayden is probably the most recognizable name.
He has played in big-time environments. He has been at Ohio State. He has been at Colorado. He has real college experience.
But none of these backs is coming off a monster 1,000-yard season.
So this may be a committee.
That is not necessarily bad. Memphis can rotate guys, figure out who fits, and let the offense grow. But somebody eventually has to become dependable.
The same is true at receiver.
There are pieces, but it is a new group. Terrell Timmons Jr. comes in after time at NC State and Colorado, and Tychaun Chapman follows the Marshall/Southern Miss pipeline to Memphis. The Tigers also have Hunter Tipton at tight end after coming from Middle Tennessee.
This is the portal era in one position group.
A lot of names.
A lot of talent.
A lot of unknowns.
If the quarterback hits, the offense can be fine. But with only one returning starter, it may take a few weeks before Memphis really knows what it has.
DEFENSE
The defense has the same story.
New names everywhere.
The good news is Huff brought some players with him who know what he wants.
Mike Montgomery comes in at linebacker after stops at Portland State and Southern Miss. Ian Foster comes in at safety after time at Marshall and Southern Miss. J’Mond Tapp transfers in on the defensive line after time at Arizona State and Southern Miss.
Montgomery is the key name.
He had 105 tackles last season, and Memphis needs that kind of proven production badly. There is going to be a lot of inexperience around him, so having an older linebacker who has played in Huff’s system should matter.
The defense does not need to become elite right away.
But it has to be good enough to keep Memphis from getting dragged into shootouts while the offense figures itself out.
That is the challenge with this team.
Memphis has talent.
But does it have chemistry?
SCHEDULE
We are going to find out about Memphis fast.
The Tigers open at UNLV on Aug. 29, host Arkansas State on Sept. 5, then go to Boise State on Sept. 12. After that, they host UT Martin before opening American play at Charlotte.
That is not an easy start.
Two of the first three games are long road trips against teams that should be among the better teams in their leagues. UNLV could be a Mountain West contender. Boise State is always a major test, and going to Boise is never comfortable.
Those won’t decide the American race, but they will shape how people view Memphis nationally.
If the Tigers somehow split those road games or win both, the conversation changes fast. If they lose both, any playoff talk probably disappears early.
The conference schedule has some real spots too.
Memphis hosts UAB, goes to Tulane, then gets back-to-back home games against East Carolina and Army. That ECU-Army stretch is the only true back-to-back home stand on the schedule. Then the Tigers go back-to-back on the road at South Florida and Navy before closing with Temple at home.
That November road stretch is tough.
At USF.
At Navy.
Those are not games you want to play if your team is still trying to find itself.
The schedule is not impossible, but it does not give Memphis a soft landing either.
OUTLOOK
Memphis is hard to project.
The program has been too good for too long to just assume a collapse. The Tigers have not had a losing season since 2013, and Huff has proven he can win.
But this is a lot of change.
New head coach. New quarterback. New running backs. New receivers. New defensive leaders. One returning starter.
The best-case scenario is that Marcus Stokes is ready for the FBS jump, or Air Noland finally becomes the player people thought he could be. The portal backs give Memphis enough balance. Montgomery leads the defense. Huff brings the same energy that worked at Marshall and Southern Miss. If that happens, Memphis can still be a factor in the American.
The worst-case scenario is that the quarterback battle never settles, the offensive chemistry takes too long, the defense lacks experience, and those early road games at UNLV and Boise State expose the growing pains.
Huff is a good coach, and Memphis is a strong program. That combination gives this thing a chance to work faster than it would have in the old days.
But this season feels more like a reset than a playoff push.
The Tigers may still win plenty of games.
The question is whether they can figure it out fast enough to stay in the American race before the schedule makes them pay.