North Texas Mean Green 2026 Season Preview

The most pressing question is who runs the show. Chris Jimerson Jr. appeared in four games as a true freshman and enters with a foothold, an undersized, athletic passer of the type Morris and now Brown have long favored. He faces a push from UCF transfer Tayven Jackson, who started 10 games and threw for 2,151 yards, while the room also adds East Carolina transfer Chaston Ditta and true freshman Ziondre Williams. The competition is unsettled, and whoever emerges will be a first-time starter in Denton.

The skill positions were gutted. Essentially the entire receiving corps is gone, including Young's 1,264-yard, 18.1-per-catch season, and Brown restocked almost exclusively through the portal. Division II All-American TJ Chukwurah arrives from Black Hills State, where he piled up more than 2,300 receiving yards across a long career, and Dalton Carnes returns as one of the few holdovers after an eight-start campaign. James Tyre, UAB transfer Corri Milliner and Cal transfer Josiah Martin round out a group long on newcomers and short on proven production. Eastern Michigan transfer Max Reese gives the passing game a veteran tight end. The preseason read pegs this as a middle-of-the-league unit.

If there is a strength on offense, it is the backfield, and that is no accident: running the ball has been a hallmark of Brown-coached teams. Jahiem White reunites with the coach who made him a Freshman All-American at West Virginia in 2023. The compact, explosive junior ran for more than 1,800 yards at better than 6 per carry over three seasons with the Mountaineers and profiles as the centerpiece of the ground game. Missouri State transfer Jayden Becks, a 610-yard producer, adds depth. This group will not replicate last year's league-leading rushing-touchdown output, but White gives it a genuine lead back.

The line that paved the way for the most rushing scores in the country is almost entirely gone, and every starter must be replaced. The anchor is Georgia Southern transfer Chandler Strong, who brings better than 30 career starts to the interior and is the lone lineman on the roster with significant starting experience. Texas transfer Neto Umeozulu, regarded as one of the more valuable interior additions in the league, and West Virginia transfer Johnny Williams IV supply two more portal pieces, with redshirt freshmen Henry Fenuku and Jordan Reasonover in the mix. It is fairly labeled an area of concern.

The defense was uneven in 2025, ranking a dismal 130th nationally against the run at 215.7 yards allowed per game while holding up far better in coverage, where it finished eighth in the FBS at 166.2 passing yards allowed. New coordinator Matt Powledge, who ran Baylor's defense the previous three seasons and coordinated at Oregon before that, takes over a front that loses heavily, with 10 linemen who each recorded double-digit tackles departing. Terrell Washington carries the most experience among returning linemen, and edge rusher David Onuoha arrives from UMass with better than 40 tackles and disruptive production. Nine transfers were brought in up front, drawing starters from UTEP, UMass and Georgia Southern, with Davion Rhodes and nose tackle Rudy Vargas Jr. also in the rotation.

The linebacking corps was rebuilt through the portal after the unit lost its top tacklers. Arkansas State transfer Aaron Alexander, a 94-tackle producer and all-conference honoree, and Zakye Barker, who racked up more than 100 tackles at his previous stop, headline the newcomers, with Chantz Johnson and Cedric Roberts adding further experience. It is a less-proven group than a year ago, but the transfer influx at least gives Powledge starting-caliber bodies.

Coverage was the defense's calling card, and the secondary welcomes a familiar flavor. Twin defensive backs Caden and Cameren Jenkins followed Powledge from Baylor to Denton and are expected to start; Caden brings a resume of 19 starts, four interceptions and 11 pass breakups. Texas transfer BJ Allen slots in at nickel, and CJ Coombes arrives with better than 100 career tackles. Eight defensive backs departed and a dozen transfers were added, so the group is deep in numbers but light on returning FBS starting experience. Brown believes it can play man coverage, though he has acknowledged the thinness.

Placekicker Kali Nguma, who connected on better than 90 percent of his field goals, transferred to Colorado State, but the staff landed a ready replacement in Appalachian State transfer Dominic De Freitas, who made 20 of 25 field goals, all 33 of his extra points and earned all-conference recognition in the Sun Belt. New special teams coordinator Jeff Crosby follows from Appalachian State as well. The return units, which ranked among the American's best, must be rebuilt after the departures of Simeon Evans and Miles Coleman, with James Tyre a candidate to handle both jobs.