Early Opponent Preview: Army

After the first five conference games of the season, Memphis will end October hosting Army. The Black Knights are the newest team in the American, and the Tigers haven’t played them since 2002.

Athlon Sports predicts Army will finish fourth in the conference and No. 74 in the country. Jeff Monken returns eight offensive starters but only three on the defensive side of the ball.

Starting quarterback Cale Hellums returns after taking over as the starting quarterback last season. He threw for 694 yards and four touchdowns, and he ran for 1,223 yards and 18 touchdowns.

Phil Steele named Hellums to the All-Conference Fourth Team in his upcoming preseason magazine.

Running back Godspower Nwawuihe only appeared in four games last season, but he’ll look to carry the load in 2026. He ran for 196 yards and two touchdowns on 21 attempts, and he finished the season with 171 yards and two touchdowns in the Fenway Bowl against UConn.

Army returns four starters on the offensive line, including senior Brady Small. The center started every game last season and has logged 2,430 snaps over the last three years.

Daryl Dixon takes over as the defensive coordinator, but he has been on staff for 10 seasons as a position coach.

Dixon only returns three starters, but he brings back a pair of defensive linemen. Junior Jack Bousum and senior Kody Harris-Miller return and will look to anchor a defense that recorded 46 tackles for loss and 15 sacks in 2025.

Bousum recorded 29 tackles and 4.5 sacks last season, while Harris-Miller has recorded 46 tackles and two sacks over the last two seasons. Senior Dillon Stowers is expected to start at the other defensive end position after recording 17 tackles last season.

The Black Knights will turn to an inexperienced linebacker group, and the three projected starters, according to Athlon, combined for 25 tackles last season. Noah Nixon will likely start at outside linebacker and leads the group with 15 tackles a year ago.

Army’s secondary only recorded eight interceptions last season, and it returns cornerback Jayden Mayes, who has recorded six touchdowns in three seasons. The cornerback snagged four interceptions as a sophomore, and it will be interesting to see what he does during his senior season.

Mayes will be joined in the secondary by safety Stephen Nnadozie, who will slide into a starting role after recording 23 tackles as a junior.

The Black Knights start their season with back-to-back home games against Bryant and South Florida and will have tough conference matchups against the Bulls, Tulane, Memphis and East Carolina before their massive rivalry game against Navy.