2 AAC Teams Who Will Regress in 2025

Quarterback Bryson Daily threw for 1,007 yards with nine touchdowns and four interceptions. But where Daily was most productive was in the run game. The senior quarterback led the nation with an astounding 32 rushing touchdowns and finished fourth in the country with 1,659 rushing yards. That production is not easily replaced.

The second half of the lost production is running back Kanye Udoh. Udoh took the very uncommon route of a service academy player of entering the transfer portal after the 2024 season. The junior will continue his college career at Arizona State playing for coach Kenny Dillingham. Udoh was Army’s second leading rusher with 1,117 yards and 10 touchdowns.

While Army coach Jeff Monken’s option system utilizes multiple players, it will be very difficult to replace the 2,776 combined rushing yards of Daily and Udoh.

Quarterback Dewayne Coleman is capable of running Monken’s offense, but it will take a heroic effort for Coleman to compare to the production of Daily.

On the defensive side of the ball Army loses safety Max DiDomenico to graduation. DiDomenico was the third leading tackler for the Black Knights. The good news is that Army’s top two tacklers return, linebackers Andon Thomas and Kalib Fortner.

As far as special teams go, Army loses kicker Trey Gronotte. His replacement is sophomore Dawson Jones, who has attempted only one extra point in his career. For an offense built around a ground-and-pound style Army will need to manufacture points however it can. Relying on a sophomore who has not attempted a field goal in his career is going to be tough.

The conference schedule is not daunting, but the Black Knights do get East Carolina and Tulane both on the road. The nonconference schedule has a road trip to Kansas State in week two that will be tough. The other two nonconference games are the opener at home against Tarleton State and at Air Force.

Obviously, the Army-Navy Game to end the season is anyone’s game to win, as evidenced by last season’s tilt. Winning the Army-Navy Game means more than anything to the Black Knights, but a regression from 2024’s record and production is inevitable.

Memphis Tigers (11-2)

In football, the word turnover is typically not associated with anything good. Unless the reference is from the defense, turnover is a scary word. That becomes even more scary when the word is used to describe your depth chart. 

For the Memphis offense, the depth chart to start the season has the potential for 10 transfer players and one true freshman to occupy space on the two-deep. Head coach Ryan Silverfield has his work cut out for him in 2025.

Most of those transfers should get starting roles on the offense, including former Nevada quarterback Brendon Lewis. The veteran quarterback is said to be ahead of true freshman AJ Hill in the quarterback competition and should win the starting job. No matter who starts, the new QB1 will be learning a whole new offense and getting acquainted with all new teammates. That’s not the best recipe for success following an 11-win season.

The returning receivers with the most catches are junior Marcello Bussey who had 10 catches for 147 yards and one touchdown and redshirt freshman Brady Kluse who had five catches for 90 yards. Transfers CJ Smith, from Purdue, and Jadon Thompson, from Louisville, join a group of returning receivers that does not have anyone with more than 20 career catches. Thompson’s 65 career catches dwarf all other receivers combined.

If the tight ends are being included with the receivers, then the word to use to describe the group as a whole is inexperienced. Penn State transfer Jerry Cross joins redshirt sophomore Christian Ross and redshirt freshman Luke Logan fighting for the starting TE spot. None of the three has registered a catch at the collegiate level.

Not to be outdone by their offensive counterparts, the defense has 16 players on the defensive two-deep that are transfers and one true freshman. Out of a possible 22 players, 17 will be new to Memphis.

The returning defensive player with the most tackles in 2024 is junior defensive lineman William Whitlow Jr. who had 24 total tackles and four sacks. Eight Tigers had more tackles in 2024 than Whitlow.

The group of transfers may very well gel enough to have a solid season on defense, but by the time that happens the Tigers may have more losses than in 2024.

The place kicker is Gianni Spetic, a transfer from Ohio University who hit on 81.3 percent of his field goal attempts in 2024, going 13-of-16. Punter/kicker Tanner Gillis is penciled in as the punter, but he sat out 2024.

Even with the massive turnover on the roster the Tigers should start the season 3-0 with out of conference games against Chattanooga, at Georgia State and against Troy. The latter two teams are lower-tier Sun Belt Conference foes. Arkansas comes to Memphis in week four, which should give the Tigers their first loss.

Some of the AAC conference slate is very winnable but the final three games are against Tulane, at East Carolina and against Navy. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that Memphis loses all three games.

For both Army and Memphis, you cannot have that much turnover on your roster and expect to win 11 games again. Maybe more important to the number of players being replaced is where they’re being replaced. Both programs are replacing long-time starting quarterbacks. Hopefully fans of Army and Memphis enjoyed last season because 2025 is going to be a very different year.