UTSA Roadrunners Poised for Explosive 2025 Season

UTSA finished 11th in the nation in passing, averaging 283.5 pass YPG, and will return five of their top six pass catchers in wide receivers Devin McCuin (45 receptions, 424 yards, five touchdowns), David Amador II (31 receptions, 376 yards, one touchdown), Willie McCoy (28 receptions, 536 yards, four touchdowns), and tight ends Houston Thomas (34 receptions, 470 yards, three touchdowns) and Patrick Overmyer (31 receptions, 283 yards, three touchdowns). Traylor also brought in former Houston Christian wide receiver A.J. Wilson (29 receptions, 825 yards, eight touchdowns) and former Michigan State wide receiver Jaelin Smith to supplement the receiver room.

Despite the loss of leading rusher Robert Henry to graduation and the transfer of Kevorian Barnes to TCU, the UTSA backfield will have a team leader in Brandon High Jr., who averaged 5.3 yards per carry and scored eight touchdowns for UTSA in 2024.

The Roadrunners finished the season averaging 452.5 total YPG and averaged 33.2 PPG.

Roadrunners’ Defense Shows Improvement

Like the offense, the Roadrunners’ defense also improved over the second half to help lead UTSA to its fifth straight bowl game appearance. After giving up an average of 31.2 PPG in the first six games, the defense clamped down in the final seven games, allowing an average of 29.1 PPG.

Led by fifth-year defensive coordinator Jess Loepp, the UTSA defense gave up 375.2 total YPG, but boasted the AAC’s best run defense, allowing a minuscule 109.3 rushing YPG (No. 11 in the nation). This season Loepp will be working with a number of new faces with just four Roadrunners returning from last year’s team in linebacker Owen Pewee (42 total tackles, two sacks, two interceptions), linebacker Vic Shaw (21 total tackles, 2.5 sacks), cornerback Zah Frazier (24 total tackles, six interceptions) and safety Jermarius Lewis (28 total tackles, one interception).

The Roadrunners’ defensive line will be completely made over in 2025 and will be anchored by four-star Baylor transfer Kaian Roberts-Day , who had two tackles for loss and one sack in 10 games for the Bears. Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College transfer Mickel Williams (6-foot-5, 265 pounds) and three-star recruits King Justice (6-foot-1, 285 pounds), and Corey Walls (6-foot-2, 260 pounds) will see time on the defensive line. The linebackers will be bolstered with the additions of transfers Brandon Tucker (from East Texas A&M) and Shad Banks Jr. (from TCU). Tucker was a tackling machine for the Lions last season, tallying 131 total tackles, 3.5 sacks and two forced fumbles. Banks played in just four games in 2024, but has played in 42 career games with 14 tackles for loss, two sacks and an interception in his career.

UTSA’s secondary will welcome transfer safeties Cameron Upshaw Jr. (Memphis) and K.K. Meier (Nevada), who had 27 total tackles and one tackle for loss last season.

The Roadrunners won’t leave their home state for the first three games of the 2025 season, opening at Kyle Field in College Station against Texas A&M on Aug. 30, followed by a home game against I-35 rival Texas State on Sept. 6 and their Hometown Showdown against Incarnate Word on Sept. 13 at the Alamodome.