Arkansas Baptist Buffaloes (0-0) at HCU Huskies (0-0)
Thursday, Aug. 28 – 6:30 p.m.
Husky Stadium – Houston, Texas
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HOUSTON – HCU is set to kick off the 2025 football season, year two under head coach
Jason Bachtel, with a Thursday evening matchup against Arkansas Baptist at 6:30 p.m. The game will be aired on ESPN+ with Nicholas Pietrzycki providing play-by-play alongside Jackson Cochran on color.
HCU comes into the 2025 season having won the most games of any college football program in the city of Houston over the last two years. The Huskies' 11 wins over the last two seasons puts them one ahead of Rice's 10 while Houston and Texas Southern have both won eight.
Bachtel's roster saw a good deal of turnover from last year's 5-7 squad with 46 transfer student-athletes on the roster. Among those 46 transfers are 23 from the FBS ranks along with another three from within the FCS. HCU also added 15 junior college transfers with seven of those having previously been at the Division I level.
HCU's backfield boasts a strong one-two punch in returners
Champ Dozier and
Darryle Evans. Dozier was an all-purpose threat last season and earned second team all-Southland Conference honors as a kick returner. He finished the year with 233 yards rushing, 231 yards receiving and 324 kick return yards while scoring five touchdowns. Evans, meanwhile, has totaled four 100-yard rushing games over the last two seasons and has rolled up 924 yards on 190 carries with five rushing scores.
The Huskies' receiving corps is led by senior
Deuce McMillan who ranks third in career receptions (81), tied for fifth in receiving touchdowns (8) and seventh in receiving yards (903). He's joined by fellow senior
Adrian Green who has 27 career catches for 154 yards with a group of newcomers that includes redshirt juniors
Keith Wheeler and
Braylon Finney, both junior college transfers who began their collegiate careers at Division I institutions.
At quarterback, HCU has a pair of redshirt senior transfers in
Jake Weir, who spent the last four seasons at Mississippi State, and
Maddox Kopp, a Houston native who has spent time at three FBS schools including Houston, Colorado and Miami (OH).
The Huskies' offensive line features a number of new faces expected to be major contributors along with returners
Nonso Omezi,
Jaden Edmonson and
Ben Mulholland.
Defensively, all-American
Rodney Dansby returns at linebacker after racking up an impressive 352 tackles from 2021 through 2023 for the Huskies. The redshirt senior ranks third in program history in tackles. Joining Dansby in the linebacker room is
Trent Zappe, a transfer from Western Kentucky and brother of former HCU quarterback Bailey Zappe.
In the secondary, senior
Zayteak McGhee is expected to play a big role a year after totaling 53 tackles with six pass breakups and one interception last season. Redshirt junior
Caleb King is back with 23 career appearances already under his belt and had 13 tackles, one interception and one breakup in four games in 2023 before missing the rest of the season due to injury.
Ravonte Blowe returns to lead the defensive line, playing in all 12 games last year with 43 tackles and a pair of tackles for loss. Redshirt freshman
Isaiah Johnson also figures to step into a bigger role after appearing in four games during his true freshman season and making 11 tackles with 3.5 tackles for loss.
Arkansas Baptist finished the 2024 season with an 0-9 record. Sophomore Tavion Rupert is the team's top returning rusher, compiling 308 yards on 103 carries. On defense, safety Xavier Branch is the top returner with 35 tackles and a pair of interceptions last year.
The Huskies hosted the Buffaloes to open the 2023 season, winning that matchup 66-0. Dozier ran for 97 yards and three touchdowns on 11 carries in that game while Dansby led the Huskies with 10 tackles.
The Huskies are set for their first road trip of the season on Saturday, Sept. 6, when they travel to Richmond, Ky. for a 6:00 p.m. ET kickoff against Eastern Kentucky.
