After two consecutive United Athletic Conference championships, the Wildcat football team earned its highest preseason ranking in Div. 1 history, added 53 new players, led the UAC preseason coaches’ poll and led the conference in All-UAC selections with eight.

ACU enters the season ranked No. 15 in the FCS Stats Perform Poll and No. 14 in the AFCA Coaches Poll.

In the UAC coaches’ poll, ACU tied with Tarleton State, each receiving three first-place votes and 65 overall points. Last season, ACU and Tarleton tied for the UAC championship after both teams went 7-1 in conference play. It’s the first time in 15 years the Wildcats have earned the top spot in the preseason conference poll, dating back to the 2011 Lone Star Conference poll.

Meanwhile, in the last two seasons, ACU was picked second in the 2025 poll, receiving one first-place vote, and sixth in the 2024 poll.

Head coach Keith Patterson said the team doesn’t put any stock in their position in the poll.

“It’s respect for our program,” he said. “We were picked sixth; we won it. We were picked second; we won it. So, whether we’re picked first, we still have an opportunity to win it.”

During the offseason, the team lost 47 players, including key offensive and defensive starters.

• QB, Stone Earle
• RB, Jordon Vaughn
• TE, Jed Castles
• WR, JJ Henry
• WR, Javon Gipson
• OL, George French II
• OL, Joziah Fogle
• DB, Tyson Williams
• DB, Dorian Plumley
• DB, Jordan Mukes
• DL, Kahgen Roach
• LB, Will Shaffer
• LB, Chris Wright
• LB, Rashon Myles Jr.

“I don’t focus on what we have to replace,” Patterson said. “I focus on what we have and who’s here and what’s going to be their role on this football team. I don’t compare them to the guys that were here before them.”

Despite the departures, the team added 53 new players to the roster and kept almost the entire offensive line from last season intact. Three of the linemen from last season earned preseason All-UAC team honors. Colter Lynch, redshirt junior from Lubbock, and twin brothers Luke and Landon Roaten, redshirt seniors from Tomball.

Patterson said this is the most depth the team has had on the offensive line during his tenure as head coach.

Also joining those three on the All-UAC list are:

• Kortlin Rausaw, graduate defensive lineman from Wylie.
• Chris Herpin, senior defensive lineman from Pearland.
• Dallas Dudley, senior wide receiver from Lewisville.
• Brandon Perez, senior kicker from Crandall.
• Dillon Williams, redshirt senior defensive back from Southaven, Mississippi.

Williams transferred to the team this year after spending four seasons at fellow UAC school, Central Arkansas, where he started two seasons. In his 24 games as a starter, Williams recorded 163 tackles, three interceptions and 11 pass breakups.

He earned a spot on the FCS Football Central Preseason All-American Second Team. Luke Roaten also earned a spot on the Stats Perform FCS Preseason All-American Second Team.

During the summer, the team has done more conditioning, training with the mindset that they will be playing into January for the national championship.

“We kind of go into it thinking we’re going to play a 16-week season,” Rausaw said. “You could tell we ran a lot more long distances throughout the whole summer to try to prepare us for that. We just count down each week one at a time, and it kind of puts us in that mentality to go the distance.”

The departure of last year’s starting quarterback, Stone Earle, opened the door for a new starter. Three quarterbacks transferred in to join John David Black, redshirt sophomore from Flower Mound, to battle for the position. Black did not see any game action last season at ACU.

Marcos Davila, redshirt sophomore from Midland, transferred from Nebraska, where he played in two games last season. Before playing at Nebraska, he played under offensive coordinator Graham Harrell at Purdue.

Tucker Parks, redshirt sophomore from Spring, transferred from Western Kentucky, where he played in one game last season.

The third quarterback added to the roster is Joe Castles, freshman from Wichita Falls, and brother of former ACU tight end Jed Castles.

“We’ve had to adjust a lot from not having veteran quarterbacks,” Dudley said. “But we’ve got a lot of talent on this team, and I’m excited to see what these guys do.”

The Wildcats’ new starting quarterback will make his debut on Aug. 29 when ACU plays No. 20 Lamar on the road, a rematch of last year’s first-round playoff game that ACU won 38-20.