Charles Huff has done this before.
Marshall was terrific for years under Doc Holliday. Huff had the pressure of coming in to keep the success going when he took over in 2021, and he did just that with 32 wins in four years and a Sun Belt title.
He left for Southern Miss last season, bringing along a slew of top Thundering Herd players with him. It worked, turning a 1-11 team into a solid 7-6 team that got to a bowl.
Memphis needed a coach, and now Huff is at his third head coaching gig in three years.
© Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
His situation with the Tigers is a bit like the expectations he had at Marshall.
Memphis is a winner.
It hasn’t had a losing season since 2013, and won 21 games in two years before former head coach Ryan Silverfield’s bunch went 8-5 last year.
Silverfield left for Arkansas, Huff stepped in, and there’s no grace period whatsoever.
Almost the entire team is made up of transfers, but there’s continuity with 12 key players coming over from Southern Miss.
But can Memphis win in the American Conference with (mostly) a Sun Belt team?
It came up with one of the stronger coaching hires in the cycle to find out.
- Head Coach: Charles Huff (1st year; 6th year overall, 39-25)
- Best Case / Worst Case: Win the American championship/Struggle to get bowl eligible
Key Player: Air Noland, QB Soph, or Marcus Stokes, QB Jr.
2025 Record: 7-5
Biggest Question: Can Charles Huff keep the Memphis winning going with – likely – 22 new starters coming through the portal?
Head Coach: Charles Huff (1st year; 6th year overall, 39-25)
Best Case / Worst Case: Win the American championship/Struggle to get bowl eligible
Key Player: Air Noland, QB Soph, or Marcus Stokes, QB Jr.
Biggest Question: Can Charles Huff keep the Memphis winning going with – likely – 22 new starters coming through the portal?
- 4th Quarter Scoring: Memphis 107, Opponents 35
Fumbles: Opponents 15 (lost 6), Memphis 9 (lost 2)
Passing Yards: Memphis 2,643, Opponents 2,632
4th Quarter Scoring: Memphis 107, Opponents 35
Fumbles: Opponents 15 (lost 6), Memphis 9 (lost 2)
Passing Yards: Memphis 2,643, Opponents 2,632
This will be interesting.
Kevin Decker takes over the offensive coordinator duties after coming in from Old Dominion, who finished 14th in the nation in total offense, helped by a fantastic ground game.
Memphis might not be all about the ground attack, but it will be transfer portal heavy.
Memphis has a big-time quarterback prospect in Air Noland. What’s wrong with him? He’s not Julian Sayin or LaNorris Sellers – the quarterbacks at his previous stops, Ohio State and South Carolina, respectively.
West Florida’s Marcus Stokes is a fun dual-threat option, and Denzel Gardner is in after following Huff from Southern Miss.
The running quarterbacks will do plenty of heavy lifting for the ground game, but the offense has the running backs, too. Dallan Hayden is a good prospect from Coach Prime’s Colorado team, and Jaylin Carter is a quick back from Southern Miss who can catch.
Here come the deep threats. Tychaun Chapman averaged 18 yards per catch for Southern Miss last season, and Terrell Timmons is a big option from Colorado who can stretch the field.
Hunter Tipton is a great receiving tight end from Middle Tennessee, catching 39 passes for 411 yards last year.
Brady Kluse is back after catching 22 passes for 240 yards and two scores. Parker Mitchell is back on the line, likely working at right guard. That’s it for the 2025 Memphis Tigers likely to do anything for the offense this year.
All of those transfers have to come through.
The offensive front should be fine, but it’s always asking a lot of a brand new group to be airtight right away.
It’s a stretch to call this the weakest area of transfers for the offensive side, but it’s the one area that loses players who will truly matter at other places.
Keep running for touchdowns. Memphis was able to balance out the offense, but it crushed when it ran for lots of scores, going 7-0 when running for three or more, and 1-5 when it didn’t.
By the way, Old Dominion under Decker ran for three or more touchdowns seven times last year, and won all seven.
Dallan Hayden, RB Sr.
A bit of an under-the-radar transfer pickup, Hayden had a decent first two seasons in the Ohio State rotation, ran for over 500 yards in two years at Colorado, and comes to Memphis with 264 carries for 1,185 yards and eight scores along with 26 catches.
© Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Lance Guidry worked as an assistant with last year’s great LSU defense, and now he’s back as Charles Huff’s defensive coordinator. He’s had this role before under Huff at Marshall.
The pressure is on to crank up a defense with almost no one returning from last season.
Can these Tigers be as good in the second halves of games? Memphis put itself in a hole a bit too often, giving up 170 points in the first half of games last season. But it was a rock in the second half, allowing just 72 points.
Of course it’s a new team with a whole new starting 11, but last year’s version set a high bar.
The Memphis transfer portal class isn’t messing around on the defensive line. The Southern Miss edge rushing tandem of J’Mond Tapp and Jabari Ishmael is coming on over.
Inside, 6-5, 360-pound Eric Thomas is coming in from Syracuse, and J’Mari Monette (Indiana) and Jaden McKinney (Southern Miss) are solid tackles who can help in the rotation.
The Tigers went big at safety, too. Huff didn’t have to look too far for talent. The Southern Miss safety combination of Ian Foster, Ahmere Foster, Zach Ruffin, and Dylan King is ready to go.
The corners will be fine, but they won’t be the safeties. Anthony Richard Jr. was good for Southern Miss with two picks and eight broken-up passes, and Ellie Ellis Jr. from Austin Peay will start right away, but the safeties are better.
The Tigers lost the linebacker battle. Jayden Parrish (Florida State) can move, and Michael Montgomery was a playmaker for Southern Miss last year.
However, linebacker is among the biggest production losses of any position, starting with leading tackler Sam Brumfield and losing the rest of the top five linebackers.
The entire defense will almost certainly be made up of transfers. The Tigers have a few returning players who played a part last year, but the starting 11 and most of the main backups are new. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but there’s zero continuity.
Mike Montgomery, LB Sr.
The 6-3, 247-pounder from Seattle found his way down to Southern Miss under Huff last year, and he tackled just about everything.
The star in the middle of the linebacking corps made 105 tackles, three sacks, and six tackles for loss with two interceptions. He’ll be one of the best defensive playmakers in the American.
- All of the transfers have to mesh right away.
- The ground attack has to work and take over the tempo.
The Memphis defense has to take the ball away like last year’s Southern Miss team did.
All of the transfers have to mesh right away.
The ground attack has to work and take over the tempo.
The Memphis defense has to take the ball away like last year’s Southern Miss team did.
Air Noland, QB Soph.
Or Marcus Stokes. No matter who ends up taking over the quarterback duties, he has to be sharp, be a dual-threat playmaker, and be a leader for an offense full of almost all new starters.
Noland has the talent to grow into a star for Memphis over the next few years.
Can the Tigers take the ball away?
Memphis was excellent at coming up with turnovers last year, with 19 on the year and multiple takeaways in five games.
Under Charles Huff, Southern Miss took the ball away in bunches with three or more turnovers forced in seven games. Most of the stars of that D that picked off 23 passes are now Tigers.
at Tulane, October 16
To win the American Conference title, the Tigers have to win at least two of the three big conference road games against Tulane, USF, and Navy.
Lose to the Green Wave, and there’s no margin for error in the back-to-back November dates.
Considering all of the key losses to Arkansas, Memphis did a decent job of pulling off a good class. For this bunch, it’s about opportunity.
The Tigers didn’t steal too many key players other than the massive amount of Southern Miss players coming over, but they managed to hit a bunch of stand-up doubles to make the transition to the new coaching staff come together fast.
Ian Foster, S (Southern Miss)
Out of all the great safeties coming over from Southern Miss, Foster is the one who should make the biggest impact.
He started out with Huff at Marshall and made 48 tackles with five tackles for loss. Last year with the Golden Eagles, he made 72 stops with seven broken up passes, and took two of his three picks for touchdowns.
Sutton Smith, RB (Arkansas)
The Tigers lost several players, but no one who appears to be totally irreplaceable.
Smith was a big back for the attack last year, though, leading the way with 669 yards with seven scores and 20 catches. He’s a tough runner with the burst to average 6.6 yards per carry.
- Carde Smith, OT (Colorado)
Tychaun Chapman, WR (Southern Miss)
Eric Thomas, DT (Syracuse)
Tychaun Chapman, WR (Southern Miss)
It’s a good Memphis team from top to bottom, and even with all of the transfers coming in, there’s surprising depth.
The coaching staff is top-notch, the starting 22 should be strong as the season goes on, and yet, this still won’t be easy.
On the plus side, though, a few of last year’s top teams in the American – Tulane, North Texas, USF – are undergoing coaching changes, too, and those three didn’t appear to reload quite as quickly, or dramatically, as Memphis did.
CFN Prediction: 8-4
There’s no UTSA or North Texas to face. Not having to play Florida Atlantic helps, too, but missing Rice and Tulsa isn’t a plus.
But here’s the problem.
Starting with road games at UNLV and Boise State within the first three weeks is no way to get going. The UT Martin tune-up comes before getting a week off – it would’ve been nice to have that in Week 1.
Three conference road games at Tulane, USF, and Navy might be a bit too much to pull off a conference title, and there will be at least one loss to UNLV or Boise State on the road.
But it’s Memphis, and it’s Huff, and the combination of the two will be a winner.
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