Morgan State Preview

2025 Season in Review: The FCS-level Bears finished with a 4-8 record last season, including FBS losses to South Alabama (38-21) and Toledo (60-0). Morgan State’s victories came against Central State University, Miles College, Virginia University of Lynchburg, and Norfolk State University. Morgan State’s 1-4 conference record placed them fifth out of six teams in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC)

On the season, the Bears had just three games scoring more than 27 points, and Morgan State played and lost several close games, as the Bears were 2-5 in games decided by one score in 2025.

2026 So Far: 1-0

Morgan State won its season opener on Aug. 29, defeating North Carolina A&T State University, an FCS team that finished 2-10 in 2025, by a score of 17-7. Morgan State trailed by a score of 7-3 to start the fourth quarter but tallied 14 points in the final period to claim a 10-point win.

Quarterback Cameron Edge threw for 167 yards with a touchdown and an interception, while Jordan Barnett had an excellent day on the ground with 114 rushing yards on just 12 carries with a touchdown. On defense for Morgan State, Donovan Moyer stood out with four tackles, including 2.0 sacks, a pass breakup, and a quarterback hurry.

Morgan State was outgained in the contest by a margin of 328 total yards to 276, while the Bears also converted just 1-of-7 third-down attempts, surrendered the game’s only turnover, and committed eight penalties.

Series History: This will be the first meeting between Arizona State and Morgan State.

Head Coach: Damon Wilson (fifth season at Morgan State, 19-27 record)

Last week, Wilson began his fifth season in charge of the Morgan State program, having compiled an 18-27 combined record across the 2022-25 seasons with the Bears. His best season with Morgan State came in 2024, when the Bears posted a 6-6 record. Prior to coming to Morgan State, Wilson was the head coach of Division II Bowie State from 2009-21. Overall, Wilson has a 108-72 career college head coaching record.

Morgan State Offense Preview

Key Returners: OL Daniel Casillas, Jr., WR/KR/PR Malique Leatherbury, RB Randall Nauden, WR Justin Perry

Key Departures: RB Jason Collins, Jr. (transfer to South Florida), OL Kahari Finley (transfer to South Florida), QB Raymond Moore III (transfer to UTEP)

Key Newcomers: RB Jordan Barnett (transfer from Shepherd University), QB Cameron Edge (transfer from Eastern Michigan), OL Kelton Sparks (transfer from Morehead State), WR Joseph Towler (transfer from Bowie State)

Quarterback Raymond Moore III put together an excellent season for Morgan State in 2025 as he was named the MEAC’s Rookie of the Year, but the dual-threat QB opted to transfer to the FBS level this offseason as he is now a member of the UTEP program.

Replacing Moore as Morgan State’s QB1 is Cameron Edge, formerly the No. 24 quarterback recruit in the nation for the 2022 class, according to Rivals. Edge spent the 2022-24 seasons at Maryland, appearing in four games, before relocating to Eastern Michigan in 2025, where he did not see game action.

To open the 2026 season, Edge completed 13-of-19 passes for 167 yards with a touchdown and an interception, along with one rush for four yards. Edge had a 68-yard completion as the team’s longest play from scrimmage for the game, making his other 12 completions add up to just 99 yards.

This offseason, the Bears also lost one of their better rushers in Jason Collins, Jr., who totaled 1,042 rushing yards, 205 receiving yards, and 14 total touchdowns across the 2024-25 season before transferring to the FBS level to join the South Florida roster.

Topping the depth chart at running back is Keith Jenkins, Jr., a Second-Team Preseason All-MEAC pick for 2026. Last season, Jenkins totaled 98 rushing yards on 25 carries with a touchdown in eight games and in the 2026 season opener, he had limited output as he managed just three yards on four carries.

Morgan State’s 2025 leading rusher, Randall Nauden, is back for 2026 after posting 124 carries and 579 rushing yards (4.7 avg.), while tying for the team lead with six rushing touchdowns.  Nauden also caught seven passes for 68 yards last year.

Nauden (5-11, 200) redshirted at Army in 2024 before transferring to Morgan State prior to last season and had at least 75 rushing yards in five games in 2025, including his first career collegiate 100-yard outing, a seven-carry, 104-yard rushing performance against Delaware State.

That said, Nauden only totaled three carries for -2 yards in MSU’s week zero win over North Carolina A&T.

The star on the ground for the Bears last week was Jordan Barnett, a transfer from Division II Shepherd University, who rushed 12 times for 114 yards (9.5 avg.) with a touchdown. Last season for Shepherd, Barnett totaled 1,209 rushing yards with 17 touchdowns in 11 games.

The top receivers and tight ends for the Bears return for this season, as MSU’s top four pass-catchers from 2025 have returned to the 2026 roster.

Justin Perry was the team leader in 2025 with 464 receiving yards and five touchdown catches as part of his 25 total receptions, as he boasted an impressive average of 18.6 yards per catch last fall.

Perry, a Second-Team All-MEAC honors last year as a freshman, had three games with at least 75 receiving yards, including his first – and so far, only – collegiate 100-yard receiving performance in effort against Georgetown that consisted of five receptions for 127 yards with a touchdown. He also recorded his season-long reception of 43 yards in that game against the Hoyas.

In week zero, Perry showed why he was an all-league honors recipient last year as he had team highs of five catches for 56 yards.

Malique Leatherbury, also a special teams standout, paced the squad with his 33 receptions in 2025, totaling 320 yards with two touchdowns. Against North Carolina A&T, Leatherbury had one catch for eight yards, while Joseph Towler, a transfer from Bowie State, had a 68-yard touchdown catch in his Morgan State debut.

At tight end, Morgan State has a viable option, as 2026 MEAC first-team preseason all-conference pick Alex Simmons returns after catching nine passes for 94 yards in 11 games last year. He collected two receptions for 20 yards to open the 2026 season.

On the offensive line, MSU suffered another transfer blow with the transfer departure of last year’s starting left tackle Kahari Finley to South Florida, while starters Treyvon Branch, Jerrod Burrell and Tyler Thomas are no longer listed on the Bears’ roster.

The lone returning offensive line starter from 2025 is multi-year starting center Daniel Casillas, Jr., but he is listed as a second-string lineman for Saturday’s game.

The Bear offensive line is listed to feature a starting lineup consisting of left tackle Adorain Favors, left guard Evan Cooke, center Cameron Ross, right guard Alec Washington, and right tackle Kelton Sparks.

Sparks brings the most notable starting experience to the Bear line, as he started all 12 games last season for Morehead State before transferring to Morgan State. According to the online bios for the other four projected starting linemen, no other starter has D1 starting experience prior to this season.

Morgan State Offense Summary

After losing multiple star players to the transfer portal, the Morgan State offense showed notable signs of struggle in its 2026 opener, as the Bears mustered just three points across the first three quarters of play and gained just 276 yards of total offense for the game against an FCS opponent that won two games in 2025.

Pedestrian quarterback play in game one certainly must be a concern, though Morgan State had some bright spots in Barnett on the ground and Perry as a pass-catcher, while the Bears also did not allow a sack against North Carolina A&T.

This week, Morgan State’s offensive line featuring multiple new starters likely will be heavily tested by ASU’s experienced defensive front, while quarterback Cameron Edge will be making his first career collegiate start against an FBS opponent.

Objectively, this is an offense that should struggle mightily against Arizona State and all things considered, if Morgan State was only able to score three points across the first three quarters of its season opener, ASU should perhaps be expected to limit the Bears to a single-digit scoring game on Saturday, with a shutout not being an unreasonably lofty prediction as well.

Morgan State Defense Preview

Key Returners: DB Josiah Blake, DB Dantonio Hackworth, Jr., DB Aki Harvey, LB Arturo Mattocks, DL Donovan Moyer

Key Departures: DL Lance Byndon (transfer to Stony Brook), DB Hiroshi Carr (transfer to Southern Miss), DB Jadon Carter, DL Blanche Gold (transfer to South Florida), LB Erick Hunter, LB Jianni Woodson-Brooks

Key Newcomers: LB Darius Jones (transfer from Wake Forest)

Operating out of a 4-2-5 base defense, the Morgan State starting defensive line figures to feature ends Donovan Moyer and Shawn Phillips – no, not the former Sun Devil basketball player of the same name – with tackles Justin Dutton and Jordan Jeudy.

Moyer is one of the team’s most productive returning defenders from 2025, as he posted 17 tackles, including 5.5 for loss, with 1.5 sacks, two fumble recoveries, two quarterback hurries, and one pass deflection a year ago. He surpassed his season sack total from last year in just one game for 2026, as he tallied four tackles with 2.0 sacks, a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry last weekend.

Also in 2025, Dutton posted five tackles with a forced fumble in seven games, while Phillips made one tackle in seven games. Both players registered four tackles in MSU’s 2026 opener, while Jeudy posted three tackles against North Carolina A&T.

Dutton, who tips the scales at 335 pounds, was tagged as a preseason second-team all-conference selection this year, as was Kris Boyd, listed on this week’s depth chart as a backup defensive tackle. Boyd, a massive 6-5, 345-pounder, had 14 tackles, including 2.0 for loss, in 2025.

At linebacker, Darius Jones and Arturo Mattocks are slated as the starting pair for Saturday’s game, as Morgan State is tasked with replacing superstar linebacker Erick Hunter, who recently was named to the New England Patriots’ 53-man roster as an undrafted rookie free agent.

Mattocks was Morgan State’s team-leading tackler in 2024 but missed the vast majority of last season due to injury. A preseason first-team all-conference selection this year, Mattocks posted three tackles last weekend.

Jones, a Wake Forest transfer, notched a team-best six tackles, including one for loss, in his Morgan State debut a week ago.

In the secondary, veteran cornerbacks Dantonio Hackworth, Jr. and Aki Harvey are joined by safeties Josiah Blake and Justin McIlwain and defensive back Joshua Narh.

Blake is MSU’s returning leading tackler from 2025 (26), and he added a pass breakup and a blocked kick. Hackworth is right behind Blake as the team’s second-leading returning tackler (25), and he had 2.5 tackles for loss, two pass breakups and one interception in 2025.

Harvey, a 6-foot-3 corner who was picked as a First-Team Preseason All-MEAC selection for 2026 and is the team’s third-leading returning tackler from last year (24), also posted two pass breakups, an interception, a quarterback hurry and a fumble recovery in 2025.

Narh posted 19 tackles, including 3.5 for loss, with 1.5 sacks, along with one interception, one pass breakup, and one fumble recovery last year.

In game one against North Carolina A&T, Harvey had three tackles and two pass breakups, while Hackworth had two tackles, two pass breakups and blocked a kick. Blake and Narh appeared in last weekend’s contest but did not record any statistics.

McIlwain, who had three tackles in last week’s season opener, appeared in 11 games last year and totaled seven tackles on the season.

Morgan State Defense Summary

Though Morgan State suffered some notable transfer portal exits on offense, the Bear defense has been just about completely decimated by departures, as the team’s top eight tacklers from 2025 are gone from the roster.

That said, the Bears did not use the transfer portal to find much starting defensive talent, as 10 of the projected 11 starters on defense for Saturday’s game were on the Morgan State roster in 2025.

In all, there is an extreme lack of returning production for Morgan State, as statistically, defensive back Josiah Blake is the team’s leading returning tackler (29) and defensive lineman Donovan Moyer is MSU’s returning leader from 2025 in tackles for loss (5.5) and sacks (1.5). No returning player from 2025 for the Bears recorded more than one interception or two pass breakups for the season last year.

Though Arizona State will play its first game with several new players at key roles, the sheer talent and experience difference between the Sun Devil offense and the Morgan State defense should enable ASU to have consistent and significant advantages when the home team possesses the ball.

Morgan State Special Teams Preview

Alex Amaya returns to the Bears after splitting double duties in 2025 as he attempted eight of the team’s 12 field goals and kicked 39 of the team’s 61 punts in last year.

Objectively, Amaya struggled in both roles, as he averaged just 38.69 yards on 39 punts and connected on just 4-of-8 field goal attempts with a long of 37. Amaya showed limited leg strength as a placekicker, as he made just 1-of-5 attempts from 30 yards and beyond last year. Three of his four successful field goals last year came from 29 yards or closer.

In Morgan State’s opener, Amaya connected on a 25-yard field goal, while Shane Messenger, a preseason Second-Team All-MEAC selection this year, handled all punting duties last week and averaged 40 yards per punt on his three punts.

Wide receiver Malique Leatherbury was Morgan State’s primary return specialist in 2025 and showed talent in those roles, as he averaged 19.86 yards on seven punt returns with a long of 34 yards along with a 23.5-yard average on 16 kickoff returns with a long of 46. Like Messenger, Leatherbury also was named a second-team preseason all-conference honoree for 2026.

Leatherbury had a 28-yard punt return in the 2026 season opener, while Keith Jenkins, Jr. returned two kickoffs for 23 yards in that game.

Overall Summary

This is a unique matchup, as Morgan State will make the near 2,300-mile trip from Baltimore to Tempe for the first-ever meeting between the Bears and the Devils. For ASU, this will be a bit of an abnormal FCS opponent as the Sun Devils typically face the likes of Northern Arizona or other Big Sky Conference foes when facing an FCS opponent.

Morgan State, an HBCU program that has produced only two NFL Draft picks across the last 45 drafts, has struggled to post winning seasons with any measure of regularity for nearly a half century, as the Bears’ last winning record was a 6-5 finish in 2014. Since 1980, Morgan State has engineered just four winning seasons and one .500 record, and that winning 2014 season also resulted in Morgan State’s only conference championship since 1979 and its first and only FCS Playoff appearance.

This contest marks just the fourth opponent that currently resides in a Power Conference to have ever played against Morgan State, as the Bears have four all-time meetings with Rutgers (1971, ’72, 2008, ’17) and previously also played Cincinnati in 1982 and Boston College in 1983.

Though games from nearly 10-20 years ago won’t factor into the odds for Saturday’s contest, in the two most recent games against Rutgers, Morgan State was outscored by a combined tally of 103-0. The Bears also dropped the previous two games against Rutgers as well as the games against the Bearcats and the Eagles, so Morgan State still seeks its first all-time win against a team that now resides in an FBS Power Conference.

All-time against current FBS teams of any conference, Morgan State has a combined record of 1-31-1, with the lone victory coming in 1996 against Liberty, an FBS team now, but a Division I-AA (now known as FCS) independent team at the time. Morgan State also tied Delaware in 1977, a program that just last year entered the FBS level and in the 1970s was an NCAA Division II independent program. Therefore, Morgan State has never beaten what is currently an FBS program that was an FBS/Division I-A program at the time the game was played.

Ultimately, as is the case with virtually all early-season clashes with an FCS opponent, ASU should have distinct talent and depth advantages at every position and should not be expected to face strong competition in any phase of the game, as evidenced by the Sun Devils’ standing as more than a six-touchdown favorite in this game.

Final Score Prediction (via Speak of the Devils Podcast): Arizona State wins, 48-7