COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Kennesaw State football opens its season against the University of West Georgia at home on Thursday night.
The Owls begin Year 2 of the Jerry Mack era. During his first season, Mack coached Kennesaw State to a program-best 10 wins and their first Conference USA championship. The Owls won only two games in 2024 after they made the move to FBS.
Mack said opening up against an in-state opponent can fuel both programs.
“Any chance you have the opportunity to play a game and really rallying around two programs with local flavor,” Mack said during his Week 1 news conference. “We’re looking forward to getting the opportunity to go out there, have those fan bases come together and enjoy a great night of college football.”
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Kennesaw State returns seven starters from last year’s team with most of them on defense.
That includes Baron Hopson, who was named C-USA 2025 Co-Defensive Player of the Year. The linebacker enters the season in the national conversation for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and Lombardi Awards.
One of the question marks though that the Owls defense had going into the season was its pass rush.
“Who’s going to give us those sacks, who’s going to give us those opportunities to really crush the quarterback,” Mack said. “What you see is the guys like Kai Russell, Jeremy Greaves as well, those guys made tremendous depths and grew a lot during the course of the entire fall camp.”
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Only two offensive starters from 2025 return this season and there will be a new quarterback taking snaps. Transfer Rickie Collins, who played at Syracuse and LSU, won the starting job.
Mack said Collins impressed the coaches with his football IQ.
“You could tell just the knowledge of the game was probably a cut above the rest. And when he stepped on the field, the talent was undeniable,” Mack said. “How fast he understood what we were trying to teach him and how fast he could apply that.”
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Kennesaw State added other transfers as well from FCS and Division II levels, something Mack said is an advantage.
“We see in our league, a lot of the good players have all came from smaller schools. We just felt that would be a good formula as we try to attack the portal and as we try to look for guys that fit our program,” he said.
Kickoff between the Owls and Wolves is set for 7 p.m. at Fifth-Third Stadium. Kennesaw State went undefeated at home last season.
Stats and information from Kennesaw State football media guide were used in this report.
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