ARKADELPHIA, Ark. -- Henderson State will take to the road to open the 2026 season. The Reddies travel to Bethany, Oklahoma to take on the Crimson Storm of Southern Nazarene. Kickoff is set for 6:00 p.m.
STORYLINES: SETTING THE SCENES
The 2026 GAC football season commences Thursday night with the season opener for all 12 teams. Aside from the Reddies and Crimson Storm, SEOSU is at UAM, NWOSU is at Harding, East Central is at Ouachita Baptist, Southern Arkansas is at Oklahoma Baptist, and SWOSU is at Arkansas Tech.
Henderson State looks to win its seventh consecutive season opener as well as its seventh straight road opener. The last time the Reddies lost a season-opening game on the road was at Central Arkansas in 2011, the first year of the Great American Conference.
REDDIES REPORT: OFFENSE
The Reddies look to replace several offensive weapons after the graduations of
Andrew Edwards,
Cayden Davis, and
Jeremiah Davis. Edwards led the team in both passing and rushing in 2025, while
Cayden Davis was the teams' leading receiver a season ago.
Jeremiah Davis, along with Fred O'Donald, anchored a deep stable of Reddie running backs.
Austin Ledbetter takes over for Henderson at quarterback after serving as Edwards's backup a season ago. The Bryant native never lost a football game he started in in his high school career, taking home three Class 7A state championships at Bryant High School. Ledbetter threw for 177 yards and two touchdowns in limited action last season.
The Reddie running back room remains a committee effort, with several players looking to contribute.
Bo Simpson has been getting first team reps through the end of fall camp, but will be spelled by returners
Trent Haygood and
Chris Gannaway.
Wide receiver may be the most improved position for Henderson in 2026. Sophomore
Maddox Davis and senior
Deandra Burns, Jr. led the way for HSU in preseason, while returners
Taylin Paskel and
Micah Greene will also see minutes split with newcomers
Mike Jones and
Emmanuel Yancy.
The Henderson offensive line may be the strongest unit of the entire Reddie offense. Senior
Gabe Hernandez anchors the unit as a third year starting center, while
Marcus Lee,
Edward Lopez, and
Nathan Wolbrecht return after serious contributions in 2025. Senior transfer
Clement Ulale is the lone newcomer to the offensive line, and will make the start at left tackle in his Reddie debut.
REDDIES REPORT: DEFENSE
The Reddie defense looks to build on a strong 2025, a season in which they were the second-best scoring defense in the GAC. New coordinator
Chuck Ross will lead the defense after being promoted in the offseason.
The defensive line looks to improve on an impressive 2025, when they were second in the league with 29 sacks, including seven in the season finale against Ouachita Baptist. The unit will be led by All-GAC selection
Ryan Vollmer and
Braxton Baker at tackle and
Mulumba Wa-Kalonji and
Amarion Pulliaum on the edges.
A strong secondary looks to build on last season's momentum with returning safeties
Lanard Harris and
Bryant Hammond II. The Reddies look to newcomer
Gabe Lopez and
Terrance Hampton at cornerback to replace team mainstays
Paul Manning and
Kolbi Crawford.
REDDIES REPORT: SPECIAL TEAMS
Kicker
Ryan McDonnell returns for his second season in Arkadelphia. The fifth-year from Ireland went 9-of-15 in field goal attempts with a school record 51-yarder in his first game in a Reddie uniform. McDonnell was also 45-of-47 on PAT attempts.
Sophomore
Pierce Rogers gets the nod as the starting punter in week one. Rogers did not make an appearance a season ago.
THE OPPONENT: SOUTHERN NAZARENE
Southern Nazarene enters 2026 coming off of a 2-9 campaign a season ago. The Crimson Storm defeated East Central in week three of the season before defeating rival Oklahoma Baptist.
The Storm have struggled since joining the GAC in 2012. SNU has managed just one season with a record of .500 or better, a 6-6 campaign in 2023, capped off with an appearance in the Fun Town RV Heritage Bowl.
The SNU offense was eighth-best in the conference in 2025, averaging 17.9 points per contest. A majority of their offense comes from the ground game: the Crimson Storm threw for just 904 yards a season ago, second-lowest in the conference, just ahead of Harding. Southern Nazarene's offense is a spread option based attack, using multiple pre-snap motions and reading one to two opposing defenders to decide where to strike.
Returning rushing leader Kaden Barron will be the anchor of the Southern Nazarene offense. Barron lead the team with 590 rushing yards and also recorded over 100 yards receiving and three total touchdowns.
The Storm will be breaking in a new quarterback, as sophomore Jaxon Worley will take the reins after the graduation of Bryson Evans. Worley saw action in three games last year, rushing for 103 yards while throwing two touchdowns and one interception.
Southern Nazarene's defense was eighth in the conference in 2025, allowing 31.1 points and 437.1 yards per game. 237 of those yards were allowed on the ground, including 180 allowed in the season opener against the Reddies.
The Crimson Storm look to replace leading tackler Carter Brock, who recorded 112 stops last season, including nine tackles for loss.
THE COACHING MATCHUP
Henderson State head coach
Greg Holsworth enters his third season as head football coach. Holsworth already ranks 11th all-time in wins for the Reddies with 16, just a game behind Ken Turner. In just two seasons. Holsworth has surpassed seven previous HSU coaches in total wins. His 16 wins is the most by any coach in his first two seasons at the university, and his .747 winning percentage is the best by any coach in his first two campaigns.
Dustin Hada enters his sixth season as the coach at Southern Nazarene. He became just the 5th coach in Crimson Storm history dating back to the program's beginning in NAIA in the 2000 season. Hada sits directly in the center of career wins and winning percentage at the institution.
LIVE STATS AND ADDITIONAL LIVE COVERAGE
Visit
hsusports.com/coverage to view live stats and video coverage.
