It may look like a stretch to expect a large-margin Alabama win a week after watching the Crimson Tide put up its worst opener since arguably the UCLA loss in 2000, but anything other than that is going to sound the few alarms bells around Tuscaloosa that haven’t already gone off.
ULM comes into this game fresh off a 29-0 win over Saint Francis in its opener. Yes, it was a shutout. But more was expected, especially on offense, from a Warhawk team that is seeking its first winning season in almost a decade and a half.
This comes after a 2024 season which saw the Warhawks open up with a 5-1 record, then lose six straight to finish at 5-7. The offense was never great in 2024, either, but it died at the halfway mark of the season and never recovered.
Alabama needs to make a statement here, and not just on the scoreboard. Alabama needs to sharpen up, because the meat of the schedule starts arriving in the form of Wisconsin in a week, and it won’t stop until a pre-Auburn breather against Eastern Illinois.
OFFENSE
The Warhawks use spread and RPO concepts out of a three-wide, one-back base offense that is familiar among teams of its level. They will use the quarterback run and attempt to goad Alabama defenders into leaving their assignments in the back end. Against Saint Francis, a 4-7 team in FCS in 2024, the Warhawks leaned heavily on the running game and overpowered the Red Flash. They won’t be able to do that against Alabama, even as vulnerable as the Crimson Tide looked last week. Alabama brings its Air Raid-flavored pro-style attack to this game; using this one to develop a running game, much like ULM did itself last week, would be a welcome sight.
QUARTERBACKS
ULM will start Aidan Armenta; the sophomore is entering his second year as the Warhawk starter. Unfortunately, quarterback was a position of weakness for ULM last year and Armenta’s numbers in the opener (95 yards passing on 12-of-23 attempts, 1 TD and 1 INT) did nothing to assuage fears. Armenta can run; he put up 39 yards on 5 carries and scored once against Saint Francis, which included 2 sacks. But he is prone to interceptions and doesn’t have ideal arm strength. One of the backups, Landon Graves, goes 5’10” and is small (less than 190 pounds), but Alabama will probably see both in this game especially if Bama can build a big lead early. Hunter Herring might also get some work. ULM needs to figure this spot out for its own conference play.
Alabama will start Ty Simpson, who fought well against Florida State but who also found himself increasingly rattled as the day went on by the Seminole rush. We should see both of Alabama’s backups in this game, Austin Mack and Keelon Russell, if the game goes according to plan. Advantage: Alabama
RUNNING BACKS
ULM rebuilt its running back group over the offseason, adding South Alabama transfer Braylon McReynolds and Richmond transfer Zach Palmer-Smith. Both had solid debuts, with McReynolds standing out, getting more yardage in the Saint Francis win (113) than he had all last year at USA. There’s a lot of depth here, with Tyrell Reed, Dorian Lewis and D’Shaun Ford; Reed is a former Arkansas Razorback. McReynolds is the smallest of the bunch and probably won’t find Alabama’s defense as susceptible as that of the Red Flash, but the rest of the group has typical FBS-caliber size. It almost doesn’t matter who will start, as all will be used, but the freshman Ford is listed atop the depth chart.
Alabama started Richard Young against Florida State but he found the going to be tough. Daniel Hill and Kevin Riley rounded out the top group, although Dre’lyn Washington also got limited work. On paper, Alabama still should get the edge here just due to the respective rankings each team’s players had coming out of high school, but ULM led the Sun Belt in rushing last year and we’re not giving mulligans out to Alabama so freely until the Tide proves it deserves them. Advantage: Louisiana-Monroe
WIDE RECEIVERS
If Alabama had all available weapons, it would be an easy Alabama win in this category. But Ryan Williams will almost certainly be held out for a concussion suffered against Florida State, and Isaiah Horton injured a hip early in the game as well. Plus there are tight ends Danny Lewis Jr. and Jack Sammarco, neither of whom were available for FSU. We expect Germie Bernard – clearly the best receiver on the field in Tallahassee, for either team – to start along with Rico Scott and either Cole Adams or Jalen Hale. Lotzeir Brooks and Derek Meadows also played against Florida State and both should see time in this game, too.
At tight end, Josh Cuevas will handle H, as well as the inline tight end duties on most snaps, but freshmen Kaleb Edwards and Marshall Pritchett, along with Jay Lindsey, Brody Dalton and Peter Knudson, could all see action. Edwards is the most likely co-starter with Cuevas.
Even with the injuries, though, it’s hard to put ULM ahead here. Jake Godfrey, Nic Trujillo and J.P. Coulter will be the three starters; they combined for 5 catches for 41 yards against Saint Francis, with Trujillo being shut out. Javon Campbell, Tyler Griffin and Jonathan Bibbs are the backups and that’s about where the depth chart stops. The one thing ULM does have is access to height; Griffin and Campbell are 6’4” and Bibbs and Trujillo push 6’2”. Nate Sullivan is listed as the starting tight end, but he is just 220 pounds. Bernard by himself is enough to give Alabama the edge. Advantage: Alabama
OFFENSIVE LINE
ULM added two JUCO transfers over the offseason, but no one from the portal. It’s kind of refreshing in a way. A.J. Vinson was one of those two transfers and he’ll start at right tackle. Retrurning starters include Elijah Fisher at center, Jay Mickle at right guard and last year’s sixth man, Que McBroom at left tackle. Reese Steele moves up to take left guard. Statistically, this line wasn’t bad last year – 53rd in sacks allowed, 58th in tackles for loss allowed – but the level of competition had to be considered. Yielding a pair of sacks in the opener to Saint Francis can’t be considered a good sign. Expect this group to be competent run blockers, but to struggle a bit in pass protection.
Alabama will start Kadyn Proctor and Wilkin Formby at the tackles, Parker Brailsford at center and Kam Dewberry at left guard, but right guard is up in the air. Geno VanDeMark started there against FSU but struggled. Jaeden Roberts may be ready to return, or there is word that Alabama might try Will Sanders, Olaus Alinen or Michael Carroll there as well. Neither team looked good in their respective openers; ULM, for that matter, allowed far too much penetration from the Saint Francis defense on run calls.
If ULM had just repeated last year’s look in the opener, we’d give them the edge here. But we have to respect the talent advantage of Brailsford, Proctor and Dewberry. Advantage: Alabama
DEFENSE
A lack of available big men at the Sun Belt level puts ULM in a situation of having to mask it with scheme. This team will utilize almost a 2-4-5 sub front as a base – no harm in that, as Alabama used that package under Nick Saban for a few years – but it’s still sort of strange seeing it in practice as a base defense. Other times, it will be a 3-3-5. ULM will rotate looks, odd and even, and at times it will even resemble Alabama’s 4-2-5. In 2024, the Warhawks stopped nobody on the ground, and while pass defense found itself in much better shape, when teams can run at will, why throw? The middle of the defense was almost totally rebuilt from the transfer portal.
DEFENSIVE LINE
Kevontay Wells returns at a defensive end spot, and he’s got some next-level ability. When ULM wants to get big at that position, they’ll use Dylan Howell. Up the middle are two massive transfers, South Carolina’s Jerome Simmons and Henderson State’s Cliff Mosley. Both hit the scales at around 330 pounds. Another transfer, 310-pound Levontae Jacobs from Norfolk State, and holdover Jaden Hamlin, a 325-pounder himself, are the backups That’s a lot of beef.
Alabama is still figuring out what its rotation is going to be. James Smith is the anchor at the moment, and the best interior player on either team, but after that it tails off quickly. Jeremiah Beaman struggled against Florida State, and Bama’s plan to use smaller players inside like Jordan Renaud, Edric Hill and Kelby Collins didn’t pay off. Isaia Faga ended up having arguably the best game of any Bama tackle, and true freshman London Simmons will also play. Outside, L.T. Overton is a solid force, but Jah-Marien Latham went down with a leg injury in the second half against FSU. That will likely force Keon Keeley into the rotation along with sending Renaud back to the outside, if it’s serious.
We’re honestly not sure how to pick this one because Alabama’s line was so shockingly bad against Florida State that it leaves us questioning all preseason analyses. However, neither the raw talent nor the numbers are really there to justify taking Louisiana-Monroe, but Alabama’s line against FSU looked bottom-of-the-conference level to us. Overton and Wells probably cancel each other out, and that leaves … Advantage: Louisiana-Monroe
LINEBACKERS
If linebacker wasn’t the cause of so many of the Warhawks’ problems from a year ago, we’d easily take them here. Alabama’s linebackers were AWOL against Florida State and much improvement is needed immediately. We’ll see if Nikhai Hill-Green did enough to elevate himself to a starting role, but we’re will to bet Alabama starts Justin Jefferson and Deontae Lawson for at least one more week. Cayden Jones and Q.B. Reese might get some work in relief.
Qua Russaw will start outside, and Yhonzae Pierre had a decent first game at Florida State and can help there, or allow Russaw to slide inside. For ULM, Noah Flemmings is a massive JUCO transfer at the linebacker level – 6’5”, 250 pounds – which sort of portends him working the edge in the 2-4-5 sub front along with Billy Pullen. Inside, returning starters from a year ago, Seidrion Langston and Tyrese Hopkins, will split the middle linebacker position. ULM has speed questions across this unit and until we see evidence of improvement, we can’t ignore the body of work that Lawson, Jefferson and Russaw put on tape last year. Advantage: Alabama
DEFENSIVE BACKS
Both teams had strong pass defenses in 2024; Alabama was just on another level. We expect sort of the same this year, especially after ULM lost its best player (Wydett Williams Jr.) to the portal. David Godsey Jr. has ability at corner; he’ll start opposite D’Arco Perkins-McAllister, a UT-Chattanooga transfer, while West Florida’s Kamrin Canterbury transfers in to take over Williams’ nickel safety/corner spot. At safety, Carl Fauntroy returns as a starter and is paired with JUCO transfer Jabari Tiller.
Improved though they might be, Alabama clearly outclasses the Warhawks here. Domani Jackson, Zabien Brown and Dijon Lee Jr. will work at corner, while Bray Hubbard and Keon Sabb will start at safety. The question going forward is at the Husky spot, where DaShawn Jones started in the opener. The departure of Malachi Moore to the NFL was clearly felt against Florida State, and Alabama will need to get improved play from this spot going forward. Look for Zavier Mincey, Red Morgan and Dre Kirkpatrick Jr. to get sometime at safety, with Cam Calhoun working in at cornerback. Advantage: Alabama
SPECIAL TEAMS
The one thing that did go right for Alabama against Florida State was the special teams unit. Punter Blake Doud had an impressive debut, while Conor Talty hit one field goal of decent length and was just short on a second. Returns and coverage did their job. ULM has a good placekicker in Max Larson, but punting was an issue last year and Makenzie Ryan returns in that role. ULM was good on punt returns and punt coverage, but mediocre on kickoff coverage and was one of the worst teams in the country on kickoff returns. We saw enough against FSU to feel comfortable giving Alabama the edge here. Advantage: Alabama
OVERALL
Alabama leads in six categories, Louisiana-Monroe in two, but there are surprisingly several that could go either way. To see a Sun Belt team get the DL edge is, quite frankly, shocking. In terms of OL-DL cross-matchups, both teams’ offensive lines should be able to claim an edge over the respective opposing defensive lines. The margin is closer in regard to the ULM O-line against Bama’s defenders, though.
We have to heavily weight these evaluations based on what we’ve seen on tape so far, and what Alabama put on tape against Florida State was not good. For that matter, it was disturbing – because it could easily become a trend. And if becomes a trend, you’re looking at one of only a handful of games left on the 2025 season that Alabama should win. Perhaps even just one of two.
For that reason, it is imperative that Alabama bounce back and prove that the team that lost to Florida State was someone other than them out there. Impostors, aliens inhabiting their bodies, hired stand-ins, Hollywood actors, whatever alternative explanation they can sell – because if the FSU game was who Alabama truly was, this season is already on the brink.
We’ll choose to believe Alabama has more fight in them. They’d better.
Alabama 44
La.-Monroe 13
Follow Jess Nicholas on X at @TideFansJessN