The Colonials are Reloaded
Last season, something felt off about the RMU Colonials heading into fall camp. They were already dealing with coordinator changes on both sides of the ball, but the personnel had an uncharacteristic amount of question marks also. A program that had proven an ability to reload in the transfer portal- snagging stars like Noah Robinson in the past- looked like it wasn’t able to catch as many big fish heading into 2025. The result was an uncharacterstic down year for RMU.
They don’t look at all like this in 2026.
The Colonials have gotten their transfer portal magic back, adding veteran experience at virtually every position (including a massive haul at DL and QB) to add competition, depth, and most importantly firepower. I think you’ll see improved play as a result. In the midst of an improving NEC overall, they’ll need it.
Quarterback may be an ongoing competition as Cooper Panteck returns, but the Colonials were able to add Carson Haggard from Abilene Christian (has playoff experience) and Dylan Hassid from power Tennessee Tech. My stance has always been that if you have two quarterbacks, you have two quarterbacks; the Colonials probably have three that could start.
Donta Whack figures to be the feature back on offense; the Colonials didn’t really add here in the portal.
Size was added at WR in Brody Graham and Dominic Eyo, and while Coach Rothenbuhler was able to adapt his offense to the personnel last season I suspect this is more in line with what he’ll want to run. They also added size and by my count 4 OL transfers including a player from the FBS ranks.
The embarrassment of riches comes at DL, though. A New Mexico, Marshall, Utah State, and Akron transfer all join this group to provide FBS talent. They added Dayton transfer Brandon Martin as well, but he won’t get lost in the shuffle; he was only first team All-Pioneer last season.
This only continues throughout the secondary and special teams.
The Colonials look much more like the very good 2023 and 2024 teams this season and that’s a good sign out of Moon Township. With classes like this, you always have to be mindful of how the transfers gel. But when there’s a history of making it work well, you have to trust that. Coach Clark hasn’t given us any reason to doubt his skill with managing a large transfer class yet. Improvement seems like a certainty for the Colonials.
