Mercer set to begin SoCon title defense as Bears travel to opener against UC Davis in Montgomery

The Mercer Bears will be back on the gridiron this week in a nationally-televised game as they face off with the UC Davis Aggies at the FCS Kickoff Classic in Montgomery Alabama on Saturday night.

“Not a lot of competition for TV time this week, which means we have a great stage to really continue to tell our story as a team that’s really going into its 14th or so season coming back from the restart,” Mercer head football coach Mike Jacobs said at a press conference Monday afternoon, referring to the university bringing back its football program in 2013.

The game — a rare Week 0 clash between ranked opponents, as the Bears are No. 11 in the FCS Coaches poll while the Aggies are No. 7 — will begin Mercer’s effort to follow up the best season in program history last year in which the Bears finished 11-3, won the Southern Conference outright for the first time ever and reached the FCS Quarterfinals in 2024.

“It’s been a great training camp… there’s a good mix of faces that have been around for quite some time. Some of them maybe are just coming into starting roles, but they’ve been here and understand how we function and what’s expected,” Jacobs said. “Then we have several new faces that have been added, both freshman-wise and through the transfer portal, to kind of fill in the gaps.

“The competition’s been great. We’re looking forward to finally getting to hit somebody else, right? We’re three weeks in. They’re kind of tired practice against one another and ready to go put it on the line this weekend.”

The offense returns several key names, including quarterback DJ Smith, who will likely start for Mercer as he did for seven games last season before an injury hampered him in the second half of the season. He accounted for nearly 1,500 yards of total offense and was 6-1 at the helm for the Bears.

Smith’s replacement after his injury last year, freshman Whitt Newbauer, played very well to finish out the season and in the playoffs but transferred to Oklahoma in the spring.

“You have a quarterback room that coming out of spring you maybe thought it was going to be Whitt Newbauer and he ends up in the transfer portal. But now you got DJ Smith, and now the rest of that room is brand new so you have some competition,” Jacobs said.

Also back on offense are key players like offensive lineman Xavier Jennings, wide receiver Adjatay Dabbs and receiver/return specialist Brayden Smith. 

On defense, Jacobs mentioned sophomore defensive lineman Andrew Zock, the SoCon Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and last year’s conference Freshman of the Year. The head coach mostly praised entire position groups as the thing he’s been most impressed with in fall camp.

“I think the defensive line room is deeper than maybe I thought it would be. Same with the corners group, and then the linebacker room had tremendous competition,” Jacobs said. “That room in particular in the linebacker room, you know, we lost all three starters. Two of the guys in that room were one and two in tackles all-time at the school. So it’s been fun to watch that competition unfold, I think just the battle back and forth. Not that I’m shocked, but it was good to see.”

The players in lots of those position groups will need to step up, particularly on the defensive side. 

Mercer had what Jacobs described fittingly as an “all-decade” type defense last season, a group that was one of the best in the country for multiple stretches of the season and wrecked havoc on opposing offenses.

Because of that success, however, graduation and the transfer portal took several of the team’s starters. 

“One of the biggest things for us coming into this fall camp was, ‘Who’s gonna be that next group of guys?’ I thought we did a great job with guys stepping up,” Mercer defensive coordinator Jahmal Brown said. “Very pleased with our defensive line, we lost a couple guys at that position over the offseason, but that group has shown to have depth.”

Brown named Brayden Dudley, a redshirt senior that played in all 14 games last year after transferring to Mercer from West Virginia, as a particularly talented player this season who had a great fall camp.

Jacobs was confident in his defense’s ability to continue its impressive form.

“We have a standard of how we want to play defense here. It’s got to be the next man up and it’s the kids’ job to get to the level that we need them to play at. It’s our job to recruit people that are talented enough and we think we’ve done that,” Jacobs said. “Will there be a little bit of a learning curve? Sure, because we don’t have guys like TJ Moore, who’s playing for the New York Giants right now, that have been doing it literally for the last four years, (guys) like Isaac Dowling.

“But what we have are guys that have learned how to do it from them, and we’ll look to emulate some of that similar success.”

As far as Saturday’s matchup in particular, the team is anxious to take on another top program on national TV to start its season. Jacobs espoused the marketing upside of such a matchup and said he’ll enjoy reaping the recruiting benefits, but also talked about how competitive the game should be on the field.

“They’re very similar to us,” Jacobs said of the Aggies. “(Head coach Tim) Plough, he’s done a tremendous job, right? You look at him, he was a first year head coach, he went 11-3 and they had their best they’ve had in seven or eight years.

“They lost a bunch of defensive starters, but they’re a high academic school similar to us, they’ve done a great job in the portal. They’ve put an emphasis on people that have played football… you see D-linement from the Ivy League, they’ll come in ready to play and they’re game-challenged.”

Jacobs also complimented the Aggies on a multi-faceted offense and All-American safety Rex Connors, who returns for UC Davis after a stellar season last year.

The showdown with the Aggies means something extra special for Mercer offensive coordinator Anthony Soto, who played wide receiver at UC Davis and tallied over 1,200 yards from 2009-2012.

“I don’t know that it’s much different than any other game, but I think it’s exciting for my family especially to be a part of the game. I think it’s a great opportunity for both programs. It’s cool to see the progress that Davis has made over the past few years,” Soto said.

Overall, Jacobs and his staff are confident that Mercer has a shot at running it back in the SoCon this year. Historically speaking, back-to-back champions are rare in the conference, though the Bears were the preseason pick to win it all in the SoCon polls.

Jacobs said it’s all about players who are ready for their moment.

I think some (momentum) naturally builds because again, you have a bunch of guys that have been in the program, that it’s kind of their time,” Jacobs said. Like I got like Julian Fox, who’s been a tremendous special teams player for us. Mick Wesson, who’s been a tremendous special teams player for us. They have the opportunity to have enhanced roles on the defense.

“You just continue to develop a rapport and you try to create competitive moments and you go from there.”