Week 1 Gameday Notes: UMHB hosts Bethel (TN) in 2025 season opener

UMHB vs Bethel (TN)

Saturday, September 6, 2025 • 6:00 PM CT • Crusader Stadium
Weather: partly cloudy, 77, 9 mph wind

Broadcast: Mary Hardin-Baylor All Access on Cruathletics.com 

Radio: KMIL 105.1 FM 

Setting the scene 

• UMHB hosts Bethel University (TN) in its season-opener in Belton, marking the first time that The Cru has played Week 1 at home since 2022. It will also be the second time in Larry Harmon’s four years as head coach that UMHB’s season has begun inside Crusader Stadium. 
• The two programs recorded their first-ever meeting last September, when UMHB made the trip to Bethel’s campus in McKenzie, Tennessee, for Week 1. Led by a strong ground game and four interceptions from the defense, Bethel earned a 20-10 victory. 
• UMHB enters its 2025 campaign ranked No. 8 in both the D3football.com Preseason Top 25 and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Top 25. Bethel was one of 10 unranked teams to receive votes in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches’ Poll on Aug. 25, as the Wildcats come off a 7-3 season in 2024.

Trends and Records of note

• Since its inaugural season in 1998, UMHB has played a total of 13 games against NAIA competition, posting a 9-4 record. Last season’s meeting with Bethel was The Cru’s first contest against an NAIA program since beating Southern Oregon, 52-12, in 2011, and that is also the last time an NAIA program battled the Crusaders in Belton. 
• UMHB is 24-3 in home openers dating back to the program’s inception. 
• Since Crusader Stadium opened in 2013, UMHB has played 23 home games with a kickoff at 6:00 p.m. or later during the regular season. The Cru is 23-0 in those contests. 
• Since 2020, Bethel is 17-7 in true road games, and has been at or above .500 on the road in each of the last five seasons. The Wildcats went 2-2 away from home in 2024. 

The head coaches

• UMHB is led by Larry Harmon, who is in his fourth year at the helm of one of D3’s most successful programs. Harmon, who served as UMHB’s defensive coordinator for 20 years prior to being promoted to head coach in January 2022, is 27-10 in his tenure, highlighted by playoff runs to the national quarterfinals or better in two of his first three seasons. 
• Chris Springer takes the reins of Bethel’s program for the first time after Michael Jasper’s departure to Stetson. Like Harmon, Springer was previously Bethel’s defensive coordinator, leading one of the NAIA’s best turnover-forcing defenses. Saturday’s game will mark his head coaching debut, and it will also be the seventh time since 2022 that UMHB has faced a first-year head coach. 

The Quarterbacks

• Kirkland Michaux has been tabbed to start for The Cru after winning the QB competition through fall camp, as was first reported by Eric Drennan of the Temple Daily Telegram, and confirmed with the release of UMHB’s two-deep depth chart on Friday morning. The Illinois transfer comes to Belton after spending three seasons on the Fighting Illini’s roster, where he worked his way up to No. 3 on the depth chart through the 2024 regular season. Michaux notably led Westlake High School to a state championship in 2019, throwing for 285 yards and three touchdowns in a 24-0 win over Denton Guyer in the title game. 
• Bethel’s Destin Chance is also debuting for a new program on Saturday after playing his first four seasons at D3 Illinois College. While at IC, Chance threw for an astounding 9,474 yards and 116 touchdowns in a fast-paced offensive scheme, earning AFCA All-America honors in 2023. The 6’2, 195-pound senior was 17-4 as a starter between 2023-2024, and set the NCAA D3 record for regular season touchdowns (58) last fall. Just as he did at IC, Chance is running the offense at Bethel under the leadership of his older brother Drew Chance, FootballScoop’s 2024 Offensive Coordinator of the Year. 

3 things we’re watching

New OCs on both sidelines: Not only are both quarterbacks new to their respective programs, but the offensive coordinators for UMHB and Bethel are also in Year 1. Of course, Stephen Lee is no stranger to The Cru—he was UMHB’s offensive coordinator for all three of the program’s Stagg Bowl titles in 2016, 2018, and 2021—but it’s been a few years since he donned the purple and gold. After the Stagg Bowl run in 2021, he moved up to Division I as the offensive coordinator at Abilene Christian, and then moved onto Cisco College for a year as head coach. He spent the 2024 season at Tarleton State, coaching tight ends. Now, Lee is making his return to Belton and considering his offenses played no small role in UMHB going 50-1 during his six seasons as OC, there is plenty of enthusiasm around the Crusader offense. 

Bethel could say the same about Drew Chance, who only wrapped up his playing career in 2020, but has quickly established himself as a top offensive mind in Non-FBS football. Chance’s offense at Illinois College set numerous records in recent years, and led all divisions of the NCAA in points per game last fall. He also contributed to IC making only its second appearance in the D3 playoffs in program history in 2023, his first year guiding the offense. Bethel, who averaged only 26.8 points per game last season, is hoping Chance’s up-tempo style will quickly take root and complement an already-polished defensive unit in 2025. 

A defensive battle: There is no question that both squads have an established identity on the defensive side of the ball. Bethel has ranked amongst the Top 10 defenses in the NAIA in takeaways for three of the last four years and allowed just 13.0 points/game in 2024. UMHB excelled in forcing turnovers throughout last season, coming up with five interceptions in a massive Week 2 win at UW-Whitewater, as well as 11 total takeaways in four playoff games. There are multiple returning starters for each defense, which raises the expectations on what we might see Saturday night on that side of the ball. The top-notch defensive line play from both UMHB and Bethel should also put more pressure on both offensive lines, who each come into this game with inexperience at multiple spots. The battle in the trenches will certainly be one to watch. 

The ground game: Utilizing the rushing attack early and often was a foundational aspect of Lee’s offenses in his first stint in Belton. In three of those six years, UMHB averaged over 200 rushing yards/game, and in each of the five full seasons (2020-21 excluded), The Cru tallied at least 32 rushing scores, averaging over 2 TDs/game on the ground. With a pair of mature and reliable running backs in seniors Asa Osbourn and Kamerin Ferguson, it will be important to keep an eye on The Cru’s approach to running the ball and generating positive yardage on the ground against a strong front seven from Bethel. The Wildcat offense also has a playmaking running back in senior Jordan Cason, who ran for 622 yards and six touchdowns in 2024. But with the change at offensive coordinator and likely the introduction of a more pass-heavy offense, we’ll be interested to see exactly how Cason’s skill set is used on Saturday and how much Bethel actually relies on its rushing attack. 

UMHB Two-Deep Depth Chart

Two-Deep Notes

• 12 freshmen are listed on UMHB’s two-deep, with five on offense, four on defense, and three on special teams. 
• Several transfers have worked their way onto the Week 1 two-deep through fall camp, a handful of whom are in line to start against Bethel. On offense, Michaux (Illinois), receiver Isaiah Nesmith (Midwestern State, 4 GP in 2024), and receiver/returner BJ Stewart (Trinity, 2022 D3football.com All-American) will all look to have immediate impacts for The Cru. The defense’s two-deep also has some transfer representation, with left defensive end Brandon McGruder (Cisco College), Izeal Jones (UT-Permian Basin/Kilgore/Lynchburg), and Devon Freitag (UW-Platteville). 
• BJ Stewart will be the primary kick/punt returner, as the senior’s speed was evident during his time at Trinity, returning 12 kickoffs for 378 yards and a touchdown in 2022. He also had three punt return touchdowns and averaged 17.5 yards/return that same season. Stewart enters 2025 as the ASC Preseason Special Teams Player of the Year. Behind him, freshman Jonah Roberson should help in the return game as a fleet-footed newcomer to the varsity roster. The Royse City, Texas product was the 2022 runner-up in the UIL 5A 400-meter state final and has a 100-meter PR of 10.67. 
• Based on the projected starters, UMHB has seven seniors in line to start on offense, five on defense, and one on special teams. 
• As Larry Harmon said earlier in the week, the offensive line will indeed be young, with only two starters from 2024 (Carson Gaido and Joseph Montez) on the two-deep. Kyle Willingham, listed as the starter at center, played in two varsity games last season and was the backup to starter Zachary Wilkinson for the majority of the fall.
• Tyler Woods is given the nod to start at tight end after spending most of last season as the No. 2 tight end on the two-deep behind Christopher Gacayan. Woods had eight catches for 63 yards and a TD in 2024. 
• Gibson Granger will start at kicker as a true freshman after some promising performances in UMHB’s preseason scrimmages. The Round Rock, Texas native was an All-District 25-6A honoree last fall.

Bethel Two-Deep Depth Chart

For a more in-depth look at Bethel, check out our “5 things to know about UMHB’s Week 1 opponent” article, which was published on Monday. 

True To The Cru will have live coverage of Saturday’s season opener on our social media accounts on X/Twitter and Instagram. Also be sure to check back on TrueToTheCru.com on Sunday morning for Riley Zayas’ game story from Crusader Stadium, including postgame thoughts from head coach Larry Harmon and UMHB players.