The ULM Warhawks enter the 2025 season with raised expectations as they welcome back some key pieces from their 2024 team that began the season 5-1. Second-year head coach Bryant Vincent is one of the busiest coaches in the country as he does the offensive play calling for the Warhawks and is also the interim athletic director.
In 2024, the Warhawks showed they were a run-first offense, as freshman Ahmad Hardy ran for 1,351 yards and 13 touchdowns. Those stats earned Hardy Freshman All-American honors as well as first-team All-Sun Belt honors. Enter 2025 and Ahmad Hardy is a member of the Missouri Tigers– and ULM is left to rebuild their entire running back room.
Roster Turnover
Like Ahmad Hardy, many others departed the ULM program. Carter Miller (Central Florida) was one of the most coveted offensive linemen in the portal after a stellar season for the Warhawks. Replacing Miller will not be an easy task as he was one of the best centers in the nation, but redshirt junior Drew Hutchinson is ready to step up and take over.
Leading defender Wydett Williams Jr. (Ole Miss) leaves ULM after recording 100 tackles and three interceptions in 2024, including an interception against the most popular quarterback in college football, Arch Manning.
Defensive back D’Arco Perkins-McAllister joins the team after a breakout season for Chattanooga. The former four-star prospect out of Tennessee looks to carry his momentum down to Monroe, La. and be a key piece of a veteran defensive back room.
Zach Palmer-Smith will be the featured running back for the Warhawks. After running for 1,382 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2024, Palmer-Smith looks to carry the workload in 2025. Joining Palmer-Smith are transfer running backs Tyrell Reed Jr. (Arkansas) and Jaydon Wright (Minnesota), putting together arguably the best running back room in the Sun Belt Conference.
For a more in-depth look at the ULM roster, click here.
Schedule
The Warhawks face a very challenging schedule in 2025. After a fantastic 5-1 start in 2024, ULM lost the final six games. While frustrating, ULM welcomes back key pieces from its 2024– and welcome in some instant impact playmakers.
In the non-conference schedule, the Warhawks will face the likes of Saint Francis University, Alabama, UTEP, and Northwestern. This sets up to be a challenging gauntlet in the first half of the season, with three of these games being on the road.
The most intriguing matchup in the non-conference schedule will be when ULM faces the Northwestern Wildcats of the Big Ten Conference. Predicting the outcome of this game will not be easy, as Northwestern will have as many as eight new starters on offense. Northwestern is a team that Warhawk fans should have circled– this game has all the makings for an upset as ULM heads into conference play.
When it comes to their conference schedule, there is no easy way to say this– ULM simply has a tough road ahead. Can ULM win some conference games this season and make a bowl game? Absolutely, but all of that will happen if the offense is able to get into rhythm and the defense steps up as they should.
Arkansas State, Troy, Old Dominion, and South Alabama all travel to Monroe. While this is good for the Warhawks, they have to go on the road and face Coastal Carolina, Southern Miss, Texas State, and Louisiana. A winning record in conference play is definitely a big goal, but in order to accomplish this, this team must remain in sync with each other and not allow a loss to shape the direction of their season.
Projected Record
Floor: 2-10
Ceiling: 6-6
Prediction: 6-6
Story to Watch
College football has gotten to a point where predictions are not as easy as they once were. With NIL taking full effect and the transfer portal being wide open, the playing field is balancing out more and more each year.
For ULM, the team showed great promise in 2024 before a rough back-half of the season. In year two under head coach Bryant Vincent, things seem to be looking up and the potential for a great season is there. Making a bowl game would be a huge step forward for this program and if the pieces really come together, they could burst through the ceiling.
While there is great promise in this team, this is still the same team that is currently on a six-game losing streak and overall, their schedule is not favorable. There is a chance that things do not come together like many hope. Should an injury happen, do they have the depth to keep going? There are many questions surrounding this team, especially when you lose a Freshman All-American running back, along with the rest of the running back room on a team that is a run first offense. The floor for this team is legitimately 2-10.
While this may not appeal to some, it is an unfortunate truth. The Sun Belt as a whole is the deepest group of five conference in the country. From top to bottom, the conference is loaded and that means someone is going to have a bad season. Could the Warhawks shine through?
Call us crazy, but there is something special in the air in Monroe, La.– and the Warhawks are ready to fight.
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