With just 26 days until the start of the 2026 college football season, the Memphis Tigers have conducted their first three practices of fall camp. A lot of excitement surrounds the program as Coach Charlie Huff enters his first year as Head Coach of the Memphis Tigers football program after successful years at Marshall and Southern Miss. With a new coaching staff comes a new way of doing things, but the momentum is building for a Tigers season that could close the gap for the Tigers to be in a position as a football program to take that next step, not only as a program with a College Football Playoff bid, but to maybe finally get that invitation to join an autonomy conference. 

With that said, it’s often hard to tell a lot based on a couple of practices this early in fall camp, but overall, from the limited reps seen and the mood around the coaching staff and guys on the roster, one could infer that the Tigers are prepared for a special 2026 season. 

So, let’s talk about it: a few thoughts and takeaways from observing Memphis football over the last couple of days. 

First, Coach Huff has managed to put together a coaching staff that doesn’t appear to be there for personal gain, but for the greater goal of turning these young men into the next generation of leaders. Coach Huff talked about this a lot over the last two days: how he’s an old-school style coach where the process is the process. In the modern age of college football, having an old-school head coach combined with like-minded coaches usually leads to the perfect combination that develops young men into a team that wins. 

Second, this team really loves the city of Memphis. All the players, the coaches, the support staff, everyone in the building is playing for the greater good of the city of Memphis. Who knows if it’ll turn into wins, but the last time Memphis had a football team with this much love for the city they represent was back during the 2019 season and as everyone knows that team would go down as one of the greatest football teams in school history, a team that would win the American, brought College Game Day to Beale Street, and then ended the season by going head to head with one of the primer brands in all of college football in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl. As far as this team goes, everyone on the roster truly seems to be happy to be playing for the city of Memphis, and will do everything they can to place a product on the field each and every night that people around the city can truly be proud of. 

Third, the team’s motto this year is “ Suffer well? CFP.” Those words are on every bathroom stall, every wall, on shirts, everywhere around the program. For those unaware of what that could mean, it comes down to the approach of every day, where suffering now translates to wins on the football field, which means we very well could see the Tigers in the College Football Playoff. It also has the literal meaning of suffering well to enjoy the fruits of the labor by leading the program to the College Football Playoff for the first time in school history. For this program to have success this season, the expectations from within the walls of the program are that of College Football Playoff or bust; there’s no in-between. A College Football Playoff bid would mean the Tigers bring home another American Championship back to the city of Memphis, plus one if not both wins over Boise State and UNLV. 

As far as the play on the field goes, with the limited practice windows, the observations are limited but are pieced together by hearing Coach Huff in his press conference, plus talking with Marcus Stokes and Brady Kluse; the physical nature of the team is off the charts even without pads. From the brief window of being able to watch the team, the intensity is also a noticeable difference this year; guys are there to work and to get better, and with the introduction of a leadership council, when a guy slacks off, they’re immediately met with accountability, and that alone has shaped this team through the spring and has since carried momentum into spring ball. 

Another observation from watching the guys is the depth of the quarterback room as the Tigers have five guys who can be plugged into this offense at a moment’s notice. Sure, there’s a highly competitive quarterback battle brewing between Marcus Stokes and Air Noland, but there are also three other guys who look the part and could very well be viable options in the event of worst-case scenarios. As far as the quarterback battle goes, there is a world where Memphis could have a two-quarterback system similar to what we saw back in the day with Chris Leak and Tim Tebow at Florida, where the quarterback would depend on the situation and play scheme. Something, in fact, that will make it hard for opponents to game plan for, and could possibly give the Tigers an advantage this season. 

Overall, after the limited viewing and the nearly two hours of press conferences, everything on paper leading up to the season appears to check all the boxes; combined with the intensity and physicality of this team, the 2026 season has the potential to be a magical season for the Tigers. As anyone who understands college football, though, knows, what happens in fall camp might not always carry over, but often you can just tell, and this team appears to have those next-level intangibles that can carry the program to the College Football Playoff. 

Photo Credits- Memphis Football on X