On a Saturday morning in July, Kennesaw State football players aren’t likely to be found at the pool, on the lake, or immersed in EA Sports’ College Football 27 on the couch. 

For the team’s 47 returners, they don’t need a video game’s virtual championship experience. 

On Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, these Owls secured their place as Conference USA’s reigning champions. They’ve tasted it: the spotlight, the confetti and the hardware, and they want more. 

For the team’s 51 newcomers, a conference title beckoned them to KSU, and they want in. 

If this new team is to experience a new championship Friday in December, it will take maximizing their “Championship Saturdays” in July. 

Rather than recreate on a Saturday morning, this KSU team prepares to re-create its 2025 success by adding an extra day of running, lifting and film study to its normal weekday summer training regimen. 

“It’s just an extra day to get better as a team,” said junior running back Latrelle Murrell. “Not many teams are coming in on Saturday mornings and getting extra work in.” 

While the weekend workout isn’t officially mandatory for the players, senior center Mateo Guevara sees most of the team participating each week. 

“It’s that extra effort that’s going to pay off in the fall,” Guevara says. 

The extra effort will be particularly critical to an Owl offense filled with new faces. 

After powering KSU to its first FBS-era 10-win season, conference championship and bowl berth with a CUSA-leading 47 touchdowns, 301 first downs and 34.5 points per game in league play, just 42% of the Owls’ offensive production returns in 2026, according to ESPN’s Bill Connelly. 

As Fall Camp begins on Aug. 4, returning offensive coordinator Mitch Militello will look to hand the reins of his up-tempo attack over to one of five quarterbacks in a talented room – junior Rickie Collins, sophomore Landon Varnes, redshirt freshman Skyler Williams, and true freshmen Jamarcus Harrison and Julian Lapene. 

Collins joins KSU after appearing in 10 games over two seasons at LSU and Syracuse. Varnes arrives from Mississippi Gulf Coast College, where he led the NJCAA in passing yards and touchdowns in 2025 with 3,296 and 31, respectively. 

Regardless of who wins the Owls’ starting quarterback job, the new signal-caller will benefit from exciting new talent sprinkled throughout the offense. Among the flock of newcomers are Guevara, Murrell and tight end Reed Jesiolowski. 

Guevara started each of the last 24 games at center for KSU’s CUSA counterpart Middle Tennessee before opting to return to his native Georgia to conclude his collegiate career with the Owls. 

The Cherokee Bluff High School alum faced KSU twice as a Blue Raider, first in a 14-5 MTSU win in 2024, then in a 24-16 loss to the Owls in Kennesaw a season ago. 

“I could definitely tell a difference between KSU’s first and second FBS seasons,” Guevara said. “They were different after [head] coach [Jerry] Mack got there.” 

When Guevara stepped into the transfer portal following last season, this difference drew him to the Owls. An impactful official visit, fresh evidence of a championship culture and trusting relationships established with Militello and offensive line coach Jay Clements sealed the deal. 

“I could see why they won the conference championship last year and see how we can do it again this year,” Guevara said. 

The 6-foot-4, 317-pound pile-driver bolsters a line that leads the KSU offense in returning experience. Nikola Milovac and JaDarious Lee return after starting all 14 games at the tackle spots in 2025. Newcomers Luke Duska (Elon), Precious Ekeh (Central Connecticut State) and Darius Neals (Tennessee State) bring a combined 70 games’ experience to the Owl trenches. 

For an offense returning only one carry, KSU turned to three running backs who combined for over 2,600 rushing yards in 2025 with the addition of Murrell from West Georgia, Triston Morgan (Benedict College) and Boogie Woods III (Mississippi Gulf Coast College). 

Murrell recorded 176 carries for 893 yards, including five 100-yard performances, on his way to All-United Athletic Conference Second Team honors in his final season at UWG. 

The Douglasville, Georgia, native is thrilled to continue his collegiate career competing for FBS conference titles while remaining close to home. 

“It’s a winning program now,” Murrell said. “That’s one of the reasons why I came. I see how Coach Mack changed the program.” 

The culture changes Mack has instilled in the program are even more apparent and impactful to Murrell as he experiences his first offseason with the Owls. 

“The coaches here harp on not just being good at football, but being a good man,” Murrell said. “We learn to be consistent every day and how that can take you a very long way.” 

Murrell not only hears this culture taught but sees it in action through his position coach, Aston Walter. 

“His goal is to get everybody better, even himself,” Murrell said. “He walks to practice with the players. Any time we’re working, he wants to work with us, and that motivates me.”

KSU’s returning pass-catchers include wide receivers Javon Rogers and Davis Bryson, as well as tight end Gerard Bullock Jr. 

A 6-foot-3, 223-pound arrival from Northwest Mississippi Community College, Jesiolowski joins the tight ends while nearly 3,000 career receiving yards come to KSU with the addition of Zion Booker (Tulsa), Brayden Munroe (Northern Colorado) and Devaughn Slaughter (Tennessee State). 

For Jesiolowski, the decision to sign with the Owls out of junior college was already clear before the CUSA Championship. 

“I’d previously built a great relationship with the staff here from when I was in the portal after playing at Southern Miss,” Jesiolowski said. “When they ended up recruiting me out of junior college, I was coming here.”

Now that he’s here at KSU – in the weight room, on the field and in the film room, Jesiolowski can feel the championship culture he sought. 

“Right now, we’re just focused on stacking good days as a team and taking every day one by one,” Jesiolowski said. “I’d say it’s also a very fun culture. We have a lot of fun while putting a lot of good work in.”

Jesiolowski and the Owl offense are trusting that the work from the dog days of summer will lead to even more fun this fall, and it all begins on the first Thursday in September versus West Georgia at Walens Family Field at Fifth Third Stadium. 

Before that gameday, KSU will make the most of its summer Championship Saturdays to ensure that no matter what day it plays this fall, the culture that gave way to spotlight, confetti and a conference crown a year ago unlocks a very real dynasty mode on a Friday this December. 

The Champions Fund
The Champions Fund is a newly created, 100% tax deductible, philanthropic opportunity to contribute strategic revenue to Kennesaw State Athletics, with the goal of strengthening our ability to recruit and retain top-tier talent in this new era of collegiate athletics. Contributions to the Champions Fund will help aid in funding student-athlete recruitment and retention, as well as helping the Owls provide competitive excellence through investments in coaching, travel and facilities. The fund will also give an elevated student-athlete experience, including enhanced academic, nutrition, wellness and leadership programs. Donate to the Champions Fund here and help us support our Kennesaw State Owls.