What to know about Villanova football: Key games, key players, new faces, preseason rankings, and more

It’s a new football season and a new football league for Villanova, and it all starts Friday.

The Wildcats, ranked No. 7 in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) preseason coaches poll, will host William & Mary, also new this season to the Patriot League, at Villanova Stadium (6 p.m., ESPN+). Villanova won last year’s game, 31-24.

The Wildcats reached the FCS semifinals last season before falling to Illinois State, their best finish since 2010.

“We think the offseason training went well when we came back in January, February,” Villanova head coach Mark Ferrante said. “Then that follows up with spring practice and spring practice went pretty well from our perspective. So our guys were here, the whole team [was] here for the month of July. The bulk of our upperclassmen are here for June and July, so they get the opportunity to train together. And then the freshmen come in July and it gives the upperclassmen and freshmen almost a month to learn to get to know each other a little bit.”

However, Villanova is facing questions at quarterback as the eligibility of Pat McQuaide, its hopeful starter, is tied up in an Ohio court after the Patriot League informed the program he was ineligible.

Here are five things to know as Villanova prepares to kick off its 2026 campaign:

Villanova officially joined the Patriot League on July 1 after spending 19 seasons in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA).

Outside of Villanova and William & Mary, the conference includes Bucknell, Colgate, Holy Cross, Lafayette, and Lehigh, as well as fellow associate football members Fordham, Georgetown, and Richmond.

Richmond joined last season after departing the CAA. Four programs have now left the CAA within the last two seasons, the fourth being Delaware, which transitioned to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).

The largest impact this has on Villanova is travel. A trip for the Wildcats will cover an average of 175 miles, which lowers costs for the program, especially on air travel.

Before its debut in the Patriot League, Villanova was voted to finish first by the league’s preseason coaches poll, receiving seven first-place votes. Lehigh, which fell to the Wildcats in last year’s FCS playoffs, got three.

McQuaide, last year’s starting QB, led the team to a 12-3 record. The Ohio native passed for 3,123 yards and 25 touchdowns. It marked what was expected to be his final year of eligibility.

However, this summer, Villanova submitted a request to the NCAA asking to grant McQuaide an extra year of eligibility. The NCAA denied the request, forcing Villanova and McQuaide to take it to court.

» READ MORE: Patriot League denies Villanova quarterback Pat McQuaide’s eligibility appeal for 2026 season

On Aug. 1, an Ohio judge ruled that the NCAA cannot enforce its eligibility rules against McQuaide, granting him an extra year of eligibility.

However, the Patriot League notified Villanova on Aug. 4 that it was deeming McQuaide ineligible by its own bylaws. An appeal by Villanova to the Patriot League’s Council of Presidents Executive Committee was also denied on Aug. 21.

McQuaide’s attorney, Richard Hamilton Jr., is still fighting the ruling in the Ohio court system, and an update could come as early as Thursday.

If McQuaide is not able to play for Villanova, two Wildcats will battle for the starting gig — senior Robert Russo and freshman Nolan DiLucia. The two have been getting the bulk of the starter reps through spring and summer practices, according to Ferrante.

“Taking a majority of the reps were, obviously, we had Dylan Mills, we had Robbie Russo, going into his senior year, Dylan going into his junior year, and then Nolan DiLucia, the incoming freshman,” Ferrante said. “Those are the guys that were kind of rotating through, seeing who wants to take it over, who wants to take the lead there. … It’s an ongoing process. We’re going to continue to evaluate everybody.”

Outside of McQuaide, Villanova’s quarterbacks have only attempted just one pass.

In the Patriot League, Villanova will play all its conference opponents during the regular season, as opposed to the larger CAA where tiebreakers often helped determine automatic playoff qualifiers.

The biggest game on Villanova’s regular-season calendar is most likely its home game against Lehigh on Oct. 24 (3 p.m., ESPN+). The two programs have a long-running rivalry. Villanova leads the all-time series, which dates back to 1903, 14-5.

» READ MORE: Villanova ranked No. 7 in preseason FCS coaches poll. Montana State at the top.

Until last year’s playoff game, Lehigh was 12-0 and was the Patriot League champion.

Former CAA opponent Richmond, which will visit Villanova on Nov. 7 (1 p.m., ESPN+), tied for third with William & Mary in the coaches preseason poll.

Villanova’s biggest win this offseason was retaining breakout running back and returner Ja’briel Mace. He entered the transfer portal but decided to return to Villanova. Mace was named the 2025 CAA Special Teams Player of the Year.

Mace broke Brian Westbrook’s single-game rushing record with 28 carries for 291 yards and four touchdowns against Towson on Nov. 8. He tallied three 100-yard-plus rushing games, and totaled 946 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns on 128 attempts for the season.

Mace was named to the Walter Payton Award 2026 preseason watchlist, the Patriot League’s preseason all-conference first-team and the 2027 East-West Shrine Bowl 1000, which highlights the top 1,000 NFL draft prospects ahead of the 2026 college football season.

The Wildcats were not very active in the transfer portal, with a majority of the new names on their roster coming from the high school recruiting class. Most of the new faces starting on both sides of the ball come from within the program.

Junior offensive lineman Chris McCullers, who started 14 games for Villanova last season, will fill one of the holes that opened with the departures of Stephane Voltaire, Temi Ajirotutu, and Jake Picard. Senior defensive lineman Capri Martin also withdrew his name from the transfer portal to stay at Villanova.

“Yeah, we’re excited to have Ja’briel [Mace] and Capri [Martin] back,” Ferrante said. “A couple guys did go into the portal briefly, but then they decided to stay after talking with their families and their coaches, and, obviously, our staff here. We’re excited to have those guys back. We have a good nucleus back on both sides of the ball.”

» READ MORE: QBs Ajani Sheppard and Jaxon Smolik could both play in Temple’s season opener

Fifth-year offensive lineman Quin Whalen, who will be a key part of the offense, started the last nine games last season at center.

Returning wide receivers will include sophomore Braden Reed, who had a breakout freshman year on special teams and at wide receiver during the postseason. Sophomore Brandon Binkowski could see more snaps. Junior Chris Colby will also have an elevated role.

Two starting Wildcat defensive backs, Zahmir Dawud (Rutgers) and Anthony Hawkins (Iowa), departed Villanova for FBS programs. Junior defensive backs ​​Josh Oluremi and Newton Essiem are returning. Fifth-year Garret Rogan is set to return and will see playing time at safety. Junior Jayvont Williams is in contention for the starting safety spot.

“And the secondary, unfortunately, that’s kind of where we got to hit the hardest with the transfer portal,” Ferrante said. “So you’re going to see some new faces back there again. Last year, we had five new defensive backs from the year before, and everyone did not know how we would do defensively with five new faces, and we ended up doing pretty well.”