The Delaware State football team began Year Two of the DeSean Jackson era much like last season’s home opener…minus a four-hour weather delay.
The Hornets took a sizeable lead, gave it all back, then held on to defeat Coastal Athletic Association contender Stony Brook 41-34 Thursday night at Alumni Stadium.
Here are five takeaways from the Hornets’ win.
1. The secondary is still terrifying…in a bad way.
The one sore spot for the Hornets last year was their pass defense and it was much of the same Thursday against the Seawolves.
Sophomore quarterback Quinn Boyd threw three touchdown passes, including the tying score after the Hornets unbelievably attempted a 4th and 1 conversion from their own 32-yard line.
It could have been first-game nerves, but the DSU pass defense is cause for concern once again in 2026.
2. The kicker was kickin’ it
Junior placekicker Patrick Fisher-Butler has a strong case for the game’s MVP.
Fisher-Butler was five for five on PATs and converted the second-longest field goal in program history, a 52-yarder in the third quarter. His extra-long kickoffs also kept Stony Brook from having any kind of great field position for much of the game. That gave DSU’s defense a little more room to operate and they would need every bit of it.
3. Quarterback controversy?
Troy transfer Ui Ale started the game and, after a tough first series, tossed a 72-yard touchdown pass to Jaylin Terzado and also ran 16 yards for a score.
Samari Collier, the late addition from Coastal Carolina, showed off his wheels with a 59-yard touchdown run and completed a few passes as well.
It appears that whatever competition in the spring or summer ended up with Ale and Collier as the best QB1 options, but the Delaware State coaches will need to make a decision sooner rather than later.
4. Discipline
Penalties almost killed the Hornets Thursday night, yet ended up saving them as well.
Aside from several offside penalties and a few holds from a new offensive line, a critical roughing the passer flag moved Stony Brook closer to the tying touchdown than any Delaware State fan would have hoped.
Unfortunately for the Seawolves, they too were bitten by the penalty bug themselves as two offensive pass interference penalties on the final drive kept them from completing the comeback.
5. The run game is still running
Between the quarterbacks and the duo of Jayden Jenkins and Sean Weston Jr. (game-winning 16-yard touchdown run with 1:53 left in the game), it looks like DSU will feature a run-heavy offense.
Whether this team runs for 291 yards per game like last season remains to be seen, but Stony Brook had a hard time keeping the Hornets from gaining chunks of yardage on the ground.
For better or worse, Delaware State is a running team. And in another win for the Hornets, it looks to be better for the moment.
