2021 Season Preview: Memphis Tigers

Steven McCash takes a look at the state of the Tigers in his 2021 Memphis preview!

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Over the course of the next several weeks, the SoBros Network crew will be going around the landscape of the college football world, previewing the upcoming American tackle football season. Up next, our 2021 Memphis preview!

2021 Memphis Preview

The 2021 edition of the University of Memphis football team under 2^nd year coach Ryan Silverfield is at a crossroads. After the departure of the winningest QB in school history, Brady White, the Tigers find themselves extremely inexperienced behind center. Throughout training camp HC Silverfield has been keeping both eyes focused on the battle going on for the starting QB position. Arizona transfer Grant Gunnell started every game in 2020 as a true sophomore for the Wildcats before heading to the Bluff City. He is considered a very mobile threat with his 6’6″ 228-lb frame. Former top recruit for the Tigers of LSU Peter Parrish comes into the season as a redshirt sophomore after transferring from Baton Rouge after the 2019 season. The former top 10 ESPN QB prospect, Parrish comes in as the player with the biggest upside. Lastly is redshirt freshman Keilon Brown who has been around the program the longest. Brown saw action in one game last season before being redshirted.

Silverfield is keeping his thoughts on the QB battle close to the chest, but has acknowledged that if the trio doesn’t have a full understanding of the offense, then he’ll have to make adjustments to the offense’s scheme. The scaling back of the passing game could lead to the running game being leaned on more this season.

As explosive as the offense has become for the Tigers over the years, the running game struggled mightily in 2020. Memphis has seen a huge decrease in productivity in the backfield since the 2018 season when they only failed to rush for 100 yards once in 14 games. In 2019, the only time the Tigers failed to rush for a century was in the Cotton Bowl against Penn State. Last year, Memphis failed to cross the 100 yard threshold five times including a dismal five yard performance against Cincinnati. Yes, you read that correctly. Memphis could only manage to gain FIVE yards rushing against the Bearcats. If the Tigers want to compete in the high octane AAC, they are going to have to be able to rush the ball effectively to take pressure off of the QB.

The biggest question for the Tigers offense is at offensive line. Memphis returns three of their starting front five but a huge hole to fill is TCU transfer Obinna Eze. All eyes will be on whoever comes out ahead in the QB battle, but the focus should be on the versatile Dylan Parham, Jr., who started out as a guard before switching to right tackle. Parham may be asked to fill the hole left by Eze and much of the Tigers success in 2021 could rest in his hands. The OL is tasked this year with protecting a QB brand new to the system as well as making sure the running game bounces back to form, and add to the struggles the defense had last season, it’s easy to see why all the pressure for the Memphis Tigers sits heavily on the shoulders of the OL.

The defense should be greatly improved from 2020. The defense was opportunistic last year in forcing turnovers but was burnt too much at times as well. The secondary should see a leap in performance this year as they are expected to be the defense’s strength in 2021. 2019’s fourth-leading tackler La’Andre Thomas returns after missing all of 2020 and will be a welcomed return in addition to Michigan State transfer Julian Barnett. Barnett started out his career as a wide receiver at MSU before switching sides to CB in 2020. He played in six games at his new position last year with one start while compiling three tackles. Memphis lost defensive back T.J. Carter to TCU but returning Jacobi Francis and the transferring Barnett should fill in the gap left by Carter.

The safeties will be the defense’s strength this year and will be led by All-AAC free safety Quindell Johnson. Johnson had a team high 81 stops last year and will once again be one of the leagues top defenders. Coupled with fellow safeties Rodney Owens, Jr. and the returning La’Andre Thomas, the Tigers will be a tough team for teams to run on in 2021.

On paper, it clearly looks like this season will be a rebuilding year for the Tigers, but after seeing the success Tulsa had last year making it to the AAC championship game, there is still hope Memphis. They have a favorable home schedule and do not have to face Cincinnati or USF this year, so getting back to eight wins is very feasible. If the QB position is not asked to win too many games and the running game can get close to 2019, the Tigers will be a tough out for anyone on their schedule.

2021 Memphis Tigers Schedule

Saturday, 9/4: vs. Nicholls– I’m not going to waste much time here, but the Tigers get an extra practice to work on some of their questions for the season and start 1-0

Saturday, 9/11: at Arkansas State– The defense gets a huge test here when they visit the high-powered Red Wolves led by former Tennessee HC Butch Jones. I do not feel good about this game for the Tigers and fear the Red Wolves pick up a huge non-conference win.

Saturday, 9/18: vs. Mississippi State– The Bulldogs find themselves in the same predicament as Memphis by searching for a new quarterback. HC Mike Leach returns for his second season in Starkville and still has more questions than answers following a 4-7 debut. Even a bad SEC team is a tough matchup for Memphis but with the game in the Liberty Bowl, the Tigers eek out an ugly win.

Saturday, 9/25: vs UTSA– Memphis wins. On to Temple.

Saturday, 10/2: at Temple– The Owls only won one game last year, but were honestly better than their record showed. Temple will put up a good fight, but the Tigers will prove too strong for the task and move to 4-1 on the year.

Saturday, 10/9: at Tulsa– Tulsa surprised everyone in the AAC last year and is hoping to repeat the magic of 2020. To do so, their offense will have to pick up some of the slack. Their defense was asked to do everything last year but with all five starters returning from their offensive line and each earning All-AAC honors, the Golden Hurricanes should be in great shape to have back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in a decade. With all of that said, the Tigers defense will prove too tough for Tulsa, and Memphis leaves Oklahoma with a victory.

Thursday, 10/14: vs. Navy– What a difference a year makes. Navy went 11-2 in 2019 and beat Kansas State in its bowl game but sadly followed that up by crashing back to earth by going 3-7. It’s easy to believe the Midshipmen could bounce back to six or seven wins and it’s just as easy to believe they could go 0-12 as well. Memphis will not lose this game especially at home. Tigers are 6-1.

Friday, 10/22: at UCF– Gus Malzahn takes over the reigns in Orlando and the Golden Knights should easily win 10 or more games this year. One of those will be against Memphis. UCF’s offense will just be too tired for a tired Memphis defense that has not had a bye week.

Saturday, 11/6: vs. SMU– Tigers will be looking for some revenge after losing to the Mustangs last year. SMU has been on the cusp of taking the next step in the AAC and they may finally be there. Another dynamite offense proves to be a problem for Memphis and SMU secures a hard fought victory on the road.

Saturday, 11/13: vs. ECU– The Pirates will flirt with getting to .500 by the end of the season but the Tigers will serve as a roadblock for ECU. Memphis gets back on the winning track by handling the Pirates rather easily.

Friday, 11/19: at Houston– This might be seen as a make or break year for Houston HC Dana Holgorsen coming off a disappointing 3-5 2020 campaign. The Cougars offense was so inconsistent last year and for their win total to improve, it will have to as well. If that improvement has not been seen at this point in the season, then maybe next year. Tigers move to 8-3 on the year still with an outside shot at the AAC Championship game.

Saturday, 11/27: vs. Tulane– Tulane is slowly building a respectable program in New Orleans and should be good enough to make a bowl game again this year. Asking the Green Wave to come into Memphis and pull off a big upset is too much to ask of this team. The Tigers finish the season strong at 9-3.

PREDICTION

Memphis is having to replace QB Brady White, the winningest QB in program history, after a legendary career. Luckily for them they have an easy first half of the schedule that will allow them to manage the growing pains of having someone new behind center. The defense, which gave up too many big plays last season, should be a strength this season, especially at corner. If the Tigers can overcome the losses they suffered through the transfer portal and successfully implement their own incoming transfers, this could turn out to be special year. Missing the Bearcats and Bulls this year on the schedule makes fixing the issues on offense that much more important. If the Tigers can find an answer at QB and get the running game back on track, then they could possible find themselves playing in the AAC Championship game.

OTHER CFB 2021 SEASON PREVIEWS

Steven McCash is the Music Columnist for SoBros Network, and host of the ‘Drinking With…’ podcast. He is the pioneer of New Music Friday, highlighting each week’s new releases in the world of music, in addition to the occasional live show review. Follow on Twitter: @MC_Cash75

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