Eastern Wayne Today

Wayne State University’s football team is preparing to open its 2025 season at home against Tiffin University on Thursday, September 4, at 6 p.m. The matchup marks the first time since 2021 that Wayne State has hosted its season opener. Last year, Tiffin defeated Wayne State in their opening game, 31-17.

The Warriors are seeking their first season-opening win since a shutout victory over Walsh University in 2018. After closing the previous season with two consecutive home wins against Roosevelt University and Northern Michigan University, Wayne State finished the year with a record of 2-9.

Tiffin enters this game following an 8-4 campaign in 2024 and has maintained a winning record for nine straight seasons, compiling a cumulative mark of 71-25 from 2016 through last year. The Dragons led the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) in several statistical categories during the previous season, including points per game (32.7), yards per game (402.4), and interceptions (15).

Brett Ekkens returns as Tiffin’s head coach for his second year after leading the team to a second-place finish in the G-MAC and an appearance in America’s Crossroads Bowl last season. Ekkens previously served as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Saginaw Valley State and held multiple roles at Indiana Wesleyan before that.

Quarterback Alex Johnson is back for Tiffin after earning G-MAC Offensive Player of the Year honors by passing for nearly 3,000 yards and accounting for 29 total touchdowns last season. He was especially effective against Wayne State last year, completing nearly three-quarters of his passes for four touchdowns.

Among other key returners for Tiffin are receivers Javier Wills and Ethan Holbrook; tight end Joey Zalewski; running back Ronald Blackman—who ran for more than 1,400 yards—and defensive standouts Jacob Tueimeh, Khris Walton, and Malik Baker.

Wayne State leads the all-time series between these programs but has lost their past three meetings to Tiffin. Across twelve matchups overall, Wayne State holds a scoring advantage of 370-215.

In preseason rankings released by coaches from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), Wayne State was picked sixth out of eight teams:

1. Ferris State

2. Grand Valley State

3. Saginaw Valley State

4. Davenport

5. Michigan Tech

6. Wayne State

7. Roosevelt

8. Northern Michigan

This year’s roster features significant turnover: only 52 players return from last year’s squad—including just eighteen letterwinners—while seventy-five newcomers join via freshmen signings or transfers. The coaching staff also includes seven new hires plus Mustafa Khaleefah's promotion to full-time tight ends coach.

Ahead of this fall’s games, GLIAC named four Warriors as “players to watch”: defensive ends Jaiden Acker and Colby Horn; quarterback Champion Edwards; and safety Elijah Fowlkes.

Acker led Wayne State in sacks last season with four-and-a-half while also tallying eight tackles-for-loss; Horn recorded thirty-five tackles across two years; Edwards became both passing and rushing leader—a feat not seen since the mid-1970s—for WSU last fall; Fowlkes enters his senior campaign as a three-year letterwinner who made sixty-two tackles last year.

The Warriors ended their challenging schedule in Division II football on a positive note with two straight wins—their current streak heading into this season—and were one of twenty-eight teams nationally to do so among NCAA Division II programs with multi-game winning streaks entering this fall.

Once again facing tough competition—nine out of eleven opponents had winning records last regular-season—Wayne State will meet five teams ranked on national polls such as Ferris State (#1), Grand Valley (#3), Saginaw Valley (#31), Findlay (#38), Davenport (#40), plus top-ten Division III opponent Wisconsin-La Crosse.

The current roster represents fifteen states plus Ontario province, with most student-athletes coming from Michigan but others arriving from across North America via high school or college transfers.

Family connections remain strong within the program: there are three sets of brothers currently on the team along with athletes whose parents played collegiate football—including Joique Bell's son Jordan Bell returning this fall.

Players such as Torrence Greene—returning from injury—and Nahji Mabry—back after time away pursuing fitness instruction—are set to contribute again this season.

Head coach Tyrone Wheatley will continue hosting “Weekly with Wheatley,” a podcast taped live before select home games featuring assistant coaches and student-athletes throughout five shows during autumn at Woodbridge Pub; episodes will be posted online afterwards via Wayne State Athletics website.

Game broadcasts enter a new phase under Warrior Sports Network: veteran broadcaster Sean Baligian leads play-by-play duties while Brady Beedon provides analysis alongside Kevin Brechmacher or Tony Ortiz covering sideline reporting during home contests broadcasted through FloSports (https://www.flosports.tv/).