Image via Eastern Michigan Athletics
Roster, Depth Chart
Bold = listed starter(s)
Italics = Incoming player.
Listed on preseason depth chart (LT)
#71 Tyler Brumfield (Oklahoma State) — Also spent 2022-24 seasons at Snow J.C. Missed 2025 to injury.
#68 Tyler McMillan (Illinois) — Also played at Southeast Missouri State (FCS, 2024), Northwestern State (FCS, 2023), and Mississippi Valley State (FCS, 2021-22)
Listed on preseason depth chart (LG)
#55 Guzzy Kayed (St. Francis, FCS) — 18 games, 9 starts at St. Francis. Also spent 2023 season at Emory & Henry (D2).
#66 Joshua Anderson — Fifth-year signee, 16 career starts.
Listed on preseason depth chart (C)
#65 Nicholas Gallegos — Fifth-year signee, 9 starts last year.
#74 Carter Miculka — Freshman.
Listed on preseason depth chart (RG)
#72 Cole Dellinger (Michigan State) — Spent three seasons at MSU.
#78 Dennis Strey Jr. — Fifth-year signee. Career 17 games played.
#62 Adham Abouraya — Second-year transfer from Pitt.
Listed on preseason depth chart (RT)
#75 Elijha Payne (Delaware State, FCS) — Incoming transfer. Also played at Arizona (2023-24).
#77 Cole Powell — Second-year signee.
Also on roster:
#50 Kevin Wojciechowski — Second-year signee.
#52 Richardo Wourman (Wayne State, D2) — Incoming transfer.
#54 Nathan Henry (Drake, FCS) — Incoming transfer. Last year: Second Team All-Pioneer Football League.
#56 Chad Troxler (Bakersfield C.C.) — Incoming transfer.
#59 Andrew Trahin — Freshman.
#70 Samuel Adjin — Freshman (eligibility clock begins on year #3).
#76 Nily Taylor — Freshman.
#79 Jackson Higgins — Freshman.
Two returning starters
Of the nine total players to make starts for Eastern Michigan’s offensive line last year, two return, two graduated out, and the rest hit the transfer portal to play elsewhere. Last year’s season-opening starters at center Everett Small and left tackle Mack Indestad are both in the Big Ten now (Rutgers and UCLA, respectively). Owen Snively, left guard, is now at Boston College. Terrence Saunders, right guard until Mickey Rewolinski’s return, is now at Tarleton State. Right tackle Spencer Webb, with just one start in 2025, is now at Florida International.
The two to come back, center Nicholas Gallegos and guard Joshua Anderson, are surrounded by newcomers to the left and the right of them. Gallegos’ starting spot on the line, at least according to the initial team depth chart, is secured. Anderson, who returns with the most career starts made for EMU’s O-line (16), is currently in competition for his playing time.
Dennis Strey Jr. and Cole Powell, fifth- and second-year signees with the team out of high school, are currently listed as possibilities for the right tackle and guard spots.
With five players off the team via transfer portal, EMU grabbed as many players back from other schools. Two of them had all-conference playing honors at their previous schools before their moves to Ypsilanti.
Tyler Brumfield, listed as a possible starter at left tackle, was a First Team All-American in the junior college ranks in 2024 for Snow College.
Nathan Henry, a graduate transfer from FCS-level Drake, was a Second Team All-Pioneer Football League guard last year. Henry’s name does not appear on the initial two-deep.
The two transfers from Big Ten schools, Tyler McMillan from Illinois and Cole Dellinger at Michigan State, did not make any game appearances for those schools, though McMillan did see the field for the other schools he played at (Southeast Missouri State, Northwestern State, Mississippi Valley State).
Guzzy Kayed (St. Francis) and Elijha Payne (Delaware State) come directly from FCS schools where they did have starting playing time in 2025.
Finding the right five first
Not only does EMU’s coaching staff need to come up with a starting five headed into Week 0 vs. Sacramento State, but EMU needs to make sure the unit creates a necessary level of cohesion, like an open hand closing into a fist, and comes out with the correct starting five linemen in just a few weeks.
Like I said, there aren’t a lot of returning bodies to this group, and profiles of the new transfers aren’t heavy with all-conference levels of hardware, and most lack multi-year track records of starting experience at their former schools.
Plus, with the spring season being a limited one as many needed to nurse through injuries or sicknesses by the spring game, the time for this unit to get organized is now.
Eastern Michigan’s going to be favored over Sacramento State when the season begins in 24 days, but that doesn’t mean EMU’s guaranteed to continuously out-muscle Sac State’s defensive line, either. Had EMU been able to have its normal start to the year with four non-conference opponents, then the team would be afforded some grace to try out different combinations of linemen before its first league game. But Sac State and its $23 million move into the Mid-American Conference means that EMU has to start the year out with a league game.
And if EMU doesn’t protect its returning quarterback, and if the offense’s starting five linemen don’t open up holes and push for great rushing lanes to establish a ground game against a first-year FBS team, then the season could have a bleak beginning.
