Ball State football enters year 2 under Uremovich with chip on its shoulder
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College football season is right around the corner, and with that, teams are now in the midst of media day season.
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The Mid-American Conference Media Day was held at Ford Field in Detroit on Wednesday, July 22. Ball State football was represented by head coach Mike Uremovich and a pair of fifth-year seniors — offensive tackle Chris Hood and outside linebacker Justin Thomas.
Although The Star Press was unable to be in Detroit this year, Uremovich and the players conducted a phone interview from Ford Field to discuss the offseason, the MAC Media Day experience and their expectations for the upcoming season.
"Year one, there's so many things you're trying to get set up — from the equipment room, to the academics, to the strength and conditioning, to the schedule, to teaching the guys the expectations," Uremovich said. "All those things you have to go through in year one, in year two, you don't. We get to spend a much bigger percentage of our time working on football and schemes and just getting to know the players. It's been a productive offseason."
Uremovich is entering his second season as the Cardinals head coach after a 4-8 record in his debut season. Despite an influx of talent from the transfer portal, outside expectations for year two aren't very high. Ball State was picked to finish 11th out of 13 teams in the MAC in the conference's preseason coaches poll.
As is always the case, though, Uremovich and the Cardinals are more concerned about living up to their own expectations and blocking out any outside noise.
"We want to be the best football team we can be," Uremovich said. "We don't want to beat ourselves. We want to be physical. We want to control what we can control, and I have no doubt that to this point we've done everything we can to put ourselves in a great position to have a good year."
The biggest question surrounding Ball State heading into the 2026 season is the quarterback battle between SMU transfer Keldric Luster and Concord (D-II) transfer Tyler Mizzell. Uremovich declined to name a starting quarterback during MAC Media Day but did say that the ongoing competition makes him excited for this year's offense.
"I can say that they both had a great summer, and I'm excited to watch them both play in camp," Uremovich said. "They both have done a really good job this summer, and they both are getting a really good handle on the offense."
As for who will be starting, Hood and Thomas are both in line for heavy snaps and will play key leadership roles on their respective sides of the ball.
Hood is a unique player in this era of college football, and not just because of his 6-foot-10 frame that makes him one of the tallest players in the sport. Hood is entering his fifth season at Ball State and will finish his career at the same school where he started, making him a rarity in the transfer portal and NIL era of college sports.
"I started a couple of years ago and had a pretty successful year, had a couple of games where I got great film, and there could have definitely been opportunities to move somewhere else, even this past year," Hood said. "But it means something to me. Ball State was the second school to offer me back when I was a junior in high school, and so that stuck with me.
"They believed in me. Even though there's a different coaching staff now, this city and this school and the name on my jersey means something to me."
Hood has 20 starts under his belt — eight in 2024 and all 12 games last year — which makes him one of the most experienced Cardinals in terms of playing time. He believes the entire offense has grown more comfortable with Uremovich's system than last offseason and should be able to overcome last year's struggles.
"I think for a lot of the guys that have played and know the offense, it's given them a chance to kind of excel and move on to the next level," Hood said. "Everyone knows the offense and knows what to do. Now, it's about, 'What do we do if something goes wrong, or how can we adjust to this?' I think that's going to get us over the hump that we possibly had last year."
Unlike Hood, Thomas did not begin his career with Ball State, but he did arrive in Muncie before Uremovich and was one of the players who stuck around through the coaching transition after Mike Neu's firing. Thomas transferred in from the University of Indianapolis after racking up seven sacks in the 2023 campaign, but a devastating knee injury in the 2024 preseason forced him to miss an entire year.
"The injury was a pretty catastrophic injury, and it was the first injury I ever had," Thomas said. "Missing time in general, that was weird for me. That was my first time missing practices, missing games, so that was an interesting experience."
Thomas spent most of the 2025 offseason rehabbing but was able to play all 12 games as part of the defensive line rotation. Now, he enters year three in Muncie, two years removed from his injury, and has put in a full offseason worth of work, giving him confidence that he can make a big impact on the Cardinals' pass rush this year.
"Heading into this season, just getting a full offseason of working out again has been amazing," Thomas said. "It's honestly been a game-changer, how I feel, how my body's been recovering. Your body goes into a state of shock when you get hurt, so having to lift yourself out of that state of shock and get back into the process can be challenging, but getting this full year, again, to have a full offseason to really get back to my old self.
"I'm ready to attack this season and be an All-MAC player."
Contact Cade Hampton via email at [email protected] or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Ball State football enters year 2 under Uremovich with chip on its shoulder