Uremovich, Conley and Kelly Represent Cardinals at Ford Field and MAC Media Kickoff
July 24, 2025 | Football
DETROIT, Mich. -- Less than 40 days from Ball State's opening kickoff of the 2025 college football season and a week before training camp begins at Scheumann Stadium, the Cardinals were represented at the annual Mid-American Conference Media Kickoff by head coach Mike Uremovich and returning stars Darin Conley and Kiael Kelly.
Media members from around the 13-team MAC joined representatives from each MAC institution for photos, interviews and conversation in advance of the upcoming season.
For the Cardinals, the 2025 season marks their first under Uremovich, the 19th coach in Ball State history. Uremovich takes over the Ball State program after three years as head coach at Butler and 24 years as an offensive coach and head coach from Waynesburg College, St. Francis, NC State, Temple, Butler and three stints at MAC rival Northern Illinois. He begins his seventh year in the MAC, having spent six at NIU and accumulating two divisional titles, two conference championships and three bowl games. He has coached in six bowl games overall.
Uremovich-coached teams at Butler recently were top-ten-ranked among NCAA FCS programs on both offense and defense. Remarkably, 10 members of his full-time coaching staff have spent time with Coach U. as either a coach or player.
"I look forward to coming back to compete in the MAC again," said Uremovich. "I think we're in a good place at Ball State, but we have a lot of new players that we need to bring together. We have good people and a great program with tradition. We're hungry. We know we're going to be tough and we're going to compete. I can't wait to get things started."
Beginning his first Ball State training camp next Wednesday, July 30, Uremovich and his staff welcome 54 newcomers including 34 transfers. Conley and Kelly are among a small handful of returning starters who will anchor units on both sides of the ball.
Conley, a redshirt sophomore and third-year standout from Kansas, made his way into the starting lineup at midseason last year, and finished the year with 16 tackles and three tackles for loss, including a pair of sacks.
Kelly has wound a circuitous route through the Cardinals depth chart the past two seasons, emerging as QB1 in Week 7 of the 2023 campaign and lining up at six different positions in 2024. Now a redshirt senior, the Tampa, Florida, native has twice returned to Ball State from the transfer portal and comes back for a final season to team with Uremovich whose recent coaching history has favored strong running quarterbacks. The last time Kelly started at QB for the Cardinals -- Nov. 25, 2023 vs. Miami -- he ran for 136 yards which was the third-most ever by a Ball State quarterback. He enters his final season in view of program records for rush yards by a QB.
Though a Cardinals depth chart is far from established, Ball State expects improvement from last year's 3-9 record (2-6 in the MAC). Every team has optimism at this point each summer, and the annual goal is to return to Ford Field for the MAC Championship game on Dec. 6. MAC coaches were polled on their expectations for the upcoming season, with Toledo picked as the league champion and Ball State selected 10th, in the league's first season with UMass as a conference member.
2025 MAC Football Coaches Preseason Poll
First Place votes in ( ) | *Coaches were not able to vote for themselves
1. Toledo (7) -- 135 points
2. Miami (3) -- 131 points
3. Ohio (3) -- 123 points
4. Buffalo -- 115 points
5. Northern Illinois -- 94 points
6. Bowling Green -- 81 points
7. Western Michigan -- 71 points
8. Eastern Michigan -- 68 points
9. Central Michigan -- 65 points
10. Ball State -- 41 points
T11. Akron -- 39 points
T11. UMass -- 39 points
13. Kent State -- 12 points
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Media members from around the 13-team MAC joined representatives from each MAC institution for photos, interviews and conversation in advance of the upcoming season.
For the Cardinals, the 2025 season marks their first under Uremovich, the 19th coach in Ball State history. Uremovich takes over the Ball State program after three years as head coach at Butler and 24 years as an offensive coach and head coach from Waynesburg College, St. Francis, NC State, Temple, Butler and three stints at MAC rival Northern Illinois. He begins his seventh year in the MAC, having spent six at NIU and accumulating two divisional titles, two conference championships and three bowl games. He has coached in six bowl games overall.
Uremovich-coached teams at Butler recently were top-ten-ranked among NCAA FCS programs on both offense and defense. Remarkably, 10 members of his full-time coaching staff have spent time with Coach U. as either a coach or player.
"I look forward to coming back to compete in the MAC again," said Uremovich. "I think we're in a good place at Ball State, but we have a lot of new players that we need to bring together. We have good people and a great program with tradition. We're hungry. We know we're going to be tough and we're going to compete. I can't wait to get things started."
Beginning his first Ball State training camp next Wednesday, July 30, Uremovich and his staff welcome 54 newcomers including 34 transfers. Conley and Kelly are among a small handful of returning starters who will anchor units on both sides of the ball.
Conley, a redshirt sophomore and third-year standout from Kansas, made his way into the starting lineup at midseason last year, and finished the year with 16 tackles and three tackles for loss, including a pair of sacks.
Kelly has wound a circuitous route through the Cardinals depth chart the past two seasons, emerging as QB1 in Week 7 of the 2023 campaign and lining up at six different positions in 2024. Now a redshirt senior, the Tampa, Florida, native has twice returned to Ball State from the transfer portal and comes back for a final season to team with Uremovich whose recent coaching history has favored strong running quarterbacks. The last time Kelly started at QB for the Cardinals -- Nov. 25, 2023 vs. Miami -- he ran for 136 yards which was the third-most ever by a Ball State quarterback. He enters his final season in view of program records for rush yards by a QB.
Though a Cardinals depth chart is far from established, Ball State expects improvement from last year's 3-9 record (2-6 in the MAC). Every team has optimism at this point each summer, and the annual goal is to return to Ford Field for the MAC Championship game on Dec. 6. MAC coaches were polled on their expectations for the upcoming season, with Toledo picked as the league champion and Ball State selected 10th, in the league's first season with UMass as a conference member.
2025 MAC Football Coaches Preseason Poll
First Place votes in ( ) | *Coaches were not able to vote for themselves
1. Toledo (7) -- 135 points
2. Miami (3) -- 131 points
3. Ohio (3) -- 123 points
4. Buffalo -- 115 points
5. Northern Illinois -- 94 points
6. Bowling Green -- 81 points
7. Western Michigan -- 71 points
8. Eastern Michigan -- 68 points
9. Central Michigan -- 65 points
10. Ball State -- 41 points
T11. Akron -- 39 points
T11. UMass -- 39 points
13. Kent State -- 12 points
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Players Mentioned
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