HBCU Buzz Inc.

When Charlie Strong turned down Tennessee to stay at Louisville, he told reporters on Thursday that it was his way of thanking the school and athletic director Tom Jurich for their faith in him. “He gave me my first chance to be a head football coach after being an assistant for 27 years. I was always on everyone’s short list, [...]

Mr. Novelle Dickenson, Director of Athletics at Hampton University, announced on Monday that Donovan Rose will be continuing as Hampton University’s Head Football Coach. Since Rose’s return to Hampton in 1991, the Pirates have won 14 championships, graduated over 225 student-athletes and placed over 50 players in professional leagues. Rose has developed and placed several players in the pros and [...]

Winston-Salem, NC — If you’re headed south at any point over the next few days and see some red and white streak past, it might belong to a Winston-Salem State University fan. The Rams are playing in Saturday’s NCAA Division II National Championship game in Florence, Ala., and they’ll have plenty of support. Not only will WSSU fans being cheering [...]

Arkansas-Pine Bluff really pulled off an impressive win in the SWAC championship game, rallying from a two-touchdown deficit to defeat Jackson State 24-21 in overtime and win the conference title. There were a lot of big plays in this game, including some by players who will be back next season. With the HBCU season in the history books, it’s time [...]

Quentin Williams threw two touchdown passes and ran for 121 of Bethune-Cookman’s 377 rushing yards as the Tigers beat Savannah State 49-7 Saturday in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game. Williams completed 9 of 12 passes for 103 yards and threw touchdown passes of 11 and 36 yards. His second touchdown, a strike to David Blackwell, gave Bethune-Cookman a 35-0 halftime [...]

The Alabama State Hornets held on to beat Southern 31-30 in a Southwestern Athletic Conference game at A.W. Mumford Stadium. Alabama State (7-3 overall, 7-2 SWAC) remains in a virtual tie for the Eastern Division lead with Jackson State, a 35-21 winner over Alabama A&M. Jackson State (6-4, 6-2) plays at Alcorn State next Saturday. A loss by  JSU clinches the [...]

As Jackson State readies for Saturday’s SWAC game at Grambling State (1-7, 0-6 SWAC), it does so with a surprisingly good ground game. JSU (4-4, 4-2 SWAC) will pull into Grambling boasting the league’s third-ranked rushing offense at 180.8 yards per game. That’s just two yards behind second-ranked Alabama State, which as you may recall made quite the off-season splash [...]

Morgan State watched Bethune-Cookman start to unravel early in the second quarter of Saturday’s Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference matchup even though the Wildcats had a three-point lead at the time. After defensive back Dion Hanks was ejected for striking a Morgan State player, Wildcats coach Brian Jenkins was also kicked out of the game seconds later for berating the officials. The [...]

Expressing a sense of fulfillment after 40 years of coaching that included the last five seasons at FAMU, Joe Taylor stunningly announced Saturday morning he is retiring from college football. Taylor said he and his wife, Beverly, discussed it for several months before he decided to retire after the Rattlers play their final game, Nov. 17 in the Florida Classic. [...]

The HBCU Football Experience

In a society where one is considered innocent until proven guilty; for 36 young men and women it was the opposite a few weeks ago. I saw news reports for four days on allegations of hazing against the North Carolina Central University Marching Sound Machine drum line, but only one evening report once they were reinstated. They were innocent victims [...]

Joseph LeBeau doesn’t need to glance at the SWAC standings to know the importance of Jackson State’s Saturday game at Alabama State. And he also warns anyone who might be judging the Tigers (2-4, 2-2 SWAC) solely by their record could be in for a rude awakening. Throughout the highs and lows JSU’s 2-4 start have provided, LeBeau and the [...]

With Saturday’s game drawing closer, we check in today with al.com’s HBCU reporter, Nick Birdsong, who not only has one of the better Twitter handles around (@birds_word), but also does a great job covering my home state’s SWAC schools. Birdsong was nice enough to answer a few questions regarding the Hornets’ season and how they managed to arrive at this week’s game at 4-1 in SWAC [...]

The Tennessee State Tigers are the real deal. The Tigers came from 10 points behind in the fourth quarter to defeat Eastern Kentucky 23-20 to retain the top spot in both the Boxtorow national media and coaches polls. The Tigers remain undefeated and are now 2-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC). Redshirt sophomore quarterback Michael German’s one-yard touchdown run [...]

West Virginia and Geno Smith proved a good defense really is no match for their offensive capability. I don’t know what they expected to do against West Virginia, but it seemed like people thought the Mountaineers would only score 21 points. Fans and critics scoffed at Baylor and the Bears took the brunt of the skepticism of why West Virginia [...]

Breathe easy Alabama A&M fans. Kaderius Lacey is alright, according to Bulldogs coach Anthony Jones. The first-team selection to the All-Southwestern Athletic Conference squad year ago went down early in the Bulldogs’ 35-0 win at Mississippi Valley State this past Saturday and didn’t see much action the remainder of the contest. He finished with six carries for 39 yards and [...]

Offensive Player of the Week – Quentin Williams, QB, Bethune-Cookman. Uh-oh, the Wildcats’ biggest weakness just got shored up. Williams passed for 128 yards and a touchdown and ran for 111 yards and two touchdowns during a 28-12 win over North Carolina A&T, considered to have one of the MEAC’s better defenses. Runner-ups – Travis Davidson, RB, Morgan State and [...]

Keith Pough of Howard University has been named the Co-Defensive Player of the Week by the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. A 6-3, 240-pound red-shirt senior linebacker from Orangeburg, SC, Pough had one of the best games of his productive career in the Bison’s 17-10 win over Florida A&M University this past Saturday. He tallied a game-high 17 tackles, 12 of them [...]