By Donal Ware
boxtorow.com
The NFL still has a problem drafting HBCU players.
In this year’s NFL Draft, just four players from HBCUs were taken. But for the first time in 11 years, a player was taken in the first round.
Alabama State offensive tackle Tytus Howard was drafted No. 23 overall by the Houston Texans, becoming the first HBCU player taken in the first round since Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie was selected No. 16 overall by the Arizona Cardinals in 2008. Howard’s stock began to rise at the Shrine Bowl and at the NFL Scouting Combine. He was one of only two players taken in the first round from a non-Power 5 school, and the only FCS player taken in the first round.
The three other players drafted this year were seventh-round picks—two of them also scouting combine participants in North Carolina A&T defensive end Darryl Johnson, Jr. (taken No. 225 overall by the Buffalo Bills) and Morgan State offensive lineman Joshua Miles (taken No. 248 by the Arizona Cardinals). Sandwiched in between Johnson and Miles was Prairie View A&M defensive end Quinton Bell, taken No. 230 by the Oakland Raiders.
While Howard was well known, as were Johnson and Miles, Bell was not necessarily a known commodity. He was a second-team All-SWAC performer in 2018, although he put up some solid numbers, registering 46 tackles (14 solo), 10 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks. He really benefited from a strong pro day. More intriguing was the fact that Bell lined up as a wide receiver for the first three years with the Panthers, catching 19 passes for 259 yards and a touchdown.
Why Aren’t HBCU Players Being Drafted?
While more recently players from HBCUs have been drafted in the higher rounds—Howard this year; Darius Leonard (second round) and Brandon Parker (third round) in 2018; Chad Williams (third round) in 2017; Javon Hargrave (third round) in 2016—the number of HBCU players being drafted has gone way down.
It seems as though the league (teams) wants to sign these players to free agent deals, which generally means less (guaranteed) money for them. We are already seeing HBCU players sign free agent deals and over the coming days will likely see more players sign. Why weren’t some of these players, who undoubtedly will make rosters, drafted?
On opening day of 2018, 32 former HBCU players were on an NFL roster. Of those 32, only 14 were drafted and only six were Day 2 draftees (rounds 2-3). At least seven players who signed free-agent contracts last year made teams.
The four HBCU players selected this year brings the total to 20 drafted since 2011. Again, Jones is the first first-round selection since 2008 and 10 HBCU players were selected in rounds 2–4 since that time. Compare that to a total of 13 HBCU players selected in 2000.
Also, from 1992-2000, eight players from HBCUs were drafted in the first round (Hall of Famer Michael Strahan was drafted in the second round in 1993). Between 2001-2007, not one player was drafted in the first round in an era that included Rashean Mathis, Justin Durant, Antoine Bethea, Robert Mathis, Nick Collins, Visanthe Shiancoe and others. (I have a theory as to why that I will share at another time.)
We know that players at HBCUs can play. History tells us so. Jerry Rice. Walter Payton. Buck Buchanan. Some of the greatest to ever play were from HBCUs. Integration and time have changed the landscape of top players playing at HBCUs, to the detriment of HBCUs. In other words, it’s not that kids aren’t playing at HBCUs because they don’t recognize the history. I think two prime examples of that are Jones and Miles, who in speaking with them, are keenly aware of the players that came before them.
Kids want to play at bigger schools where they can get more exposure. At the end of the day, there is a difference between Norfolk State and Old Dominion, between Jackson State and Southern Mississippi, between Grambling and Louisiana-Monroe. The latter schools play at the FBS level, which generally speaking, means more exposure and more financial support.
Integration hampered Black folks’ situations. Look at all the Black business that declined or were lost because of integration. When desegregation of the schools happened, Black children were integrated into white schools, thus, in some cases, losing their history.
The MEAC was envisioned in 1969 and created in 1970 for the purpose of going Division I, which it ultimately did in 1978. In the conference’s first 15 years, there was some instability. But ultimately, the conference found stability from 1986 onward, even adding members Norfolk State, Hampton, North Carolina Central (rejoined in 2010 after leaving in 1984), and Savannah State. Hampton and Savannah State left for their own respective reasons this past year.
The SWAC on the other hand seems to have had a rockier road moving to Division I, with a November 10, 1977, article from the Associated Press stating that the conference momentarily suspended operations in light of Grambling, Texas Southern, Jackson State, and Alcorn State moving to Division I.
Like integration during the ‘60’s, as better Black players began to go to schools in the ACC and SEC and other conferences that had shunned them for so many years, they stopped going to HBCUs. While some businesses closed, CIAA, SWAC, and SIAC remained open for business, but weren’t competing as they once had. While the forming of the MEAC was ambitious and the move to Division I by both the MEAC and SWAC was a good thing, they ultimately could not move to higher DI (I-A/FBS in football) like other schools and conferences. A lot of schools were just trying to keep the doors open. Who has time to put those kinds of resources into moving up athletically? Florida A&M tried in 2004, but it did not work out.
In 2019, the landscape of college football is different. While Black players make up the majority of HBCU football rosters, there are quite a few non-Black players who play at HBCUs as well. This isn’t a bad thing. Coaches as a whole are recruiting football players, no matter the color.
As the landscape of society is changing with many issues and social ills, including gentrification, wouldn’t it be nice if the best (Black) football players came to HBCUs, further raising the profile of the schools, enrollments, finances and all of those things to help sustain our institutions so that one day the MEAC and SWAC could be FBS conferences?
That would make HBCU football in the NFL great again.