North Carolina A&T football always has something to prove. The 2021 season will be no different as it enters its first season as a Big South Conference member.
The Aggies current championship run started in 2015 when a 5-foot-6 phenomenon rushed for 295 yards and three touchdowns in the inaugural Celebration Bowl in Atlanta to lead A&T to the black college football national championship. Two years later, with Cohen a member of the Chicago Bears, the Aggies had to prove they were not just about one player, but they had a championship program. Prove themselves is what they did.
They became the first Division I historically black college or university to finish the season undefeated. In 2017, they went 12-0, won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), the Celebration Bowl and another black college football national title. In the national polls, the Aggies finished sixth nationally, but the question arose about how well the Aggies would have fared in the NCAA FCS playoffs.
After the 2017 season, head coach Rod Broadway retired, leaving the sense again that the Aggies may not fare well without an individual. Broadway's defensive coordinator Sam Washington took over the head coaching duties in 2018. The Aggies started to prove the doubters wrong early as they had non-conference wins over FCS power Jacksonville State and FBS opponent East Carolina.
A&T finished 10-2, won the MEAC, the Celebration Bowl and the black college national championship again. The following year, the Aggies needed two wins to secure another MEAC championship and a Celebration Bowl berth at the season's end. They won those two games by a combined score of 101-17. Once again, they proved their dominance over black college football with a convincing 64-44 win over Alcorn State.
It was their fourth black college football national title in five years. Therefore, despite losing Tarik and Broadway and a host of talented players over the years, the Aggies proved their point. They are one of the most dominant teams in FCS football. Right?
Not so fast. There is the notion that through the championship run, A&T went to the playoffs only once, and they lost that game convincingly. Second, there is the notion that their dominance came against one of the lower-rated conferences in the FCS. Despite beating Charlotte, ECU, Appalachian State, Kent State and Jacksonville State, the Aggies mainly feasted on other black college football teams to gain their superiority.
Then COVID-19 came, ending the Aggies momentum as the 2020 season got canceled because of the pandemic.
They enter a diversity conference in the Big South with two nationally-ranked powers in Kennesaw State and Monmouth. It puts the Aggies back into a familiar spot of having to prove themselves.
They welcome it.
"We expect people to think we're not going to go far," said A&T All-America running back Jah-Maine Martin (5-foot-10, 220 SR, Conway, S.C.). "Every time we lose a star player, people start to wonder how we are going to fill their shoes. We are going to have to prove it to the world again. All I can say is, choose your side and stay there."
N.C. A&T has not played a football game since defeating Alcorn State on Dec. 21, 2019, in Atlanta's Mercedes Benz Stadium. The Aggies flirted with the idea of playing during the fall of 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, forced MEAC to move its games to the spring of 2021.
Once the spring of 2021 arrived, many MEAC schools started to pull out from spring play because of the contagious virus. With only a few schools willing to participate during the spring, the Aggies again decided not to play during the spring.
"It's been a long journey, but we're ready," said Martin. "This is probably the readiest I have ever been. We don't play for a little while, and people start to forget who you are and what you stand for. I think it's time for some reminders because people have forgotten what's going on around here."
There is a lot to remember about the Aggies. Along with Martin some familiar faces are on the team, including senior wide receiver Zachary Leslie (6-4, 210, Lawndale, N.C.), who has combined for 1,328 yards receiving and 14 touchdowns over the previous two seasons he played.
The Aggies also have three offensive linemen who started in 2019 back in 2021, including first-team All-MEAC junior center Dacquari Wilson (6-3, 300, Greensboro, N.C.)
Defensively, the Aggies have eight starters returning. Their senior defensive ends, Jermaine McDaniel (6-3, 240, Dillon, S.C.) and Devin Harrell (6-3, 240, Gastonia, N.C.) were coming off career seasons in 2019. McDaniel steps into this season as a preseason All-Big South selection along the defensive line.
A&T also returns all three starting linebackers from 2020, including junior Kyin Howard (6-0, 250, Greensboro, N.C.), who sports information directors and head coaches voted the MEAC preseason defensive player of the year after he led the Aggies in tackles in 2019.
Three Aggies also return to the Aggies secondary cornerback Amir McNeill (5-9, 167, JR, Laurinburg, N.C.). He had one of the most significant interceptions of the 2019 season, a late-game INT that clinched a 22-20 win over S.C. State.
"I am so pleased with how well we have stuck together through this pandemic," said Washington, who is entering his fourth season as the Aggies head coach with a 19-5 record. "They have been working their butts off. We were fortunate to pretty much get the entire team both summer sessions, which is unique for us. Normally, we don't report until the second summer session. This summer, we started early, and they have been very diligent about working hard."
The Aggies are predicted to finish third in their first season in the Big South. There will be some familiar teams on the Aggies 2021 schedule despite the jump to a new league. Duke University returns to the schedule after the Blue Devils defeated the Aggies 45-13 in 2019. The Aggies led 10-7 in the second quarter before the Blue Devils scored 21 points in the 2 ½ minutes of the first half to pull away.
A&T's longstanding rivalry with North Carolina Central is back, even with the two long-time rivals in separate leagues again. They are guaranteed to play each other for the next 10 years, keeping intact one of the oldest rivalries in college football.
Hampton and A&T were conference rivals in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) until 1970. They then became conference rivals again in the MEAC starting in 1995 before Hampton moved to the Big South in 2017. They are back as conference rivals in the Big South. The Aggies will also play S.C. State, one of their oldest rivals from the MEAC.
"I have accepted it," said Washington about the move to the Big South. "I have reconciled with it. It was tough being an HBCU school leaving an HBCU conference and going into a more diverse conference. But there is a time and place for everything. I think it's the right time, and we're the right team to do it."
The Big South has had multiple teams reach the NCAA Division I-FCS playoffs. A&T hopes to have a season good enough to make a playoff run. The Aggies want to show what was done in Atlanta four out of the past five Decembers before the pandemic can happen in the playoffs.
"They always downgraded us because we went to the Celebration Bowl," said Leslie. "Now, we get to show others what we're about in 2021. We need to show we're not just made for black college; we can beat anybody."
Washington believes the perfect scenario for the Aggies would have been choosing whether to participate in the playoffs or the Celebration Bowl. However, he does not begrudge the Aggies success in Atlanta since 2015.
The Aggies got a chance to play a nationally-televised game on ABC four times in five years. On many occasions, the Celebration Bowl served as the first bowl game played each bowl season. Therefore, the Aggies played in front of millions of eyeballs watching on television. But the playoffs have their perks too.
"The Celebration Bowl is a very good venue, a very good game and a very good opportunity," said Washington. "We in no way feel slighted by having played in that bowl game. But to be considered the best of the best is an opportunity we don't take lightly."
Thus, we have the Aggies next proving point.
