GREENSBORO – After watching Monmouth receiver TJ Speight sprint down the field untouched for touchdowns, and Monmouth running back Rodney Nelson rush for 163 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries, leading to North Carolina A&T's 63-19 loss to the 12th-ranked Hawks Saturday afternoon at Truist Stadium, A&T football coach Shawn Gibbs made it crystal clear what was needed in Aggieland for Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) and national success.
The Aggies need to recruit players who are on par with the talent level Monmouth brought to Truist on Saturday. Monmouth compiled 696 yards of offense in becoming the fourth team to score 60-plus points on the Aggies this season. Saturday marked the third time an opponent has scored 60 or more at Truist.
"Honestly, those guys are bigger, stronger and faster," Gibbs said about Monmouth. They wore us out. We gave it a little bit of a fight, but we were overmatched in every aspect. We have to use Monmouth as a measuring stick of where we're trying to go. We better get on this recruiting trail and get us some dudes.
On two jet sweeps, No. 1 (Speight) caught the ball and outran everybody we had on the field. No. 20 (Nelson) is a little guy, but he was faster than everybody on the field.
Gibbs did acknowledge his graduate kicker Andrew Brown, who was one of 20 football players celebrated before the game as a part of the annual Senior Day festivities. Brown booted four field goals on Saturday, one shy of the program's single-game record set by Yonnick Matthews in 1999.
Three of his field goals went for 50 yards or more, becoming the first Aggie with multiple 50-plus yard field goals in the same game. Brown's legacy at A&T will be well established for years to come. In addition to being the school's all-time leader in field goals made and attempted, Brown has made an incredible seven 50-plus yard field goals in his career, with one game remaining as a collegiate football player.
"Our kicker's better than theirs, at least I can say that," said Gibbs. "But other than Andrew, there weren't many bright spots out there. I do think some guys played hard. I think (graduate running back) Wesley Graves played hard. (Quarterback) Nelson (Layne) made some plays with his feet, and Jayvonne Dillard had a good day statistically with 100 yards receiving, but we have a lot of work to do."
Sophomore quarterback Kevin White started his eighth straight game for the Aggies, but shared some time with Layne, a freshman out of Highland Springs, Va., playing his third career game at A&T. White was 12-for-24 for 183 yards and no interceptions or touchdowns. He also ran for 31 yards on nine carries. Layne mostly entered the game to run the football, but Gibbs acknowledged that he is more than that.
Neson's not a gimmick. He's not a one-trick pony," said Gibbs. "He can throw the ball as well, so we got to continue to help him in his development because I think it's obvious that he can really affect the game with his legs, but he also has a strong arm, so we got to make sure that we get him ready to go so you'll see a lot more of him just playing flat-out quarterback next week."
Meanwhile, Dillard's 100-yard receiving game marks the Aggies' first of the season and their first since Ger-Cari Caldwell caught seven passes for 130 yards at Richmond on October 5, 2024. The Aggies are still in search of their first 100-yard rushing game from an Aggie. If they do not have one next week at Elon, it will mark the first time since 2004 that the Aggies have gone an entire season without someone posting 100 yards rushing in a game.
A&T did have some success on offense. The Hawks scored on their first two drives before the Aggies responded with an impressive drive. White completed a 15-yard pass to junior receiver Amonte Jones before completing passes of 29 and 12 to Dillard, leading to Brown connecting on a 31-yard field goal to cut Monmouth's lead to 14-3. After one of Speight's sprints to the end zone, the Aggies then had Brown attempt a 55-yard field goal, which he hit with ease to cut Monmouth's advantage to 21-6.
A&T could not slow down Monmouth's offense, however. Hawks quarterback Frankie Weaver connected with Jack Neri for a 26-yard touchdown pass, but the Aggies offense had another answer. The Aggies put together an 8-play, 74-yard drive that included runs of 13 and 12 yards by Graves, a 14-yard run from Nelson, and a 26-yard pass completion from White to Jones. It all led to a 3-yard TD run from White, cutting the Hawks' lead to 28-13.
Monmouth scored 28 unanswered points from there to complete the blowout. Weaver completed 19 of 27 passes for 428 yards and six touchdowns. Speight was his favorite target, compiling seven receptions for 162 yards and two long touchdowns, one for 62 yards and the other for 53 yards.
"I've been a part of some situations where we had to rebuild, but it wasn't to this extent," said Gibbs. "But we're going to get through it. We're going to get better. We had a lot of recruits out here today, and we got some guys up on official visits, and we've got some guys committed. Things will get better."
