Football | 7/23/2026 2:22:00 PM
- The Aggies open preseason camp on Wednesday, July 29
- Elijah Kennedy earned preseason All-CAA honors
- The Aggies have a five-player battle for the starting quarterback position
 GREENSBORO – North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University football is no longer concerned about proving whether they belong in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) Football Conference.
The Aggies know they belong and need the wins to go along with that certainty. A&T head football coach Shawn Gibbs joined two of his players – senior wide receiver/return specialist Elijah Kennedy and senior cornerback Steven Davis II – during the second day of the CAA Zoom Media preseason media availability. The media availability comes six days before the Aggies open preseason camp.
A&T's first day of practice is 9 a.m., Wednesday, July 29 at the practice field adjacent to Truist Stadium on A&T's campus.
"The first step is changing our mentality," said Gibbs. "For too long we've been trying to prove that we belong and that we can play in this conference. That's no longer our approach. Our approach isn't to prove anything to anybody. Our approach is to honor and glorify who we've always been. We're a championship football program. We're going to start carrying ourselves and conducting ourselves like that."
The Aggies only have two CAA wins over their first three seasons in the league, with both of those victories coming last season. But Gibbs and his staff transformed the roster during the offseason. They announced 38 signings on Signing Day in February, and there are 20 transfers on the roster.
What hasn't changed much is the Aggies' quarterback room. The Aggies will go into an interesting battle at quarterback with five players vying for the job: junior Kevin White, sophomore Braxton Thomas, junior Champ Long, redshirt freshman Jy Walls, and graduate Alston Hooker.
Meanwhile, Kennedy comes into the season as one of the Aggies' most high-profile players. CAA head coaches voted Kennedy preseason first-team all-conference as a punt returner. He secured preseason honorable mention all-conference accolades as a kickoff returner. Senior teammate and A&T starting center from 2025, Andrew Dorsey, also earned preseason honorable mention all-conference accolades.
The conference also released its predicted order of finish, with the Aggies picked to finish 12th out of 13 teams. The Rhode Island Rams, who will visit Truist Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 4 p.m., will go into the season as the conference favorite, earning 12 first-place votes and 144 total points. Monmouth (119), Elon (115), New Hampshire (106), and Stony Brook (105) round out the top five. Four of the top five teams in the preseason poll are on the Aggies' schedule.
Kennedy has accumulated numerous preseason honors ahead of A&T's first game of the season, a 6 p.m. showdown against Morgan State on Saturday, Aug. 29 at Truist Stadium. Kennedy also earned preseason All-American honors from FCS STATS Perform, and he secured second-team All-American recognition from FCS Football Central.
Dorsey started 11 of 12 games for the Aggies last season at the center position after transferring from Fort Valley State. Dorsey played 765 snaps against some of the best defensive linemen in the country.
"We've made a lot of progress in a number of ways," Gibbs said. "We brought in a lot more talent. The guys that we had here last year have developed and have become better players, so we're excited about where we are going."
