Today, Alabama A&M University football coaches accepted the commitments of Grayson High School football players Kenny Edwards (Safety), Hayden Gilford (Linebacker); and Ole Miss transfer, AJ Harris.
Edwards and Guilford both had offers from FBS schools like Baylor, Syracuse, Iowa State, Colorado State, Eastern Kentucky, and UT-Chattanooga. They chose Alabama A&M, an FCS school.
Some experts and fans devalue the idea of a promising student athlete committing to a historically black college and university because of fear; fear that talent will go wasted, uncoached or unexposed to a promising future in the professional ranks. Some elements of HBCU sports culture help to make the point for them, with lopsided losses and embarrassing statistics on pro draft picks and players who make pro rosters in the nation’s three major American sports, football, baseball and basketball.
But AAMU Head Coach Connell Maynor and his staff recruit with the specific intention of securing promising student athletes who want a holistic experience that acknowledges their athletic ability and career goals of the student.
“So many people believe that the greatest exposure can only come from the PWIs and not HBCUs,” says Bulldogs Recruitment Coordinator William Carr. “But in reality, if a student has talent, they’ll be found wherever. We don’t need to play before 448,000 people, we need to be seen and chosen by one of 32.”
Great article and even better point. A talented player in todays society with technology can be noticed instantly. Not just the NFL, the CFL and arena treams too. A kids make a play in college its instabtly seems by millions in one button click.
I congratulate the following guys heading to HBCU to advance their education and careers.
Its a shame some people have negative views about HBCU sports. If it werent for HBCUdigest.com, I wouldnt have gotten the gist into why most Black football players seem to choose PWI more than HBCUs to expand their talents..because of exposure.
I wonder how did people like Michael Strahan, Jerry Rice, the late Walter Payton or Jerry Rice feel about ” exposure” during the times they played at HBCUs? Though they didnt go to PWIs ,look at where the HBCUs got them… and then some more after football. How do they explain that?
If players are meant to get discovered, it will happen no matter where they are. There have been atheletes who were never exposed until they came on the field to play.Some of the best / known players werent discovered on ESPN.Some players have been discovered by a coach seeing them playing in public parks or at their own homes. Even if some of these athletes are exposed from a PWI there are no guarantees that they will be a great football legends.
Recently, Kayvon Thibodeaux picked his school of choice to attend. He picked Oregon State University.He said he liked the coach and that his mom liked him. Although he didnt say the following, I also could imagine that Kayvon want to attend OSU because he’s still on the West Coast and he’ll be closer to his folks in Los Angeles.
Although he didnt choose an HBCU, Im still happy that he has aspirations to get his education. If I had kids that played sports and wanting to go to college, while I would be happy that they want to go to college, I would remind them the same thing that I expressed on here: if something is meant to be it will be. Atheletes can get discovered at PWIs,HBCUs or their own backyards.