By BRETT MARTEL
Related Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — South Carolina State defensive again Zafir Kelly has spent this week at a downtown, high-rise lodge that has hosted occasions tied to the Tremendous Bowl and NBA All-Star Recreation, mingling with NFL scouts within the evenings and making ready to play nationally televised recreation alongside NFL draft-eligible gamers who, like him, selected to attend a traditionally Black school.
The inaugural Legacy Bowl, which kicks off on Saturday afternoon on NFL Community, will “even the enjoying discipline for us,” stated Kelly. ”We get the brief finish of the stick due to the place we play at. It’s positively an incredible alternative. You see the scouts round, TV, so extra publicity.”
The sport will function stars like Alabama A&M College senior quarterback Aqeel Glass who has been chosen because the recipient of the Black School Soccer Participant of the Yr Award, his second.
Glass dominated the Fall 2021 season with 3,568 passing yards, 36 touchdowns and averaged 356.8 yards per recreation. His 160.8 passing effectivity over the course of 10 video games led all HBCU soccer. He ranked within the Prime-10 nationally in 9 completely different NCAA statistical classes.
Publicity is one thing HBCU’s have been aggressively pursuing currently — efficiently so, and never simply in soccer.
Within the hours earlier than the Legacy Bowl kicks off in New Orleans, the Morgan State and Howard basketball groups will conflict within the nationally televised NBA HBCU Traditional, held this yr in Cleveland at the side of NBA All-Star weekend.
In the meantime, former NFL star Deion Sanders has helped elevate the profile of HBCU soccer significantly since taking up as Jackson State head coach, touchdown a serious nationwide endorsement take care of Afflac Insurance coverage, which options Sanders alongside Alabama coach Nick Saban in TV commercials.
And earlier this month, the Senior Bowl in Cell, Alabama, hosted a promotional HBCU tent village and a first-of-its-kind mix particularly for HBCU gamers.
Outstanding Black skilled athletes have jumped on board to assist promote Saturday’s Legacy Bowl. Kansas Metropolis Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is slated to participate within the pre-game coin toss.
The Legacy Bowl is the brainchild of former NFL quarterbacks Doug Williams and James “Shack” Harris, who each performed at Grambling. There was a time when Grambling produced quite a few NFL prospects who’d honed their expertise in school beneath legendary coach Eddie Robinson.
However final yr, not one HBCU participant was drafted. That bothered Williams and Harris.
“There isn’t any method on the earth that out of all of the Black schools that play soccer, there isn’t a participant adequate to be on anyone’s apply squad or 53-man roster,” Williams stated.
Added Harris: “This recreation is all about alternative. Scouts generally grade the varsity and never the participant. That is one other alternative for them to grade the participant.”
Whereas essentially the most outstanding HBCU packages play on the Soccer Championship Subdivision stage, others, comparable to Bowie State, play in Division II. Some prime gamers at that stage additionally had been invited to play within the Legacy Bowl.
Bowie State coach Damon Wilson is working alongside South Carolina State coach Oliver Pough on Group Gaither, named for former Florida A&M coach Jake Gaither. Group Robinson is coached by present Florida A&M coach Willie Simmons and Gabe Giordina of Division II Albany State.
The sport might be held at Tulane’s Yulman Stadium, which additionally hosted practices. The New Orleans Saints supplied use of their indoor discipline throughout wet, windy climate late this week.
Saints assistant normal supervisor and director of school scouting Jeff Eire stated the Legacy Bowl is “essential and important and completely one thing that’s been wanted for a while.”
“I don’t assume we’ve gotten sufficient publicity to those HBCU gamers, particularly the final couple years due to COVID,” Eire stated. “There are all the time nice gamers at HBCUs — hidden gems, you’ve simply received to uncover them.”
The Saints did simply that after they drafted multiple-time Professional Bowl left deal with Terron Armstead out of Arkansas-Pine Bluff in 2013.
Whereas scouts usually fan out to particular person HBCUs and convey again experiences to NFL entrance places of work, the Legacy Bowl provides the extra main decision-makers an opportunity to see gamers carry out in particular person — and to satisfy them, Eire famous.
“You see them as athletes, what their physique kind is — size, bulk, how they’re developed,” Eire stated. “We talked to a few children after apply, getting an opportunity to listen to their story.”
The Legacy Bowl additionally has drawn representatives from the CFL and the briefly dormant XFL, which plans to renew play in February 2023.
Doug Whaley, the XFL’s senior vice chairman of participant personnel, watched apply and mingled with gamers’ brokers “to allow them to know we might be an possibility for them of their soccer future.”
Whaley stated he was impressed by the sources devoted to the occasion.
“They had been ready to ensure these gamers received a good shake and scouts had been capable of do their job,” Whaley stated. “It was a great way to get them competing towards one another and present what they will do in skilled setting.”
Kelly stated the Legacy Bowl “will certainly change the sport” by way of elevating the profile of the HBCU model of soccer.
“I really feel like there’s nice gamers popping out of HBCUs,” Kelly stated. “And additional on sooner or later, after they get a chance right here, they gained’t get ignored.”
For extra on the sport go to www.HBCULegacyBowl.com
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