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 getting ready to play nationally televised sport alongside NFL draft-eligible gamers who, like him, selected to attend a traditionally Black faculty.
The inaugural Legacy Bowl, which kicks off on Saturday afternoon on NFL Community, will “even the taking part in area for us,” stated Kelly. ”We get the quick finish of the stick due to the place we play at. It’s positively an ideal alternative. You see the scouts round, TV, so extra publicity.”
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 Basic, held this yr in Cleveland at the side of NBA All-Star weekend.
In the meantime, former NFL star Deion Sanders has helped increase the profile of HBCU soccer significantly since taking up as Jackson State head coach, touchdown a serious nationwide endorsement cope with Afflac Insurance coverage, which options Sanders alongside Alabama coach Nick Saban in TV commercials.
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 abilities in faculty below legendary coach Eddie Robinson.
However final yr, not one HBCU participant was drafted. That bothered Williams and Harris.
“There isn’t any means on the planet that out of all of the Black faculties that play soccer, there isn’t a participant ok to be on someone’s follow squad or 53-man roster,” Williams stated.
Added Harris: “This sport is all about alternative. Scouts typically 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 degree, others, reminiscent of Bowie State, play in Division II. Some high gamers at that degree 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 will likely be held at Tulane’s Yulman Stadium, which additionally hosted practices. The New Orleans Saints provided use of their indoor area throughout wet, windy climate late this week.
Saints assistant common supervisor and director of school scouting Jeff Eire stated the Legacy Bowl is “essential and demanding and completely one thing that is been wanted for a while.”
“I don’t assume we have gotten sufficient publicity to those HBCU gamers, particularly the final couple years due to COVID,” Eire stated. “There are at all times nice gamers at HBCUs — hidden gems, you have simply received to uncover them.”
The Saints did simply that after they drafted multiple-time Professional Bowl left sort out Terron Armstead out of Arkansas-Pine Bluff in 2013.
Whereas scouts frequently fan out to particular person HBCUs and convey again studies to NFL entrance workplaces, the Legacy Bowl offers the extra main decision-makers an opportunity to see gamers carry out in particular person — and to fulfill them, Eire famous.
“You see them as athletes, what their physique kind is — size, bulk, how they’re developed,” Eire stated. “We talked to some youngsters after follow, getting an opportunity to listen to their story.”
The Legacy Bowl additionally has drawn representatives from the CFL and the quickly dormant XFL, which plans to renew play in February 2023.
Doug Whaley, the XFL’s senior vp of participant personnel, watched follow and mingled with gamers’ brokers “to allow them to know we will likely be an choice for them of their soccer future.”
Whaley stated he was impressed by the assets devoted to the occasion.
“They had been ready to ensure these gamers received a good shake and scouts had been in a position to do their job,” Whaley stated. “It was a great way to get them competing in opposition to one another and present what they’ll do in skilled setting.”
Kelly stated the Legacy Bowl “will certainly change the sport” when it comes to 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 possibility right here, they received’t get neglected.”
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