HBCU Buzz

The Quinn Gray FAMU debut carried extra weight before it even kicked off, and the Rattlers made sure it ended the right way. Florida A&M opened the Quinn Fordham Gray Sr. era with a 20-7 win over Albany State Saturday night at Bragg Stadium, a game made all the more personal by the opponent standing across the field: the very program Gray had just left behind.

The Texas Southern North Carolina Central comeback will be the story of Week 1 for the Tigers, and deservedly so. Texas Southern trailed 14-0 in the first quarter and 24-14 at halftime before erupting for 28 second-half points to beat North Carolina Central 42-30 Saturday night at W.W. Thorne Stadium in Houston. It’s the kind of win that can shape a season’s identity before September even arrives.

Michael Vick Norfolk State football is officially off to the start the program needed. The Spartans scored on eight straight possessions and rolled to a 56-0 win over Winston-Salem State Saturday night in front of 15,572 fans at William “Dick” Price Stadium, delivering the head coach’s first shutout, first season-opening win and first 50-point outing all in the same night. After a difficult debut season in Norfolk, Vick’s second year opened about as cleanly as a coaching staff could script it.

The Ted White Howard debut is officially in the books, and it came with a signature moment. Howard held off Alabama A&M 31-24 Saturday night at Center Parc Stadium in Atlanta, capping the MEAC/SWAC Challenge with a forced fumble that sealed the Bison’s first win in the event’s history. For White, a Howard legend making his return to The Mecca as head coach, it doesn’t get much bigger than an ABC audience and a signature-worthy finish.

SC State 87-0 Savannah State is the final score that will headline South Carolina State’s record book for years to come. The defending HBCU national champions opened their 2026 campaign Saturday night by demolishing Savannah State in front of 12,000 fans at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium on Willie E. Jeffries Field, and the Bulldogs never let up.

ESPN’s HBCU football commitment isn’t slowing down. The network announced this week that its 2026-27 HBCU football schedule will span nearly 100 games featuring at least one HBCU program, a number that covers every conference tier from marquee kickoff windows to late-season streaming exclusives. Those games stretch across 10 different networks. That includes 69 ESPN+ exclusive matchups.

The Benjamin Ndour FAMU signing brings a 6-foot-9 forward with real professional experience into a Rattlers program that keeps landing talent most SWAC schools can only dream about. Charlie Ward just added a player who’s already been paid to play basketball. The Field of 68 reported Monday that Ndour, a native of Dakar, Senegal, has signed with FAMU. It’s another significant addition to a roster Ward is rebuilding piece by piece.

The Sam Jones NCCU statue will do something no championship banner or box score ever could. It will give visitors to McDougald-McLendon Arena a permanent, physical reminder of where a 10-time NBA champion’s basketball journey actually started. North Carolina Central plans to unveil the sculpture prior to the Eagles’ men’s basketball game against South Carolina State, according to HBCU Gameday. Family members and friends of Jones, along with university officials, will take part in the ceremony.

Edward Waters enrollment just hit a number the school hasn’t seen in more than 20 years. It’s now close enough to an all-time record that the gap can be counted in dozens, not hundreds. Florida’s first HBCU welcomed 1,281 students for Fall 2026, according to HBCU Gameday. That’s a 5.4 percent jump from Fall 2025 and the largest student body at the Jacksonville school in more than two decades. Edward Waters is now just 39 students away from setting a new all-time enrollment record.

The Nightcap HBCU Tour has a first stop, and it’s a fitting one. Prairie View A&M will host the show live from the Baby Dome on Sept. 4. That kicks off what Shannon Sharpe and Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson are calling an HBCU Tour for their popular sports talk show. “OH YEAH! Nightcap is hitting the road and going on an HBCU Tour!” the show announced on social media. “We’re pulling up to Prairie View A&M first LIVE from the Baby Dome on September 4th.