The FAMU football team “Strikes” Back!

Last Friday, after over two years of self isolation during the Covid pandemic, I threw caution to the wind and decided to road trip to Chapel Hill, North Carolina with two of my best friends, Victor Owens and Kenneth Taite, to support the Florida A&M University football team in its season opening game against the University of North Carolina Tar Heels.

When we stopped for a comfort break near Gastonia, North Carolina, each of us read ESPN’s breaking news that the NCAA had deemed 26 FAMU football players, including Buck Buchanan Award winning defensive end Isaiah Land, ineligible 😠. Even more frightening was the social media chatter that the game was to be canceled due to the lack of offensive linemen—and the frustrations of eligible players with regards to the rapidly changing circumstances that they were facing on the eve of their first battle.

While my friends and I had numerous questions about the late timing of the NCAA’s decision, the main question was”how” such a major snafu could occur? Now, I sincerely believe that those answers will come forth soon enough as this matter will not quickly go away, not with the de facto SWAC Championship tilt against a powerful Jackson State football coming up this weekend—and an important out of conference game against a powerful Albany State team looming the following week.

But when the “how” is ultimately answered, here’s hoping that measures are implemented by University President Larry Robinson and Interim AD Mike Smith that will prevent mass eligibility suspensions from ever occurring again on their watches!

While the FAMU football team fought valiantly in a losing effort to North Carolina last Saturday, earlier today, the entire team forwarded a letter to President Larry Robinson which outlined their major concerns with how their program is being treated internally. While I look forward to the president’s response, below you will find the entire letter to peruse and consider from the young Rattlers’ points of vantage:

 Kudos on letting your voices be heard in unison, young Rattlers!

The Florida A&M University brand is one of the most storied in college football history, as the scores of Black College, NCAA, and conference football championships won under Hall of Fame coaches like Jake Gaither, Rudy Hubbard, and Billy Joe attest. Those coaches set a standard that allows all Rattlers—young and old—to “Bragg different,” as the popular saying goes, with the extra “g” in honor of pioneering Florida A&M Coach Jubie Bragg— the namesake of our majestic on campus stadium.

I sincerely believe that current FAMU Coach Willie Simmons has the intellectual acuity and coaching skills to join that list of legendary FAMU coaches some day; anyone who watched how the FAMU offense, designed by the former quarterback Simmons, befuddled the Tar Heels this past weekend can tell that we have a great leader on our sidelines—if we can keep him!

The “if” from the preceding paragraph can become a finite “when” we keep him if the FAMU nation, from administrators, faculty and staff, to the fans, can join in unison to provide the monetary and volunteer hourly support to the program in all facets. When you look at how programs like Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, cross-town Florida State, and even our SWAC rival Jackson State are run, theirs is a collaborative effort where alumni and friends of the program donate time, tithes, and talents to help the coaching staff and players in their on-field efforts! While FAMU nation has done quite a bit towards this end over the past five years, lest we forget that we cannot rest on our laurels because Coach Simmons, his staff, and our players deserve only the best that we all can muster—now and always!

Hobbservation Point is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Chuck Hobbs is a freelance journalist who won the 2010 Florida Bar Media Award and has been twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.