We are only days away from the start of the 2024 HBCU Football Season. The season will start in the same place that the 2023 season ended. In Atlanta, Georgia! This year the season will open with two programs who know each other very well, Norfolk State and Florida A&M. The two used to be conference mates from 1999 until The Rattlers departed the MEAC for the SWAC in 2021. The Rattlers and Spartans haven't met since 2019 when FAMU snuck past Norfolk State 30-28 in a hard fought battle. That day the Spartans came 3 points shy of defeating the Rattlers but since that time the programs couldn't be further apart.
Norfolk State would go on and finish the 2019 season 5-7. Since that time the Spartans are 11-22 and only finished above .500 once with a 6-5 record in 2021. The Spartans have failed to win more than 3 games in a season for the past two seasons. The Spartans come into the 2024 season looking to right the ship. With a 3-8 season a year ago, the Spartans had 5 losses that were determined by a single possession or less. Norfolk State returns one of the most experienced teams in the MEAC with the majority of the offensive and defensive starters returning from a year ago. The Spartans were dealt a heavy blow earlier this week when it was announced that returning starting quarterback Otto Kuhns was ruled ineligible for Saturday's contest and would miss multiple games. Kuhns passed for 1,244 passing yards, 12 touchdowns , 7 interceptions a year ago and was named Pre-season 1st Team All-MEAC. Jalen Daniels will be the signal caller of the Spartans on Saturday Night in place of Kuhns. Daniels was originally a 3-star prospect coming out of high school and started his career at South Carolina as a walk-on. Daniels spent the 2023 season at Garden City CC, where he totaled 1,282 passing yards and 9 touchdowns.
Since 2018 FAMU is arguably the best program in HBCU football. The Rattlers have finished ranked in the top 25 4 times since 2018. They've won 9 or more games each every year since 2019, they earned an FCS playoff bid in 2021 and won the Celebration Bowl and HBCU National Title in 2023. But that was Florida A&M under Willie Simmons. Simmons is now at Duke University and the Head man in Tallahassee is James Colzie. Colzie was named the 19th full-time head coach of the Rattlers early this year after a coaching search that was as dramatic as mid-day television. Colzie has been with the program since 2022 as the team's defensive backs coach. Colzie served as the Head Coach at St. Mary's from 2016 through 2021 where he recorded an 18-20 overall record as HC. Colzie takes over a FAMU program that's one of the best in all of HBCU football. The Rattlers weren't predicted to win the SWAC Eastern Division this season partly because of the absence of Willie Simmons but also the turmoil at Florida A&M which has been ongoing since December of 2023.
Both Odoms and Colzie have something to prove come Saturday Night. Odoms is trying to win over the fanbase at Norfolk State after two back to back seasons with 3 wins or less. Odoms heads into year year 4 at Norfolk State with a 11-23 record. This year could very well be the final year of the Odoms regime in Norfolk in the Spartans Gail to get over .500 this year. Colzie is off the prove his own critics wrong. His 18-20 coaching head record is less than stellar and concerns many Rattler fans. Come Saturday Night one of these coaches would've earned a slight bit more confidence in their Head Coach headed into the remainder season.
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