Greensboro's African American Community Newspaper since 1967
After months of anticipation, the Shawn Gibbs era is set to begin this Saturday at 4:30 p.m. when A&T travels to Nashville to face longtime HBCU rival Tennessee State in the John Merritt Classic.
Gibbs, a former A&T assistant who spent the past three years leading Fort Valley State to a 22-9 record, has been tasked with restoring the glory of a once-proud Aggie football program.
His return to Greensboro this past December was immediately met with hope and optimism by the A&T fanbase, which had been humbled in recent years after an unfamiliar period of futility.
“There hasn’t been a day that’s gone by when somebody hasn’t come up to me and asked me how we’re looking,” said Gibbs on Monday during his first weekly press conference appearance of the season.” And all I can tell them is what I know: we’re getting better. What that means? Well, we’re going to see on Saturday what that means. But this is a university and a program that has high expectations. We’re not going to run from that.”
Over the past two years, A&T managed to win just two games under former head coach Vincent Brown and is still looking for its first conference victory as a member of the Coastal Athletic Association.
Gibbs knew his work was cut out for him when he took over this rebuilding project but admitted it was just in the last few weeks when he began to get excited about his team’s progress.
“After spring ball I was scared to death,” joked Gibbs. “I didn’t know what we were going to be. I watched their progress through the summer and saw how they were working, but it wasn’t until those first couple days of fall camp when I saw how they were working and coming together as a team.”
Saturday’s game will mark the 26th meeting between the two schools (TSU owns an 18-6-1 lead in the series) and it will be held at Nissan Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans.
The last time the two schools played in this venue was in 1999 during the first round of the 1-AA playoffs. That year A&T shocked the world by upsetting a No. 1 ranked and previously unbeaten TSU team, which still remains the only playoff win in school history.
On Monday, Gibbs said he was still in the process of evaluating many of his key players on his roster but said fans should expect to see both redshirt sophomore quarterback Braxton Thomas and University of Maryland transfer Champ Long take the field against the Tigers on Saturday
Talented sophomore Kevin White Jr. also factored in the quarterback competition but is still recovering from a broken leg suffered at the end of spring camp.
Regardless of who lines up behind center against TSU, no quarterback on the roster will have the benefit of a ton of game experience under their belt.
White might be considered the elder statesmen of the group and is the only quarterback who has logged more than two starts in their college career
Hopefully, the A&T signal callers will be able to lean on a strong running game early on.
Redshirt senior Wesley Graves and junior Shimique Blizard were listed as the top two running backs on the initial depth chart posted this week, but Gibbs cautioned not to look too much into that.
“In this program, you’ve got to battle each and every day,” said Gibbs. “So that might say that on that piece of paper right now, but then we might go out and have a great practice tomorrow and somebody else might win the position. But Wesley is starting right now because of the person he is. He’s a savvy vet and he comes out to practice his butt off each and every day.”
“And Blizard is right there. He’s another guy who’s got a little more experience than the other backs. But Jailen Hicks and JT Smith are going to be really good players for us. That’s a position I feel real good about and they’re going to make some noise throughout the season.”
Blizzard led A&T with 341 yards on the ground and three rushing touchdowns in 12 games. Graves played in just four games last year due to injury, finishing with 225 yards including the game-winning 16-yard touchdown run in overtime against Winston-Salem State for the Aggies’ lone win of 2024.
Defensively, A&T will look to improve dramatically from a season ago when it finished near the bottom of the CAA in most statistical categories.
Last year, the Aggies surrendered an average of 38 points and total 438.2 yards per contest – which both ranked dead last in the 16-team conference.
The woes were especially evident on the ground, where A&T’s undersized front seven allowed 194.58 rushing yards per game and 35 rushing touchdowns.
A&T, however, won’t be the only team on Saturday facing uncertainty.
TSU also enters the contest with plenty of question marks, the main one being how the team will respond to new head coach Reggie Barlow.
Barlow, a 15-year coaching veteran who most recently served as the head coach of the UFL’s DC Defenders, replaces Pro Football Hall of Famer Eddie George who left TSU after four years to become the head coach at FBS school Bowling Green.
Last year George led the Tigers to an Ohio Valley Conference title and an appearance in the first round of the FCS playoffs with a 9-4 final record.
However, the Tigers’ roster has undergone major changes since George’s departure and returns only five players who earned more than 200 snaps a season ago. Most recently, TSU’s highly-touted defensive back Camani Cobbs, a preseason HBCU All-America selection, announced on August 17 that he was entering the transfer portal.
“For me, I don’t think week one is primarily about game plans, I think week one is about adjustments,” said Gibbs. “We’re going to watch the film from the UFL, from the XFL, from Virginia State, from Alabama State, just to try to get an idea what these guys are doing.
But ultimately it is going to be about who is able to make those adjustments in-game and at halftime that will determine the outcome.”
