As HBCU Players Go Undrafted, GMs See Lack Of Competition As Issue

The push to get football players from HBCUs into the NFL, spearheaded publicly by former Jackson State head football coach Deion Sanders, suffered a setback as this year, like 2021, no players from HBCUs were selected. This occurred despite the creation of recent initiatives like the HBCU Legacy Bowl and the HBCU Combine, backed by the NFL, in 2021 and 2022. 

As USA Today reports, in 2022, four HBCU players were taken, and last year, Jackson State cornerback Isaiah Bolden was the lone selection, taken by the New England Patriots late in the seventh round. Two HBCU players, Virginia State cornerback Willie Reed, and Howard University offensive tackle Anim Dankwah were expected to be the most likely players to get drafted. 

However, as The Athletic reported in 2023, the NFL is a business, and team executives are loath to use draft picks, even late-round picks, on players they don’t think can produce at the next level. Reporter Jim Trotter spoke to six NFL GMs, composed of a mixture of multiple demographics, including race, state of the team and age, and they informed him that they don’t believe the level of competition at the FCS level is the same as the level at the FBS level, and that factors in for them much more than any desire to see players from HBCUs succeed.

Orlando Arnold, an alumni of Alabama State and a certified agent who has represented four clients from HBCUs told The Athletic that although the old adage of “if you can play, they will find you” remains true, more work goes into visibility at HBCUs. “I don’t think they have a downright bias; it’s more of HBCUs aren’t a priority,” Arnold said. “For so long, there has been this notion that if you can play they will find you — and that still remains true. However, at HBCUs, so much has to go into making sure a player is seen. Does he have the stats? Does he have the measurables, etc.? Are the pro liaisons for the schools being proactive with scouts and evaluators and informing them of the player? At the end of the day, especially with the transfer portal, we aren’t getting that many NFL-caliber players like we used to.”

Arnold’s point about the transfer portal changing how players move among football subdivisions is true, and the only thing, in truth, that would drive NFL teams to look at HBCUs is if there were a mass exodus of four and five-star talents to HBCUs, like there was when Black players couldn’t choose to play at FCS schools. Trotter also indicated that he believes that the fight within the NFL for the equitable treatment of Black employees is a real one, but that creating a narrative that the NFL has a vendetta against players from HBCUs does a disservice to that credible fight. 

To Trotter’s point, The National Association of Black Journalists called for a meeting with the NFL in February ahead of the Super Bowl after they noted no changes in the NFL’s hiring practices for media members. As USA Today reported, Trotter, a former employee of NFL Media, did not have his contract renewed after he pointedly asked NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell if he planned to address the lack of Black media members. In response, Trotter filed a lawsuit against the league for wrongful termination. 

Goodell was asked during Super Bowl media week in February by KLKC reporter Darren Smith if the league planned to address the dearth of Black hirings in media, and Goodell responded, “Well, I disagree completely that there hasn’t been any change. I’m happy to get your data and share it with our people and make sure that we get an answer for you. I don’t have all the data. I will tell you that (for) the first time, 51 percent of our employees across the league, across the network, across all of our media platforms, not including players, are either people of color or women.”

 In a press release, NABJ President Ken Lemon, NABJ Vice President of Broadcast Walter Smith Randolph, and NABJ Vice President of Print Kathy Cheney released a joint statement earlier in February which emphasized their disappointment over the league’s lack of progress in hiring Black media members. “As the NFL gears up for one of the most watched events in the world, it should not feel comfortable knowing that its news arm does not reflect the diversity of its players, audience and event participants. We are challenging the NFL to make a serious effort to address these inequities now,” said the NABJ executives. “A failure to move quickly to resolve this matter reflects an insensitivity to the importance of having NFL stories told by diverse voices.”

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