Game of the Week: Alabama State vs North Carolina Central

let's break down the HBCU national game of the week between North Carolina Central and Alabama State Games going to be played in Miami Gardens Florida the orange blossom plasic now when I first heard this matchup and generally it had been Jackson State and Florida A&M you have no teams that are tied to Florida um Jackson State travels as well as any HBCU in the country but I think when you look at this matchup the I think because it's already been established from a crowd perspective I think you're going to get a lot of people from a crowd perspective that are going to come in I think you'll have some people that will come from Durham to Miami Gardens I think Alabama state's fan support is solid particularly now with one of their own as the head football coach in Eddie Robinson Jr so I think from a proud perspective this it's going to be good I think from a visual perspective television wise it's going to be good you've got two excellent programs one in which it's just two years removed meaning North Carolina Central from being named HBCU national champs the other Alabama State who on paper in my opinion may be the best team in all of HBCU football so let's break this thing down let's start with North Carolina Central's offense um you had an Allstar quarterback davius Richard one of the best players when it's all said and done I think will be one of the best players in the history of HBCU football when it's all said and done uh but Walker Harris is now the quarterback and this was named early okay early on uh Trey Oliver said this is our guy he played in some he played in a I think n minimum nine games he may have played in all the games last year but he had a lot of experience five touchdowns to no interceptions on last year did some really really good things uh North Carolina Central obviously high on him he's got a guy like a waen Davis wide receiver coming back Jamari Taylor at the running back position the offensive line should be solid we'll see if there are enough weapons and we'll see how good okay how good really that uh that um that that offense really is for North Carolina Central when I look at Alabama State okay and uh from a defensive perspective and I want to break it down sort of this way um boy that's a really really really good defense you already okay had some guys that really really could get it done you add now a RICO Doer one of the best players in the SWAT uh was an HBC All-American at the linebacker position last year for Arkansas Pine Bluff you know you've got all of these guys um you know you've got the Thomas kid right you've got you know Demarcus Cunningham at linebacker like this defense even though you look lose like a Mikey Victor in the secondary this defense is absolutely spectacular all right let me flip this thing because we're running out of time here a little bit um I look at the offense for Alabama State and I I I don't think it can be overstated how big a key that I think that and by the way you lose Colton Adams also on the defense that's a huge loss but again bringing in Rico doer at that linebacker position is huge but offensively Andrew B the quarterback for Texas Sub brings so much to the table and when we had a chance uh to talk of course with Eddie Robinson in the last segment you know he talked about well yeah you know Andrew bod's good we got another guy that's right there with him both of those guys have been competing so but in any event Andrew B can throw the football he can run the football put up a lot of numbers he was just not on a very good Texas Southern team on last year I think with the running situation uh should be pretty solid um and that offensive line should be pretty solid also for Alabama State when I look at North Carolina Central from a defensive perspective look only four starters returning some other guys are going to step up are going to really have to step up but I think it's an excellent coaching staff from a defensive perspective um you know Trey Oliver is a defensive minded coach so I think that the defense overall throughout the course of the season will be good we'll just have to see how good it's going to be in this football game it's gonna have to be very very good in this particular football game first game of the season for both teams I would also make mention that North Carolina Central is five and one since 2021 is five in one in nationally televised games I don't mean streaming games I mean on games that are on cable or are on National Television or network television as it were five in one I think that's huge including the victory in 2022 on ABC in the celebration Bowl um against Jackson State a huge win in overtime for North Carolina Central I think that so the big B lights aren't going to necessarily bother uh particularly not going to bother um this Eagle football team that said I just think that the especially a first football game I think that Alabama state has more veterans um a a a more when I look at the roster especially you know it's hard to break down okay the entire roster terms of top to bottom and looking at the overall depth that's difficult is because you got new guys coming in there's gonna have to be some cohesion and I'm talking about both football teams in this respect but when you talk about the first 11 on either side of the football I think Alabama state has the advantage right there and I think that will show in this football game uh in the Orange Blossom classic I think it's going to be a good football game I think it's going to be a close football game but I like Alabama state to win the Orange Blossom classic against the North Carolina Central Eagles