Texas Southern and Florida A&M Kickoff HBCU Football Season in Saturday's Jake Gaither Football Classic

By ADD SEYMOUR JR.

Texas Southern quarterback Jay Cristophe (photo by Juan DeLeon/Houston Chronicle)

Don't be surprised if Texas Southern and Florida A&M look similiar to one another when they kick off the HBCU football season in Saturday's Jake Gaither Football Classic in Tallahassee, Fla.

They are both teams who finished 4-7 last year. They have offenses that like to run their quarterback and well as throw the football. And, well, SU  head coach Michael Haywood was the head coach at Miami (Oh), his wide receivers coach was FAMU head coach Alex Wood.

"So there's a lot of similarities in the offensive scheme, along with the way they run the quarterback," Haywood said during the SWAC Media Day last month.  "We won't run the quarterback early this year because of what happened last year."

What happened last year was a knee injury to TSU quarterback Jay Cristophe in the season opener, ending his season.  This year, the strong-armed and quick-footed senior is back and Haywood couldn't be happier.

"I think he's a lot smarter football player," he said.  "He understands the offensive system a lot better because he spent a lot of time in the meeting room when he was injured. He spent a lot of time during spring football analyzing, understanding.... I think he's gotten better from a mental standpoint, but at the same time, I think he's also gotten better physically, because he's in better shape now prior to getting injured."

On the other side of the field, FAMU quarterback Ryan Stanley is coming off a strong first year for a team looking to build on a fairly solid end to the 2016 season. They won three of their last five games, erasing memories of a bad start and four un-Rattlerlike seasons before.

FAMU quarterback Ryan Stanley (photo by FAMU sports website)

Stanley, a sophomore third team, preseason All-Conference pick this season, led a Rattlers pass offense that finished fourth in the Southwestern Athletic Conference last season.  Stanley also was the second-leading rusher for FAMU last season with 351 yards and three TDs.  But he may not even start.

Wood has opened up the quarterback competition during fall practice, though Stanley, the most experienced FAMU quarterback by far, is likely to be the first on the field for FAMU Saturday.

“We know we can run zone-read and we can throw play-action pass off it," Wood said during Media Day. "That’s where we’re going to hang our hat on. You have to be able to run the football, obviously, to be successful offensively.”

Besides clarifying the quarterback situation and shoring up a lagging running game from 2016, the Rattlers must boost a defense that ranked in the lower half of the SWAC last season.  They ranked in the bottom half of the MEAC in total defense and defensive scoring in 2016, with real problems stopping the run.  But FAMU’s secondary was the league’s best, allowing just under 159 passing yards a game last season.  They return preseason All-MEAC picks in defensive backs Orlando McKinley and Terry Jefferson.  As a freshman in 2016, Jefferson had 46 tackles, while McKinley was one of the MEAC’s best in passes defended.  Both had four interceptions last season.

“The thing that has to come to fruition for us is playing a lot better defense,” Wood said. “To win a championship, you’ve got to play really good defense and that’s something that we’re going to emphasize.”

Kickoff in Tallahassee is noon EST.  The game will be telecast on ESPNU.