By Roscoe Nance


How MEAC Players Fared in the NFL -- Week 1 | Week 2


The NFL kicked off its 100^th season with a strong contingent of players from the MEAC on opening day rosters, as a dozen former athletes from the conference survived final cuts. That number rises to 15 when practice squad members and a player on the Commissioner’s suspended list are included.
 
“I really commend our coaches for doing a tremendous job of developing talent to the point that they are making NFL teams, and obviously the student-athletes,” MEAC Commissioner Dr. Dennis Thomas said. “It just goes to show the brand of football the MEAC is playing and how we can take no star (recruits) and make them into stars.
 
“It gives another arrow in one’s quiver to recruit with. It lets people know that if they come to MEAC institutions, they can go to the next level. They can and will be developed to go to the next level. The bottom line is if you can play, the NFL will find you. They found many gems in the MEAC down through our existence from Darius Leonard (in 2018) all the way back to Harry Carson, the Hall of Famer (in 1976).”
 
New York Giants safety Antoine Bethea, in his 14^th season out of Howard University, is the elder statesman of the group. Former Morgan State offensive tackle Joshua Myles, the Arizona Cardinals’ seventh round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, and Buffalo Bills defensive end Darryl Johnson from North Carolina A&T State, also selected in the seventh round this year, are the most recent MEAC products to break into the NFL ranks.
 
South Carolina State has the most former players on NFL rosters among all HBCUs with six. Dallas Cowboys linebacker Joe Thomas, in his fifth year in the league, is the most senior Bulldog. Second-year Indianapolis Colts linebacker Darius Leonard has the most star potential among the former Bulldogs – and arguably among all of the athletes from HBCUs in the league, for that matter. Leonard led the league in tackles and was the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and was voted first team All-Pro after the Colts picked him in the second round of the 2018 draft.
 
Defensive tackle Javon Hargrave has been a solid performer for the Pittsburgh Steelers since joining them as their third-round pick in the 2016 draft. Hargrave has been a starter since his rookie season.
 
New York Giants defensive back Antonio Hamilton, in his fourth season, defensive back Alex Brown, an undrafted rookie free agent on the Kansas City Chiefs’ practice squad, and third-year tight end Temarrick Hemingway, a member of the Carolina Panthers’ practice squad, are the other Bulldogs in the NFL
 
“It’s a great way to make a living,” said Buddy Pough, the longest-tenured active Black College football coach, who is in his 18^th season at South Carolina State. “The guys who are in the league are fortunate. It’s a great salary, the notoriety, all those kind of things.”
 
Pough says the number of NFL players South Carolina State produces and the possibility of a recruit following that career path is a part of the Bulldogs’ sales pitch when they talk to high school athletes. But it is not the focal point.
 
“It’s always a good thing for us to point out to the young kids when we’re recruiting that you can still get to the NFL from our universities, and we get the same kinds of looks from the scouts,” he said. “That’s all good. But at the same time, I don’t know if we emphasize enough with our teams the other really good professions in the world, doctoring, lawyering, teaching. We like to produce great young men, whether they be professional football players, firemen or whatever, and just great citizens.
 
“We talk about the fact that you can make the NFL, because they all think that’s their dream and they want to have the opportunity. But at the same time, we want them to understand that it’s a very short-lived occupation even if they do make it, and you have to do other stuff eventually; you have to make sure you prepare yourself that way. Those other careers are so much more accessible and the odds are so much better.’’
 
North Carolina A&T State, the two-time defending Black College National Champion, is next in line with four former athletes on NFL rosters. When Buffalo selected Johnson, the 2018 MEAC Defensive Player of the Year, it gave the Aggies a streak of three consecutive years of having a player drafted. The Chicago Bear chose Aggies running back Tarik Cohen in the fourth round of the 2017 draft, and the Oakland Raiders tabbed offensive tackle Brandon Parker in the third round in 2018.
 
Cohen immediately established himself as one of the most dangerous and versatile backs in the league as runner, receiver and return man. He was named to the Pro Bowl each of his first two seasons in the league. Third-year Cincinnati Bengals defensive back Tony McRae completes the quartet of Aggies in the NFL.
 
North Carolina A&T State head coach Sam Washington has mixed feelings about the number of MEAC athletes in the NFL.
 
“I think it should be more,” Washington, who played four NFL seasons from 1982-85 after starring at Mississippi Valley State in the SWAC, said. “Back in the ‘80s it could have been twice that many. These days, we don’t get the shot. More players are worthy of getting the opportunity. I don’t think it’s a bad number, but I think it should be a little bit more than that many. I think we’re on our way back. We’re producing NFL caliber kids.”
 
Former North Carolina Central cornerback Ryan Smith of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who is on the Sommissioner’s suspended list for violating the NFL performance enhancing substances policy, completes the list. Smith will miss the first four games.