Few opponents command the attention of the Howard football team like Hampton. This season, the game comes at just the right time for the Bison, who have locked in on their contentious rival in an effort to move past a pair of opening losses by a combined 125-0.
This will be the first Nation’s Football Classic between Howard and Hampton. The Bison won the first four against Division II Morehouse.
“I understand the significance in battle for the real HU,” Bison Coach Gary Harrell said. “It goes deep when it comes to alumni, when it comes to the history, the tradition. Both presidents, here at Howard and also at Hampton, have great pride. They love their university, and they want to be the best, so we’ve got to make sure we give our alumni, our fan base the opportunity to have those bragging rights.”
Howard has done so for four straight years against the Pirates, including last season’s 30-29 victory thanks to John Fleck’s 17-yard field goal with 21 seconds left at Greene Stadium. The Bison came back from a 19-7 deficit to end its season with a fourth consecutive win in the final game of quarterback Greg McGhee’s record-setting career.
This season, Harrell initially turned to sophomore Kalen Johnson for the first two games but indicated senior Jamie Cunningham will be the starting quarterback against Hampton. Cunningham and Johnson were among four quarterbacks competing for the starting job in the preseason, and Harrell elected to give his younger player a chance with an eye toward the future.
But the fourth-year coach, who holds the all-time receiving record at Howard, is leaning on Cunningham’s experience — he is the only quarterback on the roster who took a snap last season — to get the Bison back on track. Howard’s other quarterbacks are redshirt sophomore Da’Vaun Johnson and promising freshman Jason Collins.
“It’s a wonderful game to be back,” Cunningham said while taking a break between drills at practice on Wednesday at Greene Stadium. “Definitely with a rivalry, it could turn our season around. We’ll be prepared for this game. It actually helps us after playing the big guys coming down to guys on our level. It helps with the tempo, everything.”
Cunningham also addressed how players have come together since the death of teammate Terrence Tusan. The running back was one of two suspects killed in a home invasion in Denton, Tex., on Dec. 21, 2014. Tusan, 22, and Jakobi Dmon Gipson, 18, were fatally shot in an altercation involving five individuals after three men forced their way into an apartment, according to Denton police.
Tusan, a redshirt junior, was part of a rushing attack that amassed 229 yards and three touchdowns in last season’s triumph against Hampton, which had won 14 in a row in the series prior to Howard’s current run. This season, redshirt senior Aquanius Freeman and Ricquaz Brannon, a true freshman, have split carries.
The Pirates (1-1) are coming off a 31-28 loss to Richmond last weekend. Hampton had led until the Spiders scored on a 36-yard touchdown pass with 10 minutes 58 seconds left.
“They’re not going to quit,” Hampton second-year Coach Connell Maynor said of the Bison. “They play hard. They’ve been overmatched the first two games, but they’ve beat us the last four years, so they have confidence playing against us. We expect them to come out hard, ready to play and expecting to win.”
