JC Smith football 1 win from tying single-season record

TROY HULL | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Johnson C. Smith safety Daryl Taybron sprints upfield with a Livingstone fumble for a Golden Bulls touchdown in their 38-17 win Nov. 4 at Eddie McGirt Field. J.C. Smith (7-3), which plays Fort Valley State Nov. 13 in the Florida Beach Bowl in Ft. Lauderdale, can tie the school record for single-season wins with a victory.

Eight is a magic number for Johnson C. Smith football.

The Golden Bulls (7-3) can match the school record for wins in a single season with a victory Dec. 13 in the Florida Beach Bowl against Fort Valley State. JCSU last reached the milestone in 1975 when the Golden Bulls went 8-3 under CIAA Hall of Fame coach Eddie McGirt, who led the program to four eight-win seasons over his 20-year tenure.

“It’s just more motivation for us,” coach Maurice Flowers said. “To play in the first Florida Beach Bowl in Fort Lauderdale, I just see this as fitting because Johnson C. Smith University is the birthplace of Black college football. The first game was played by Biddle, now Johnson C. Smith [against Livingstone], and so there’s history every time an HBCU walks on the field. It started with us. That’s just another form of just motivation that we have that we’re very, very proud of.”

For senior receiver Reggie Bryant, closing strong is a team goal, but he’s also motivated by personal legacy in his last game as a Golden Bull.

“It means a lot to the program and me as well, putting in all the work and doing all four years and giving back to the program,” he said. “It’s a big thing just to make history and being invited to the bowl. I feel like it’s a great opportunity and there’s more to come.”

That’s why getting to eight wins is a big deal for Smith. The Golden Bulls have been a football afterthought since 1975, finishing above .500 seven times since – including four over the last 20 years. For a campus and alumni that had grown accustomed to losing since McGirt’s retirement in 1977 with a 118-73-3 record, 2023 is a big step forward in Flowers’ pledge to develop long-term success.

“It does mean a lot and puts more on us to realize that we’re here to build something,” he said. “We’re here to build a championship caliber program that competes …at a high level every single year. This game is really the culmination of the season and puts a cherry on top of what we’re building here.

“We want to build a team that competes for championships, that has an opportunity to compete for the Southern Division championship, CIAA championship, Division II playoffs and a national championship.”
Those goals, however, are left to future results. The present means preparing for Fort Valley State (7-3, 6-2 SIAC), which finished in a four-way tie for second behind Benedict. Even with this year’s success, a bowl win – last accomplished by the 2011 squad that went 6-5 and won the now-defunct Pioneer Bowl – is significant.

“We need to take care of this game,” Flowers said. “We want to win eight games – that would be a successful season for us. To the growth of the program, that’s how you measure success and yes, you want to be able to measure your success with wins. In going 8-3, that would put us with the same record as the [CIAA] Southern Division champion, Fayetteville State, so that would be a lot of motivation for us in the offseason.”

But there’s one last piece of business to take care of at DRV PNK Stadium. The Golden Bulls are looking forward to the bowl experience, which includes activities starting with their arrival in Ft. Lauderdale on Dec. 10.

“It’s definitely exciting,” Bryant said. “Coach Flowers just told us we’ll get bowl gifts and everything down there, so we’re definitely excited about it. But as coach Flowers said, we’re going to keep our focus. Don’t take our focus off the main goal … down there but we’re definitely excited and anxious.”

New asset for athletes

A ribbon-cutting will be held Dec. 8 at 12 p.m. for the new athletic performance center on campus. The two-story facility’s bottom floor, which houses weight training facilities and football locker rooms, will be open immediately. The top floor, which includes an academic center, is expected to be finished in time for the 2024-25 academic year.

“We won’t start working in it until January,” Flowers said. “We’ll keep doing everything we’ve been doing right now and we will start working out in the new facility in January.

“We could [move in immediately] if we chose to, but we’re going to keep going the way we’ve been right now in what we call the old Dungeon [at Brayboy Gym] and keep working that way up to our bowl game and we’ll go to the lap of luxury when we get back.”

Watch the game

If you can’t make it to Ft. Lauderdale, the game will be streamed at watch.hbcu-plus.com/home

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