JCSU coach Flowers: ‘It’s great to have expectations’ 

HERBERT L. WHITE | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Johnson C. Smith offensive line coach Kevin Thompson is surrounded by the Gold team at the annual Gold-Blue spring game on April 25. The Golden Bulls, who won the 2025 CIAA title and advanced to the NCAA Division II playoffs for the first time in school history, open the 2026 season Aug. 29 at Benedict, which also earned a playoff berth.

Vincent Hill wants to go farther. 

Johnson C. Smith’s All-CIAA linebacker is certain the Golden Bulls, who posted the best season in school history in 2025, can do better in 2026. That means a fourth straight winning campaign – which would be a first. Perhaps back-to-back CIAA titles. Winning a playoff game? Without a doubt.

“The mindset for the spring and carrying over to the fall is to finish,” Hill said. “It’s always going to be the finish. You have to finish. It’s not about how you start, it’s how you finish and right now, we’re just trying to build up our roster, get everybody on the same accord, getting that chemistry and that camaraderie right. It’s really a big factor that I think helped us in the fall last year.” 

Winning has brought increased interest to JCSU. Last month’s Gold-Blue game drew about 500 fans to McGirt Field for a Saturday afternoon scrimmage to close spring drills. In addition, 40 high school recruits were on campus to talk with coaches and check out facilities. And on the field, there’s recognition that nothing will be given. 

“It’s great to have expectations,” coach Maurice Flowers said. “That means that you’ve done some good things, and our young men know it. We just we don’t talk about it a lot. It’s just known that we want to play football at a high level, and for the spring, it really goes to the growth of the program.”

It helps to have a winning résumé. The Golden Bulls are coming off the greatest season in program history with a 10-2 record, their first CIAA title since 1969 and a berth in the Division II playoffs. Although Smith lost to Frostburg State in the first round, it’s incentive to move forward in 2026 despite losing more than 30 seniors from last year’s roster.

“Every team is different,” said Flowers, who is going into his fifth season. “But what I will say at this point, right now, is in the years that we’ve been here we’ve ended spring, we probably have the least amount of question marks as far as position goes. At every position, we think we’re probably almost two deep that we feel good about. It doesn’t guarantee wins, doesn't guarantee a CIAA appearance or anything like that. What it does guarantee is that we have young men on campus that know our system, know our philosophy, and they’ve got a lot of experience in this system.”

Hill, who earned All-CIAA in his first season at Smith, certainly does. He’s the unquestioned leader of a unit that ranked eighth nationally last year in fewest points allowed (17.25 per game) and 21st in total defense (304.3 yards) but adjusting to change, notably in the secondary, where every starter is new. 

“We’re just taking on the mindset of we’re not rebuilding, we’re reloading,” he said. “It’s not necessarily where we have to get things together, it’s just about reloading the gun. [Defensive coordinator Barry] Tripp has that standard, and he doesn’t lower that standard for anybody. You get with it, or you get gone and you’re going to get with it because he’s very enthused.”

Quarterback Josh Jackson, a redshirt sophomore transfer all but wrapped up the starting job, which led to freshman challengers Andrew Attmore and Trooper Floyd moving to the transfer portal. 
“A lot of room to get better, a lot of room to improve,” said Jackson, who spent two seasons at Central Connecticut State, an FCS program. “You know, ups and downs. It ain’t always easy coming into the offense and get acclimated immediately, but I’ve got a great coaching staff behind me that’s willing to help me learn each and every day.”

Despite a lack of game experience, Flowers is confident Jackson has the skill to succeed in an offense that averaged 33.6 points per game last year. Most of that group returns, including the entire offensive line, receivers Brian Lane, Reggie Daniel and Reggie Brigman as well as running back Bobby Smith.

“When you look at Kelvin Durham, you had a guy that had started three seasons and was the all-time leading passer in Fort Valley State history, and had some familiarity with us,” said Flowers, who recruited Durham to FVSU.

… “We brought in a transfer in January that was not familiar with our system, so he went through a good growth process through the spring. Josh did, and we’re looking from continued growth through the summer. It'll be fine.”

Said Jackson: “We’ve got the weapons. That isn’t even a question.”

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