Rahman and Bell Continue Brief, But Intriguing California Histories For Respective HBCUs
Defensive Backs Cory Rahman and Markquese Bell will make rare California appearances for their schools in Saturday's NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.
Saturday’s NFLPA Collegiate Bowl has no lack of HBCU representation as three schools will send players to the Rose Bowl Stadium for the game. Record-setting Alabama A&M quarterback Aqeel Glass, Florida A&M safety Markquese Bell, and Jackson State linebacker James Houston IV and defensive back CJ Holmes will carry the flag for the SWAC.
Despite transferring to other schools, Jequez Ezzard (Howard) and Roderick Perry (South Carolina State) represent the MEAC. Finally, Safety Cory Rahman will represent Tennessee State out of the Ohio Valley Conference.
This group all capped off impressive careers this year for their respective schools. Aqeel Glass threw for 3568 yards and 36 touchdowns to end his career with over 12,000 career yards and 109 touchdowns through the air for Alabama A&M.
After three years at Florida where he tallied 103 tackles and 11.5 tackles for loss, James Houston IV shined for Jackson State totaling 70 tackles along with astonishing totals of 24.5 tackles for loss, 16.5 sacks, and seven forced fumbles.
His teammate CJ Holmes totaled 40 tackles, one interception and 7 pass breakups for the Tigers. For his career, Holmes ended with seven interceptions and 26 pass breakups.
For FAMU, Markquese Bell had 95 tackles, six tackles for loss, and five forced fumbles. In his only other season with the Rattlers in 2019, Bell had 61 tackles, five for a loss, and five interceptions.
Before transferring to Sam Houston State, Jequez Ezzard had 74 receptions for 1959 yards an 19 touchdowns, while adding over 400 yards on returns at Howard. At South Carolina State, Roderick Perry totalled 17 tackles for loss at South Carolina State.
After starting off his career at NAIA Southeast University, where he totaled 132 tackles and nine interceptions in three years, Cory Rahman transferred to Tennessee State and ended his career on a high note with 65 tackles, 5.5 tackles for a loss, and two interceptions for the Tigers.
The schools of these players have hardly played in California with Alabama A&M, Jackson State, and South Carolina State never making an appearance in the Golden State. Meanwhile, Florida A&M, Tennessee State, and Howard have played there a combined four times in the past. Between the two, Tennessee State has played in California the most, with three appearances.
The Tigers went toe-to-toe with one of college football’s great dynasties of the 60s when they visited San Diego Stadium to clash with the Don Coryell-led San Diego State Aztecs in 1967 and 1968. In both years, the Tigers fought hard against teams that would win that season’s UPI Small College National Title.
In 1967, the Tigers nearly tied the Aztecs after a safety midway through the 4th made it a 16-8 game, and the ensuing drive took them to the Aztec 18. However, the drive stalled and the Aztecs prevailed by the same score. The game was a “Game of the Century” as the schools were #1 and #2 in the UPI Small College Poll. The next year, the Tigers did tie the Aztecs by a score of 13-13 on the strength of defensive touchdowns by James Greer and Fred Herring.
Three years later, Tennessee State made their only appearance at Los Angeles’ other revered college football cathedral, the LA Memorial Coliseum. In a game billed as the “Freedom Classic”, “Jefferson Street Joe” Gilliam’s 189 passing yards and two touchdowns helped the Tigers jump to a 21-0 lead on the way to a 24-14 win over Alcorn State. Despite both schools being over 1800 miles away, the game drew over 43,000 fans.
Florida A&M’s only California appearance came hours to the north at the Oakland Coliseum where they played Santa Clara in 1971. A crowd of only 18,560 came to the “House That Daryle Lamonica Built” and saw Santa Clara defeat the Rattlers 29-16 behind 324 passing yards by Clyde LeBaron. In contrast, the Rattlers only completed 9 of their 27 passes for 121 yards.
Howard made their way to the Golden State twice in the 1990s for their only appearances. In 1990, they opened the season at the LA Coliseum against Southern, winning 26-21 thanks to 198 passing yards and 57 rushing yards from quarterback Donald Carr. An interception by Walter Price with 49 seconds left preserved the win for the Bison. The game had solid attendance, drawing 48,365.
Seven years later, they returned to California to play Morgan State at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. In a sparsely attended game dubbed the “Gold Coast Classic”, 9,968 lucky fans saw Ted White throw for 254 yards in a 30-27 win for the Bison.
Perhaps this is all seems like a bunch of minutiae to you, but there is a greater point. HBCU football is underexposed in the West, an issue that schools like North Carolina Central and Alabama State look to fix with future games.
Ideally, the four HBCU representatives in this year’s NFLPA Bowl would bring exposure to the West for their schools. Unfortunately, the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl will be closed to fans. This still stands as a rare opportunity for HBCU players to shine at arguably college football’s most iconic venue and summon memories deep in their programs’ past.
In my research, the book, The Playing Grounds of College Football was a huge resource as it is a directory of every site of a college football game up to 2017. You can buy it here. The 2019 Tennessee State Media Guide was also crucial to this piece which you can read it here.