Two-stars have star power in HBCU football
Dawyona Tucker was a two-star prospect in the 2016 class with a 247 Sports Ranking of .7803. He rushed for 2,200 yards his final two seasons at Prairie View.
Lenorris Footman was a two-star quarterback, with a rating of .7000 in the 2013 class. He led Alcorn State to the inaugural Celebration Bowl and back-to-back SWAC East titles in his final two seasons.
Aqeel Glass was a two-star prospect in the 2017 class, with a 247Sports Ranking of .7681. The Alabama A&M quarterback is an All-American candidate and NFL Draft Prospect.
Ironically, three of the finalists for the 2019 HBCU Gameday/Protect Your Skull Offensive Player of The Year were two-star prospects coming out of high school.
Felix Harper was a two-star quarterback in the 2016 class with a .7889 rating. He was named SWAC Offensive Player of the Year as a junior after sitting behind Footman and Noah Johnson his first few years in Lorman.
Chris Rowland was a two-star running back in the 2016 class with a rating of .7667. He was converted to wide receiver at Tennessee State, where he broke HBCU reception records and is now with the Atlanta Falcons.
And our Player of The Year winner, Jah-Maine Martin was a two-star prospect with a rating of .7000. He signed with Coastal Carolina out of high school and transferred to NC A&T, where he turned himself into an NFL prospect.
Martin’s former teammate, Elijah Bell, had even less fanfare. He had zero stars and no interest, according to his 247Sports page. All he did was become A&T’s all-time leading receiver and help the program win three-consecutive MEAC titles and Celebration Bowls.
You know who else had zero stars beside his name? Tarik Cohen. Javon Hargrave didn’t enter SC State with any stars on his name, but he’s got a lot of zeros on his checks these days.
So what does it all mean? No one has a crystal ball. At the end of the day these are all just predictions and projections based on potential. If the last year has taught us anything, it’s that no one can say for sure what will happen this year, let alone three, four or five years down the line. It’s now up to the players and coaches to either prove the stars right or wrong.
However, the number of three and four stars giving HBCU football a look could very well increase the importance of stars across the board. Only time will tell.