A championship-level schedule, targeted portal additions, and Brick x Brick’s next chapter show how the Golden Bulls are adjusting to life with expectations.
Johnson C. Smith (JCSU) football no longer has to convince anyone it belongs in the conversation. The Golden Bulls already climbed the mountain. A CIAA championship. A school-record 10 wins. The HBCU football program’s first-ever NCAA Division II playoff appearance. Just as important, a national profile that now stretches beyond Charlotte and beyond the conference.
Now comes the harder part: sustaining it.
That challenge sits at the center of JCSU’s newly released 2026 schedule. It’s a slate that reflects a program no longer chasing belief, but instead preparing to live with expectation.
A Schedule That Matches the Moment
The Golden Bulls’ 2026 schedule wastes no time reinforcing that shift.
JCSU football opens the season Aug. 29 in the Battle of the Border Classic against Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina. Notably, Benedict is a fellow Division II HBCU program that reached the 2025 NCAA playoffs. As a result, the opener immediately sets a championship-level tone.
One week later, the stage widens dramatically.
As reigning CIAA champions, JCSU heads to Canton, Ohio, to face Albany State in the Black College Football Hall of Fame Classic at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Champion meets champion. CIAA faces SIAC. Momentum collides with momentum.
However, the matchup runs deeper.
Albany State head coach David Bowser helped lay the foundation for JCSU’s rise before taking over the Golden Rams program. Now, two teams shaped by the same blueprint meet on a national platform designed to celebrate Black college football’s legacy—and increasingly, its present.
For Brick x Brick viewers, the setting feels familiar. Canton mirrors the scale and cultural weight of some of the series’s most popular episodes. Those include the Boston Classic at Harvard in Season 3 and the Florida Beach Bowl in Season 1. In each case, the venues’ magnitude and history elevated the story beyond the scoreboard.
Canton appears built for that same treatment.
No Ease Into September
Importantly, the opening month offers no soft landing.
After Canton, JCSU opens CIAA play on the road at Winston-Salem State. The Golden Bulls then return home to face Fayetteville State in Charlotte. By the fourth game, JCSU will have already faced two playoff teams, a championship peer, and two traditional conference rivals.
As a result, it shapes one of the most demanding four-game openings in Division II HBCU football.
Later in October, another familiar test emerges.
A late-month road trip to Bowie State looms large. Notably, Bowie remains the only CIAA opponent JCSU has not played or defeated under head coach Maurice Flowers. Consequently, the matchup sets the stage for another defining road narrative. It echoes previous Brick x Brick episodes at Virginia Union, Fayetteville State, and Winston-Salem State.
Reloading With Purpose, Not Panic
The schedule sets the tone. Meanwhile, the roster ensures JCSU can meet it.
According to reporting from The Charlotte Post, the Golden Bulls approached the transfer portal with intention rather than volume. They reinforced specific needs while preserving the developmental core that produced a championship season.
“We’ve gotten stronger as a ball club,” Flowers told the Post. “We’ve hit some what we call some need areas, we’ve got a couple more we’re trying to get in. Still, we know nothing’s going to be given to us with a bull’s-eye on us.”
At quarterback, JCSU again turned to the portal. The Golden Bulls landed Josh Jackson, a 6-foot-5 dual-threat and former Tennessee Mr. Football who spent two seasons at Central Connecticut State.
“We’re just glad to beat out some really good schools for him,” Flowers said. “He’s got two, for sure, maybe three years of eligibility. He’s a big dual-threat quarterback who really caught our eye.”
At receiver, JaQuan Albright, a former UNC Pembroke standout, steps into a unit that lost Biggie Proctor to graduation and Brevin Caldwell to FCS HBCU football program Norfolk State. Still, Albright brings proven production and versatility.
“We think he’s a mix of a Biggie-type receiver,” Flowers said in the Charlotte Post’s article. “A big receiver, but also some shiftiness. He can play outside and inside. He’s got explosiveness.”
Meanwhile, the backfield in Charlotte gains another layer with Fabian Duncan, the SIAC’s reigning MVP at Allen University. He joins All-CIAA returner Bobby Smith and a healthy Kamarro Edmonds.
“When you’ve got a guy that wants to run toward competition,” Flowers said, “those are the young men that we want.”
Former Foe, Trusted Piece
Defensively, JCSU added edge Jason Romero from East Carolina and interior presence Anthony Binyard, a former Fayetteville State standout. His name is already familiar to Golden Bulls fans for very different reasons.
Binyard was one of the defining figures in JCSU’s 2023 loss at Fayetteville State. In that game, he repeatedly blew up short-yardage situations. That included two fourth-and-1 stops that stalled momentum-shifting drives. Later, those moments resurfaced in Brick x Brick’s “Déjà Vu” episode.
Now, the same player who once stood in JCSU’s way becomes part of the solution.
Binyard arrives in Charlotte as an All-CIAA defender. More importantly, he represents how the program has evolved—turning former obstacles into trusted pieces within a championship structure.
Brick x Brick, Ready for Its Next Stage
All of it feeds directly into what comes next.
The final regular-season episode of Brick x Brick with JCSU Football is set to transition into a feature-length CIAA championship episode. As a result, the series expands at the exact moment the HBCU football program reached its peak.
Behind the scenes, producers are actively shopping that championship film—and the broader Brick x Brick series—to television and streaming partners. The goal is to bring the full project to a larger platform.
At the same time, the 2026 schedule and recruiting momentum have quietly laid the foundation for Season 4. Canton, the early-season gauntlet, and another high-stakes Bowie State road trip are already shaping the next chapter.
JCSU once opened its doors to cameras to document a rebuild.
Now, those cameras are capturing something different.
Expectation.
The wins raised the standard. The schedule reflects it. The roster supports it. And Brick x Brick—once a behind-the-scenes look at growth—is evolving into a chronicle of how an HBCU program learns to live at the top.