CANTON, Ohio — The message inside the Johnson C. Smith (JCSU) football locker room was not complicated.
“Figure it out.”
Players repeated those three words to one another as mistakes were corrected, assignments were clarified, and a rebuilt football team continued learning how to play together in real time.
One week after looking overwhelmed during a 32-10 loss at Benedict College, JCSU looked much closer to itself on one of HBCU football’s biggest stages.
The Golden Bulls defeated Albany State 27-7 in the Black College Football Hall of Fame Classic at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, riding a dominant performance from running back Fabian Duncan, a poised start from quarterback Damien Mazil and a defense that showed flashes of becoming one of the nation’s best.
It was not perfect. JCSU committed 10 penalties for 95 yards, lost a fumble and left several scoring opportunities on the field.
But it was progress.
“We made a big jump today, but there’s so much more to go,” JCSU head coach Maurice Flowers said after the game. “We left a lot of points out there; we made a lot of mistakes still. It’s good, and it’s also eye-opening that we did make some progress, but there’s a lot more to make.”
That balance defined the mood after the game. The Golden Bulls were happy to leave Canton with a championship trophy and their first win of the season. Inside the locker room, however, they knew the final score looked cleaner than the performance felt.
JCSU did not reach its standard Saturday. It simply started finding its way back to it.
Damien Mazil steadies the offense
The first major adjustment came at quarterback.
Mazil started in place of Parker McQuarrie, who Flowers said was injured during practice, and gave the Golden Bulls a composed presence behind center. He completed 12 of 18 passes for 184 yards without throwing an interception or taking a sack.
The numbers were not spectacular. The control was.
Mazil connected with Reggie Brigman four times for 71 yards and Reginald Daniel four times for 70. His willingness to push the football downfield helped create space for a JCSU rushing attack that eventually took over the game.
“Our quarterback Dame is a very great quarterback,” Duncan said. “He came in and did exactly what he was supposed to do, and that opened up the runs for us to be able to do what we needed to do.”
Albany State head coach David Bowser acknowledged that the change forced his defense to adjust to an offense it had not prepared to see.
“When you make changes at quarterback, they were two different types of quarterbacks,” Bowser said. “A lot of stuff he did on offense is not what we saw on film the week before. You’ve got to give them credit to make that change.”
The transition has not created any visible divide inside the JCSU quarterback room. McQuarrie and Mazil continued working together Saturday, just as they did during the loss at Benedict.
That relationship could matter as the Golden Bulls navigate an early schedule that leaves little room for a prolonged adjustment period. Regardless of who starts, JCSU appears committed to getting both quarterbacks ready rather than allowing the competition to fracture a team still learning how its new pieces fit together.
Fabian Duncan takes over in Canton
If Mazil gave the offense stability, Duncan gave it an identity.
The 2025 SIAC Offensive Player of the Year rushed for 141 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries against the conference he dominated a year ago. He scored from four and two yards in the second quarter before breaking loose for a 40-yard touchdown early in the third.
Duncan averaged 6.7 yards per carry and accounted for all three JCSU touchdowns.
His first score capped a four-play, 67-yard drive and extended the lead to 13-0. His second came with seven seconds remaining before halftime, finishing a 10-play, 76-yard march that gave the Golden Bulls a commanding 20-0 advantage.
Then JCSU landed the knockout punch immediately after the break.
The Golden Bulls drove 82 yards in five plays, with Duncan finishing the series by bursting through the Albany State defense for his 40-yard score. In less than seven minutes of game time spanning the end of the second quarter and beginning of the third, JCSU turned a competitive game into a 27-0 rout.
Still Not Done Yet
Bowser identified that sequence as the turning point.
“They did a heck of a job,” he said. “They were able to score going into the half, they scored coming out of the half. You’ve got to give them credit on that.”
JCSU finished with 185 rushing yards on 46 attempts. Kamarro Edmonds added 46 yards on 15 carries as the Golden Bulls leaned on their veteran offensive line and a backfield built to attack defenses in waves.
Flowers pointed to three preseason All-CIAA offensive linemen, including All-American Jamari Mason, as the foundation of the performance.
“To win championships, you have to be able to run the ball,” Flowers said. “Everything starts up front. We have four out of five that came back from a team last year that won the CIAA championship. Those guys know how to win. They know how to play big football games.”
The scary part for future opponents is that the rotation may not be fully revealed. Flowers said JCSU believes it has four quality running backs and is still being patient with returning All-CIAA rusher Bobby T. Smith.
“We believe in strength in numbers,” Flowers said. “We believe competition is going to get you on the field.”
An elite defense begins to emerge
The most encouraging development may have come on the other side of the football.
Albany State managed 227 total yards, rushed for only 79 and converted four of 15 third-down attempts. The Golden Rams did not score until the fourth quarter, long after JCSU had built a 27-point lead.
JCSU intercepted three passes, forced and recovered a fumble, and recorded two sacks. Albany State completed just 12 of its 32 passing attempts while cycling through three quarterbacks.
Vincent Hill led the Golden Bulls with nine tackles and forced a fumble. D’Andre Martin recorded six tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and half a sack. Jamaris Stevens, Raegzon Mackey and Salen Streater each intercepted a pass.
Albany State entered JCSU territory several times but rarely found room to operate. The Golden Bulls closed quickly, tackled in space, and consistently forced the Golden Rams behind schedule.
It looked like an elite defense coming together in real time.
The talent was never in question. The challenge was getting a unit filled with new faces to communicate, recover from mistakes, and trust the player beside them.
That process was visible at Benedict. A missed assignment seemed to linger. Young players looked uncertain after something went wrong.
In Canton, the response changed.
Players came to the sideline, accepted coaching, and went back onto the field to correct the mistake. “Figure it out” became less of a demand and more of a survival instinct. If a player found himself in deep water, the expectation was that he would learn how to swim.
JCSU’s defense did exactly that.
David Bowser faces the blueprint he helped build
The Hall of Fame Classic carried a deeply personal layer on both sidelines.
Bowser helped build JCSU’s championship foundation before taking over at Albany State. He served as the Golden Bulls’ linebackers coach, director of player personnel and special assistant to the head coach, influencing everything from recruiting and roster construction to academics and daily operations.
He is now attempting to merge lessons from JCSU’s rise with Albany State’s established championship tradition.
“There are certain things that we do as a program that I picked up and learned at Johnson C. Smith under Coach Flowers, and it’s been helpful,” Bowser said. “But Albany State has a rich tradition. There are things that we still stand by and take a lot of pride in at Albany State that we’re going to continue to mesh together.”
Even the event’s administrative ties carried JCSU fingerprints. Flowers noted that Albany State athletic director Kristene Kelly and SIAC Commissioner Anthony Holloman are both JCSU graduates.
“Johnson C. Smith flavor is all over this one,” Flowers said.
For the Golden Bulls, the familiarity added another layer to a necessary rebound. Bowser knew the program, the personnel and the philosophy. JCSU still found a way to introduce enough new wrinkles to stay ahead of him.
For Bowser, the loss did not change Albany State’s primary mission of returning to the SIAC Championship Game. He also expects Saturday’s result to age well if JCSU survives its difficult schedule.
“I’m going to be pulling for Johnson C. Smith the rest of the way,” Bowser said.
From Bowser to Robert Massey
JCSU will not have to wait long for another reunion.
The Golden Bulls continue their 3-game road start next week against Winston-Salem State, giving assistant coach Robert Massey his own game against a former program.
Massey previously served as WSSU’s head coach and competed against Flowers in the renewed rivalry. He crossed rivalry lines during the offseason to join JCSU as cornerbacks coach, filling part of the void created when Bowser left for Albany State.
In Canton, the storyline centered on a former JCSU coach trying to apply elements of the Brick x Brick blueprint elsewhere.
Next week, the dynamic flips.
Massey will stand inside the JCSU program and help prepare the Golden Bulls to face a team he once led.
That is the kind of connective tissue that has always made the Brick x Brick story bigger than a weekly final score. Coaches leave. Former rivals become colleagues. New players enter established cultures. Relationships continue evolving even when the uniform changes.
Saturday’s win will become one of the defining chapters of the new season of Brick x Brick with JCSU Football. It captured a team dealing with the unfamiliar weight of an opening loss, changing quarterbacks, and trying to turn 60 newcomers into one unit.
JCSU did not solve everything in Canton.
But after one of its worst performances of the Flowers era, the Golden Bulls stepped onto a national HBCU stage and began to figure it out.
They left with a 27-7 win, a Hall of Fame Classic trophy, and a clearer picture of what this team can become.
Now comes Winston-Salem State — another rivalry, another reunion, and another test of whether the pieces are truly beginning to fit.