Knee-jerk reaction: The ball is in the court of HBCUs to offer elite players

On3 Five-Star Plus+ cornerback Travis Hunter kicked the door off a few things around college football on Wednesday.

The surprise jump from Florida State to Jackson State on National Signing Day stole a lot of headlines. What led to the dramatic close to the recruitment of the No. 1 player in the On3 Consensus rankings?

What did Hunter have that not a lot of top prospects have when it comes to historically black universities?

Hunter is one of the most talented players to come out of high school in recent memory. To repurpose a quote from On3 Director of recruiting Chad Simmons, ‘there’s only one Travis Hunter and there’s only one Deion Sanders’.

Both men are talented individuals and dynamic personalities. Even so, the essence of what they are trying to capture and build can be repeated.

So what did Hunter have that a lot of top college football prospects didn’t that could make what happened yesterday and trend rather than a splash in history?

He had an offer.

After speaking with a few high school coaches around the southeast it has come to my attention that HBCU’s aren’t knocking down the doors like the major Power Five programs are looking for elite players.

“I’ve been here seven years and we haven’t gotten much HBCU traffic,” Lehigh (Fla.) head coach James Chaney said. “I really think that HBCUs in my area could do a better job of coming down and farming the area. There are a lot of unranked two and three-star players that could help these programs.”

Not every program has the resources that Jackson State has. That is true. But, what happens if four or five Hunter-level players play in the SWAC next year?

HBCUs in position capitilize

“College football is where it is today because of T.V. deals,” Griffin (Ga.) assistant coach Ryan Andrews said. “The T.V. deal follows you, not the school per se. If the T.V. deals come, I think you see more money, better facilities and you’ll see more kids going there. You won’t see as much of this mindset that if I won’t go to the league if I don’t go Georgia or Florida.”

More money means more opportunities to improve facilities and support systems that run the major programs of today.

This is all under the assumption that facilities matter to the prospects.

Many times the opportunity for elite players to even consider HBCUs is null because schools won’t throw their hats into the race. Sanders has been consistently aggressive recruiting the best in the country for a few years and it paid off yesterday.

“Deion (Sanders) is forcing these HBCUs to get on the road and recruit,” Andrews said. “I think that’s a good thing. I also think he’s forcing these administrations to stop handicapping these programs. You’ve got to let the money go. I honestly feel like if you let these guys recruit, there’s no difference in what they’re doing at the Power Five level. If you put the money into the facilities and put the money into training tables, I think you’ll see more kids going to HBCUs.”

The competition level argument

The level competition argument has been tossed around on social media this week.

“We are 35-40 years removed from the competition being at the HBCU level,” Andrews said. “It’s not like we’re that far removed. We have very selective amnesia about where black people were playing football not too long ago.”

Chaney feels the level of competition narrative is a lazy one.

“To me, it’s a cop-out and the easy way out,” Chaney said. “If Travis Hunter has the skills and he is endorsed by Deion Sanders, I don’t care where he is, he’s going to the NFL… I played football at Florida State. I saw people that didn’t have any business at Florida State. My son is playing at Valdosta State. I see kids at Valdosta State that could play for Alabama. College football is not a perfect science.”

What’s the long term impact of Travis Hunter signing with Jackson State

There’s an immediate value to the move. HBCUs are once again at the head of conversations in living rooms and barbershops in America. HBCU schools are beginning to believe the ‘if you build it, they will come’ approach.

Florida A&M offered the No. 28 overall prospect in the On3 Consensus for the class of 2023 Lehigh (Fla.) Richard Young on Thursday.

Andrews can see a few possibilities. The longevity of Hunter and Sanders could be key.

“If we look up in a year or two and Travis is gone and Deion is gone, then it means nothing,” Andrews said.

The attention Hunter and Sanders have brought to HBCU football is a step forward. As Andrews pointed out, attention brings financial improvements, that turns into facility improvements, and then a stream of highly-ranked players can come in and change the level as a whole.