DOVER, Del. – The North Carolina Central University football team will wrap up the 2024 regular season on Saturday, heading to Alumni Stadium to square off against the Hornets of Delaware State.
Kickoff is set for 1 p.m., and the game will stream live on ESPN+.
The Series: This will be the 30th meeting all-time between the Eagles and the Delaware State Hornets on the gridiron, dating all the way back to 1945. N.C. Central leads the all-time series against the Hornets 22-7, and they have won nine of the last 10 meetings. The Eagles are 8-4 in games played in Dover at Alumni Stadium. NCCU is just 2-3 in the last five trips to Dover, including a 28-21 win back in 2022. The last win for the Hornets in the series came back on Oct. 27, 2018, in a game that was played in Dover. The Eagles have won the last four games in the series. As head coach, Trei Oliver is 4-0 against Delaware State.
Last Time Out: N.C. Central (7-3, 3-1 MEAC) bounced back with a 26-3 win over Howard to celebrate Senior Night on Friday, Nov. 15. Running back J’Mari Taylor rushed for a career-high 206 yards and three touchdowns, while quarterback Walker Harris passed for a career-high 321 yards. The Eagles defense held the Bison to just 113 total yards (24 in the second half), and Taylor became just the sixth Eagle ever to record a 1,000-yard rushing season.
The Hornets (1-10, 0-4 MEAC) have lost nine straight games after falling 38-19 at Norfolk State this past weekend. Running back Jaden Sutton was Delaware State’s bright spot on offense, rushing 22 times for 146 yards and a touchdown. Sutton has four 100-yard rushing games this season, including each of the last two.
Taylor Made: With a career-high 206 yards against Howard, running back J’Mari Taylor became the sixth Eagle to rush for 1,000 yards in a single season. He’s the first Eagle to do it since Greg Pruitt, Jr., had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 2004 and 2005, and heading into the Delaware State game, Taylor’s 1,068 yards on the ground this season are the fifth-highest single-season total in program history. Taylor has also rushed for at least one touchdown in every game this season, including his three scores against the Bison.
No Fly Zone: N.C. Central’s secondary has recorded 10 interceptions with one returned for a touchdown, 31 pass breakups and 32 quarterback hurries going into the Delaware State game. They have placed continued pressure on the quarterbacks. In addition, the Eagles have recorded 29 sacks and 85.5 tackles for a loss of 294 yards. The Eagles defense is ranked fifth in the NCAA in team tackles for loss (7.6), eighth in defensive touchdowns (3) and third in third-down conversion defense. They are also 10th in the NCAA in total defense.
Red Zone Success: This season, the Eagles have made 40 trips into the red zone and have come away with points 31 times for a 78% conversion rate. Twenty-seven of those red-zone trips have resulted in touchdowns, an 68% conversion rate.
The Coaches: Trei Oliver (N.C. Central, 1998) is in his fifth season as a college head coach. With 24 years of college coaching experience that includes five conference championships and three Black college football national titles, Oliver returned to his alma mater as North Carolina Central University’s 24th head football coach in December 2018. A native of Yorktown, Va., Oliver earned all-conference and all-region honors as a defensive back and punter during his four-year playing career at NCCU from 1994-97. The 1998 graduate later returned to NCCU as an assistant coach from 2003-06, helping the Eagles to back-to-back Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) championships in 2005 and 2006.
Lee Hull was introduced as the 24th head coach in team history on Dec. 20, 2022. A former MEAC champion head coach, Hull brought more than 25 years of coaching experience at the professional and NCAA Division I levels to the position. Hull most recently served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at rival Howard University since 2020. In 2022, Howard was co-champion of the MEAC for the first time since 1993, posting a 4-1 league record during the season to share the title with North Carolina Central. Nine Bison offensive players earned All-MEAC honors that season, including quarterback Quinton Williams, a second team selection after leading the conference in completion percentage (64.8%) and ranking second in the league in passing average at 190.6 yards per game.
NCCU the MEAC Favorite: The 2022 MEAC champion and HBCU national champion Eagles were selected as the preseason favorite to win the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) for the second straight season.
Four Eagles Made Preseason First Team: Trevon Humphrey (OL), Jaden Taylor (DL), Kole Jones (DB) and Juan Velarde (P/K). Four more Eagles were on the second team list: J’Mari Taylor (RB), Joaquin Davis (WR), Ja’Quan Sprinkle (OL), and Max U’Ren (LB).
Youth Movement: Underclassmen have played a significant role with the Eagles during the first nine games this season, and that shows just how much youth is on this team. There are 56 underclassmen on the roster (freshman or sophomore), and they continue to play snaps for the Eagles. Nine games into the season, 45 of the 56 underclassmen have seen playing time.
A North Carolina State of Mind: NCCU’s emphasis on recruiting talent in North Carolina is demonstrated with 63 Eagles calling the Tar Heel state their home out of the 110 student-athletes on the team’s season-opening roster (63%).
Source: NCCU Athletics/NCCUEaglePride.com
