Five football reasons to watch Jackson State-Florida A&M in the Orange Blossom Classic
The Orange Blossom Classic, back this year for the second season of its revival, is more than just a spectacle to showcase Historically Black Colleges and Universities. In Year 2, the Orange Blossom has real championship implications with two of the best teams in FCS descending upon Miami Gardens to open their seasons.
The Jackson State Tigers are No. 15 in Stats Perform’s preseason FCS top 25. The Florida A&M Rattlers are right outside, receiving the 28th-most votes in the country.
Either Jackson State or Florida A&M (0-1) will leave Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday with a signature win, and an inside track to a spot in the 2022 Celebration Bowl or the FCS playoffs.
The Battle of the Bands is great and the atmosphere will be electric, but the football should also be high quality.
1. The Travis Hunter experience begins
Travis Hunter’s stunning decision to flip from the Florida State Seminoles to the Tigers during the early signing period last year was one of the biggest recruiting stories ever. Hunter was the No. 1 player in the Class of 2022, according to the 247Sports composite rankings, and an unprecedented addition for an FCS program. Hunter wasn’t just the best player in the country — he’s a potentially generational prospect, who would have been No. 1 in the nation as a cornerback or wide receiver.
Jackson State’s roster lists Hunter as a cornerback, but the freshman plans to play both sides of the ball in Jackson, Mississippi — just like Tigers coach Deion Sanders did — and could emerge as the best NFL prospect to ever come out of an HBCU.
When Hunter planned to go to Florida State, there was an assumption he could be a future No. 1 pick — it’s the standard expectation for a No. 1 recruit — and his decision inevitably threw a wrinkle into the equation because the competition he will face at the FCS level won’t be the same as he would’ve in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Hunter will have to dominate — just like he did at Collins Hill in Suwanee, Georgia — and he can start to prove it at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
2. Sanders out to prove himself
Sanders is already a star on the recruiting trail after he landed two top-50 prospects in the 2022 class. The actual quality of his in-game coaching, however, remains a debate, especially if he’s going to angle for a job in one of the Power 5 Conferences in the next few years.
Although it won 11 games last year, Jackson State ended its season with a lopsided loss to the FCS South Carolina State Bulldogs in the 2021 Celebration Bowl and got its only top-25 win by one point against the Rattlers in the Orange Blossom Classic.
The Tigers are by far the most talented team in FCS — they’re No. 66 in 247’s team talent composite rankings, ahead of the No. 22 Wake Forest Demon Deacons and No. 25 BYU Cougars — and Sanders, even though his team is young, needs to make the most of it.
3. Another Sanders star is here
Shedeur Sanders is the coach’s son, a former four-star prospect and already one of the most promising quarterbacks in the country. As a freshman last year, Sanders won the starting job and quickly shrugged aside any suspicions of nepotism by throwing for 3,231 yards and 30 touchdowns to win the Jerry Rice Award as the FCS freshman of the year.
The FCS level is no stranger to producing NFL quarterback prospects, and Sanders, at 6-2 and 215 pounds, has a chance to be the next great one, as long as he can build off his stellar debut season.
4. Isaiah Land is finally playing
A frustrating situation in Tallahassee nearly robbed fans of watching one of the best players in the country. Just in time, Isaiah Land is good to go, though.
The Florida A&M linebacker was the best defensive player in FCS last year, winning the Buck Buchanan Award and leading all of Division I with 19 sacks, yet he sat out the Rattlers’ season-opening 56-24 loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday because of an eligibility issue. On Friday, Florida A&M cleared him just in the nick of time and he’ll suit up for the Rattlers this weekend.
Land is one of the biggest attractions in the classic. He’s the top-ranked 2023 NFL Draft prospect from an HBCU, according to ESPN.
5. There’s tons of talent. Period.
Jackson State is the most talented team in FCS, but Florida A&M isn’t far behind at No. 8. In total, 12 former blue-chip recruits could be on the field Sunday.
Some of those for the Tigers include: freshman wide receiver Kevin Coleman, the No. 72 prospect in the 2022 recruiting; class; redshirt junior wide receiver Malachi Wideman, who caught 12 touchdowns last year after transferring from the Tennessee Volunteers; senior cornerback Isaiah Bolden, who started his career with the Seminoles and was the nation’s top return specialist last year; senior cornerback De’Jahn Warren, who was the No. 1 junior college prospect in the Class of 2021; and redshirt sophomore Shilo Sanders, who’s the coach’s other son and earned all-Southwestern Athletic Conference honors last year after transferring from the South Carolina Gamecocks.
The Rattlers have one, too, with redshirt senior running back A.J. Davis, who transferred from the Pittsburgh Panthers and scored a touchdown in his Florida A&M debut Saturday.
This story was originally published September 2, 2022 at 1:53 PM.
