After an eventful summer, FAMU looks ahead to a season of big expectations

The Florida A&M Rattlers, who open 2023 ranked 25^th in the nation in the American Football Coaches Association poll, are coming off an eventful summer.

In April, linebacker Isaiah Land — who had 26½ sacks for FAMU the past two years — signed with the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent. Ex-FAMU safety Markquese Bell signed with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2022, and he made their roster.

In July, FAMU coach Willie Simmons briefly suspended football activities after it was discovered that an unauthorized rap video was filmed in the Rattlers’ locker room.

In August, former FAMU player, coach and athletic director Ken Riley was posthumously elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Next up on the calendar is FAMU’s Sept. 3 season opener against Jackson State in the Orange Blossom Classic at Hard Rock Stadium.

Since Simmons took over the Rattlers program on Dec. 12, 2017, he is 0-2 against Jackson State but 27-5 versus everyone else.

In fact, the Rattlers will enter this season on a nine-game win streak.

Simmons, a 42-year-old former Clemson and The Citadel quarterback, will rely this year on a strong offense.

Quarterback Jeremy Moussa passed for 21 touchdowns last season. In fact, he had nine games in which he passed for at least 200 yards and eight games in which he had at least two TD throws.

Moussa’s biggest highlights were his season-high 345 passing yards in a win over Alabama A&M and his 78.9 completion percentage in a victory over rival Bethune-Cookman.

The California native, who has great size at 6-2 and 225 pounds, will enter 2023 as the SWAC’s preseason Offensive Player of the Year.

However, the Rattlers took a hit when lineman Kamari Stephens — who had been projected by Lindy’s Magazine as the SWAC’s 2023 Defensive Player of the Year — bolted as a transfer to Jacksonville State.

Stephens led the SWAC last year with. 10 sacks. His departure — coupled with the graduation of the aforementioned Land — figures to weaken FAMU’s defense.

We will start to find out if that’s true on Sept. 3 when the Rattlers seek to avenge last year’s 59-3 loss to Jackson State. That was FAMU’s worst loss since a 62-0 defeat to UCF in 2019.

Simmons, though, remains upbeat, especially after everything he has been through this summer with the rap video controversy.

“That [loss to Jackson State] was last year,” Simmons said while in Miami to promote the Orange Blossom Classic. “This is a new year and a new opportunity.”

This story was originally published August 24, 2023 at 9:01 AM.