In South Florida, a recruiting hot spot, Black quarterbacks are still being overlooked
Hezekiah Harris always dreamed of playing in the NFL.
Quarterback, specifically. The same position he has played since the age of 4. The same position he played when Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas won its fourth straight title in 2022. The same position coached by his dad, who famously trained Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. But as Harris’ recruitment process began to heat up, he encountered the same obstacles as many Black quarterbacks before him.
“A couple schools wanted me to change positions,” Harris said, specifically naming a prominent SEC program and a lower-level Division I school that wanted him to be either a wide receiver or running back. He declined. Asked why, Harris’ answer was simple: he wanted to be part of history. “Black quarterbacks in today’s game blazed a path for quarterbacks like me.”
Such requests are quite common for Black quarterbacks. It happened with Jackson. It happened with the Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts. And it even happened with James “Shack” Harris, the first Black quarterback to make a Pro Bowl. Now, as Hurts and the Eagles prepare to face Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes in the first Super Bowl matchup between two Black starting quarterbacks, there’s hope in South Florida and beyond that Sunday could be a catalyst for change across the football landscape.
“Seven African-American quarterbacks have played in this game, and now the first time for two to go head-to-head,” Hurts said Monday during Super Bowl media day, referring to Mahomes, Doug Williams, Steve McNair, Donovan McNabb, Colin Kaepernick, Russell Wilson and Cam Newton. “That’s uplifting the next generation of quarterbacks, that 4-year-old, 5-year-old kid back in Houston, back in Philly, back in Texas, Louisiana, wherever, across the world, that regardless of what someone may say or have an opinion about you, you can do it too.”
Although 15 of the NFL’s 32 teams started at least one Black quarterback in 2022, the football world has never been particularly welcoming to them. For many years, Black men were barred from the position due to negative stereotypes centered on their lack of mental acuity and leadership skills. It wasn’t until the Denver Broncos’ 1968 selection of Marlin Briscoe, who still holds the team’s rookie record for passing touchdowns, that a Black quarterback started a game in the Super Bowl era. Even that didn’t last long: Briscoe was traded to the Buffalo Bills the following season and converted to wide receiver. Briscoe later played receiver during the Dolphins’ perfect season in 1972. A Black quarterback didn’t win a Super Bowl until Williams led the Washington Redskins to victory in 1988.
“His legendary performance sent a message proving that Black quarterbacks are more than capable to lead and win with intelligence and integrity,” St Thomas coach Roger Harriott said in a statement, calling the bias against Black quarterbacks a form of “systemic racism.”
In South Florida, a place famous for its competitive high school football, Black quarterbacks are somewhat of a mainstay. Three out of the four 2023 state champions – St. Thomas, Miami Central and Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna — were led by Black quarterbacks with Black head coaches. Still, many coaches believe the region continues to be overlooked — even with the success of South Florida football legends such as Jackson (Deerfield Beach), Geno Smith (Miramar) and Tyler Huntley (Hallandale).
“We produce a lot of good” quarterbacks, said Chaminade coach Dameon Jones, the Broward County Football Coach of the Year for Classes 2M-1M. Jones also coached Huntley at Hallandale High School. “But sometimes they’re not giving an opportunity like the rest of them.”
Central coach Jube Joseph deemed the bias a very common “football stereotype.”
“‘He’s Black, he’s athletic — let’s make him a defensive back,’” Joseph, the Miami-Dade County Football Coach of the Year for Classes 2M-1M, said, referring to the mindset of some white scouts. He then addressed what he called “the elephant in the room.”
“When you’re the quarterback, you’re the face of the franchise. ... Sometimes they don’t want [Black people] to represent the brand and that’s just the harsh reality,” he said.
Joseph also revealed that not even his star quarterback Keyone Jenkins, the reigning Miami-Dade Offensive Player of the Year for Classes 2M-1M and winner of three straight state titles, was immune from requests to switch positions. Jenkins, who has already enrolled at Florida International University, recalled one school asking him to switch to defensive back after watching him play wide receiver during a 7-on-7 game.
“They don’t really see a lot of Black QBs get the job done,” Jenkins said of the scouts who still don’t believe in quarterbacks who look like him. “They think we’re all skills no brains.”
Sunday, however, provides Jenkins with a bit of motivation.
“We’re changing the game,” he said.
Miami Herald sportswriter Daniel Oyefusi contributed to this report.
This story was originally published February 11, 2023 at 8:34 PM.
