Jackson State’s Travis Hunter wants more athletes to choose HBCUs. Will that happen?

There’s nothing quite like an HBCU homecoming.

From the familial atmosphere to the outfits to the pageantry, it’s truly an experience that can change one’s perspective of HBCUs. So it should come as no surprise that when then-No. 2 overall recruit Travis Hunter attended Jackson State’s homecoming, he was enamored not just by his conversations with coach Deion Sanders but the environment itself.

“The hospitality was just something that I hadn’t experienced on my college visits,” Hunter said. “They took care of me.”

Hunter would eventually decommit from Florida State in favor of JSU, making him the first five-star football recruit to choose an FCS school since the dawn of ESPN’s rankings in 2006. Although a rather unprecedented move in recent history, there’s a burgeoning belief that Hunter could catalyze a return to the golden era of HBCU football. The viability of such a movement, however, ultimately rests on the West Palm Beach native’s on-field play, meaning that all eyes will be on JSU’s first game against Florida A&M at the Orange Blossom Classic on September 4.

“He’s the experiment,” said Derrick Connor, a former defensive end at FAMU. “If his process to the league is as smooth as it would’ve been at another school, the tides will shift.”

Even before Hunter flipped to JSU, FAMU coach Willie Simmons had begun to notice a shift in recruiting. The protests against racial injustice following the murder of George Floyd and the NCAA’s new name, image and likeness rules definitely played a role. But also the latest, state-of-the-art facilities aren’t as appealing as they used to be, said Simmons.

“A lot of prospects, such as guys like Travis Hunter, they want to go where they’ll be coached first class, treated first class and prosper in an environment that cultivates their growth,” added Simmons, who called Hunter a “pioneer.” “I think the career that he’ll have at Jackson State will show young men and women that they can go wherever they want to go and still have a chance to be successful, be a draft pick, be a first-rounder, be an award winner because I do think he has that type of talent.”

Hunter, who spoke about wanting to inspire other elite athletes to follow his path in his commitment announcement, arrives at JSU at a time when HBCUs are already garnering more attention. Kamala Harris, the vice president of the United States, graduated from Howard University. FAMU became the first collegiate program to partner with LeBron James and rep his signature logo. Former NFL players and coaches such as Eddie George and Hue Jackson, respectively, have followed Sanders’ path to HBCU locker rooms. ESPN broadcast several JSU games in 2021 and even televised the Tigers’ 2022 spring game, a first for HBCUs. And, most recently, Howard and Jordan Brand reached an apparel deal. While the increased exposure is good, HBCUs never ceased to be “bastions of Black excellence in every field,” said author and FAMU professor Yanela McLeod.

“What white America is coming to realize is the value of HBCUs because of the challenges that continue in our country as it relates to race,” added McLeod, who edited the book “Agile, Mobile, Hostile: The Biography of Alonzo S. ‘Jake’ Gaither” that explores the life of the famed FAMU coach. “We’ve produced some of the country’s most trailblazing athletes like Wilma Rudolph coming out of Tennessee State. At FAMU, you got ‘Bullet’ Bob Hayes, Althea Gibson, Vince Coleman.”

College football powerhouses like Alabama, University of Florida and Texas didn’t recruit Black players for most of the 20th century. That meant Black student-athletes such as John Glover, a 1958 graduate of Miami’s Booker T. Washington High, had no choice but to attend an HBCU.

“If all the Black players at the University of Miami, University of Florida, Florida State, Central Florida, USF, FAU, FIU — if the best players on all those teams played on one team, that’s what we had back then,” said Glover, who played both tight end and defensive end under Gaither.

Glover’s time at FAMU coincided with the program’s golden era — the Rattlers won eight Black college football national championships, 20 conference championships and lost only four games between 1945-1969 — as he played either with or against several future NFL hall of famers including Hayes and Junious “Buck” Buchanan. By the 1970s, primarily white institutions started to see the value in Black players, effectively ending HBCUs’ monopoly. The following half century has corresponded with broadcast deals and sponsorships that transformed college football into a billion-dollar industry yet without the best talent, HBCUs have been unable to benefit and upgrade their facilities at the same rate as their PWI counterparts.

“A top-tier athlete going to a HBCU not only brings exposure to the university but the conference and HBCU football as a whole,” said David Pulliam, a safety on North Carolina A&T’s 2017 Celebration Bowl-winning team.

That fact isn’t lost on Hunter. Already equipped with a swagger reminiscent of his coach (he plays both sides of the ball just like Coach Prime as well), the former five-star recruit appears ready for the moment in front of him.

“As long as I go out there and play how I need to play, there will be more people coming in, trying to get in touch with Jackson State,” Hunter said.

If his spring game performance — Hunter finished with two offensive touchdowns and an interception — was any indication, the dollars will soon come. While Connor is excited about Hunter, he’s more worried about keeping the momentum.

“What Prime is doing at JSU is what we need to get back to the heyday” of HBCU football, said Connor. In his mind, every HBCU campus needs to have an ambassador such as Sanders or a LeBron sponsorship to help raise its profile. “We need people behind the Travises and the Primes. We need all HBCUs to be able to stand on their own feet and not have to rely on others’ buzz.”

Regardless of whether all HBCUs can find a version of Sanders, nothing will happen without student-athletes’ willingness to do the unexpected. For that, Hunter has a bit of advice: just take a visit.

“If they step outside their comfort zone and just go out there, go with their heart and go with their gut, there will be a lot of players to come out here and play at a HBCU.”