- BEST IN STATE -

NCCU football’s Khalil Baker named ‘Best In State’ top FCS defensive player

Senior from Winston-Salem coming off MVP, All-American season

Eric Lusk

Published

August 22, 2023

Khalil Baker earned MEAC and Celebration Bowl MVP honors a year ago, helping the Eagles to 10 victories and an HBCU national championship. (Photo courtesy NCCUEaglePride.com).

One of the top defensive backs in FCS college football has joined our Best In State preseason honors list.

North Carolina Central football senior Khalil Baker from Winston-Salem has been named the NC Football News’ Best In State defensive MVP for the FCS. (His Central teammate, quarterback Davius Richard, was named offensive co-MVP yesterday).

Baker is coming off a career season in 2022 which saw the personal and team awards roll in.

After helping the Eagles to a MEAC championship and an overtime victory over Jackson State in the Celebration Bowl, Baker was voted All-American by the AFCA and Associated Press, was named MEAC defensive player of the year and collected the Aeneas Williams Award (presented to the best HBCU defensive back in Division I). He was voted the defensive MVP of the Celebration Bowl, a game many expected previously unbeaten Jackson State to win.

Baker played big when it counted, including making 10 tackles in the Celebration Bowl. He picked off four passes during the season, taking one back for a touchdown against New Hampshire. He led the Eagles in tackles with 61 and was fifth in the MEAC in passes defended.

Baker starts this season in rarified air once again. He’s a preseason All-American from outlets like Athlon Sports, the Bluebloods and Phil Steele. And returns to the Aeneas Williams watch list and he’s on the preseason watch list for the Buck Buchanan Award (given to the top FCS defensive player).

NC Central will open the season against a school from Baker’s hometown, the Winston-Salem State Rams, on Sept. 2. Baker and the Eagles will appear on a more national stage later in September, playing at UCLA and facing off against Mississippi Valley State in the Circle City Classic in Indianapolis.