North Carolina A&T’s football depth chart for week one of the season still has an “OR” at a very crucial position.
The Aggies have yet to publicly announce a starting quarterback for Thursday’s opener at Wake Forest.
An official A&T depth chart published Monday listed graduate transfer Justin Fomby on the top line at quarterback. But the chart also added an “or” next to his name, before also listing returning sophomore Kevin White. Freshman Braxton Thomas sits third on the QB list.
New offensive coordinator David Marsh said on a podcast a few weeks ago he expected A&T to play coy with announcing its starting signal caller until the last moment. This strategy is as old as coaching, not showing your hand until the last possible moment to keep your opponent guessing. It’s possible both players could see considerable action in Thursday’s opener.
“All three of those guys have done a tremendous job through fall camp,” coach Vincent Brown said during Monday’s CAA teleconference. “They all bring something different to the table for our offense. And that’s a good thing. They’ve been battling it out throughout camp. I think that competition has energized, not just our offense, but our entire team because they see that we can create some explosive plays now.”
Explosive plays — or just ordinary moving-the-chains plays — were sorely absent for much of last season for A&T, which won just once. The Aggies ranked near the bottom of FCS football in yards and points, offsetting what otherwise was a respectable showing from the defense.
Brown made a concerted effort to address offensive concerns in the off-season. It started with adding Marsh to the staff. He has 16 years of coaching experience, including at Campbell. He’s been a quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator for seven seasons.
Marsh’s most recent stop was at Texas Southern, where the Tigers led the Southwestern Athletic Conference in rushing a year ago and ranked in the top 20 nationally. Texas Southern’s quarterback broke school passing records in 2021 and nearly matched those numbers in 2022.
That has to be music to the ears of Aggie fans.
“We want to be a run oriented team, but you got to be able to produce points,” Brown said. “In this league, you need to be able to control the ball and time of possession and most importantly score points … It’s always about points.”
Fomby, from Lawrenceville, Ga., played the last two seasons at Houston Christian. He saw action in just five games a year ago but threw for 2,297 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2022 as the starter.
White, from Newport News, Va., played in seven games for A&T last season. He finished 45-of-85 passing for 507 yards, two TDs and four interceptions. He rushed for an additional 272 yards and three scores.
White’s biggest outing came in the win over Norfolk State, where he ripped off a 65-yard TD run. He ended the game with 115 rushing yards and found the end zone twice. White also had a 50-yard run against Richmond.
Thomas is a true freshman from Sarasota, Fla. Other quarterbacks on the roster include redshirt sophomore Noah Sanders (transfer from Delaware) and freshmen Jaemyn Smith and Ryan Strickland.
Whoever wins the starting job will have a solid stable of running backs to employ. Kenji Christian led the way in 2023 with 718 yards and six touchdowns, as well as providing a threat to catch the ball out of the backfield. Wesley Graves has more than 150 career carries over two years and gained 435 yards in 2023. Shimique Blizzard, Charlie Dixon and Daniel Coles give A&T other options and variety.
The receiving corps starts with experienced juniors Amonte Jones and Ger-Cari Caldwell. Jayvonne Dillard, a freshman, is the other listed starter.
North Carolina A&T’s revamped offense will get thrown into the fire right away. The Aggies face an ACC foe in their opener. The Deacs are 18-0 in games against FCS foes since 2000.
Wake Forest had its own offensive struggles a year ago and has been on a similar search to find consistent quarterback play. Wake’s depth chart also features an “OR” at the quarterback position this week. The battle to lead the offense has come down to redshirt seniors Michael Kern and Hank Bachmeier, a recent transfer from Louisiana Tech.
Brown said he knows the Aggies are solid underdogs but emphasized that “we’re not going to conceded anything.”
“Look, it’s not uncommon that FCS programs win these games sometimes,” Brown said. “You know, when we were at William & Mary and when we were at Howard, we beat FBS opponents. And so that’s been our messaging to our team, from a coaching staff standpoint.”
Regardless of the outcome, Brown said he sees a big difference between this year’s team and his first A&T squad at this point last year.
“I’m really excited about where we are going into the first game of the season,” he said. “I think our kids truly do understand the amount of work required to excel in football, in life, in school. And so we’ve seen a dramatic shift in the amount of effort and the dedication of our kids to becoming excellent at what we do …
“It’s been ‘we’re chasing excellence’ in everything we do. We talk about our habits, our preparation, our effort and our commitment. And those things produce excellent results. And so our mantra this season is we’re chasing excellence. We’re going to go out and fight and play with the level of effort that championship teams play with and see what happens from there.”
