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Preseason Watch List: NC Central DB Khalil Baker

First-team FCS All-American returns to prowl the defensive backfield

Published

July 17, 2023

Defensive back Khalil Baker (left) defends a pass during the Celebration Bowl game between the Jackson State Tigers and the North Carolina Central Eagles last December in Atlanta. (Photo by Nick Tre. Smith/Icon Sportswire)

#20 Khalil Baker, Defensive Back

School: NC Central Eagles

Class: Senior

Measurables: 6-0/185 pounds

Hometown: Winston-Salem, NC

High School: East Forsyth

**NC Central DB Khalil Baker** (Photo courtesy NCCU Athletics)

Notes: Wracked up numerous individual awards after a stellar 2022 season, which saw NC Central win 10 games and claim the HBCU national championship with a Celebration Bowl victory over Jackson State. Among the 2022 awards with Baker’s name on them:

First-Team FCS All-American from the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA);
First-Team FCS All-American from the Associated Press. It was the first time an NCCU player has ever been named first-team to either of those prestigious lists.
Winner of the inaugural Aeneas Williams Award, presented to the nation’s top defensive back in HBCU Division I football. Williams played at Southern University before a Hall of Fame NFL career with the Cardinals and Rams in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year
Cricket Celebration Bowl Defensive MVP (after recording 10 tackles in the overtime win).

Naturally, with Baker coming back for another season, he has received plenty of preseason ink as well. Here are the early honors he has picked up so this spring and summer, with conference media days yet to come:

First-team preseason FCS All-American and preseason MEAC Defensive Player of the Year by Lindy’s Sports
First-team preseason FCS All-American by Athlon Sports
First-team FCS Preseason All-America by The Bluebloods

Baker got his first career start on the last day of the 2021 regular season and hasn’t looked back.

In 2022, he finished second in the MEAC in interceptions with four. He brought one pick back for a touchdown in a game against New Hampshire on the road. He led the Eagles in tackles with 61 (including 43 solo stops). He also had five pass break-ups, two tackles for loss and a forced fumble …

Has worn No. 20 since his sophomore season, switching from No. 34.

“We’ve got a lot of guys on the defensive side of the ball who’ve gotten a lot of reps,” Central coach Trei Oliver said in an interview with syndicated radio host Donal Ware over the weekend in Durham. “We’re very talented. A lot of those guys have played for three or four years now. But KB, Khalil Baker, is our leader back there … “

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