Fayetteville State football coach Richard Hayes has heard this question a lot over the six-to-eight months:
What does it feel like to finally win the CIAA championship?
The Broncos made the CIAA title game four times in a row from 2017-21 (with COVID canceling the 2020 season) but fell short each time. At long last, in 2022, in dramatic fashion – with an Elton Andrew 43-yard field goal sailing through the uprights as time expired – FSU claimed the CIAA’s ultimate prize.
Sweet relief.
“I was really overjoyed to watch that kick sail through,” Hayes said during the CIAA’s Media Day in Salem, Va. last month. “Honestly, though, I was ready for the kickoff team to go back out there and play some more. I didn’t realize the game was over when he kicked the ball.”
Forgive Hayes for making absolutely sure his FSU team had victory fully in hand before celebrating. There had been so many close calls before. The school hadn’t won the CIAA in football since 2009. The Broncos finished 9-3 overall a year ago.
“The fact that we had gotten here was pleasing to some people but not to me,” Hayes said. “To know we have finally won and accomplished the goal of being CIAA champions is overwhelming.”
—> Read More: Great Games 2022: FSU Beats Chowan In CIAA Finale (With Video)
With preseason camps starting across the state this month, a new obvious question has emerged – what to do for an encore?
How about more of the same.
CIAA coaches and sports information directors think so, voting Fayetteville State the favorite in this year’s league race. The Broncos were picked ahead Bowie State, Virginia Union and Shaw at the top of the ballot. Bowie State and Virginia Union compete in the CIAA’s Northern Division. Shaw is with FSU in the Southern.
“We’re ready for them,” redshirt sophomore quarterback Caden Davis said when asked about whether one title would make the team complacent.
Retooled Roster
FSU’s Web site lists 47 returning players. Some defensive pieces have moved on, but Hayes said the entire starting offensive line should be back – including a pair of preseason all-CIAA picks in Tyler Fleming and Michael Todd. Defensive lineman Cameron Merrell and linebacker Kentrell Caldwell also made the preseason all-conference team.
Davis and Demari Daniels split quarterbacking duties a year ago. That decision was made mid-season and sparked the Broncos, keeping teams off-balance.
Daniels threw for 696 yards and eight touchdowns in 2022, while rushing for 241 yards and another two scores. He earned game MVP status in the CIAA championship. Davis added another 246 rushing yards and three touchdowns, while passing for 261 yards and three scores.
Hayes said the QB rotation likely would continue this season. He was more coy about what exactly it would look like. “I ain’t going to tell you right now,” he said during Media Day. “But we’re going to play both of them.”
The Broncos have a “plethora of running backs,” the coach said. Derrick Alston Jr., Syheam McQueen and Mekhi Fenner have experience. “We’re waiting for one to step up and be the guy,” Hayes said during a summer interview with radio host Donal Ware from BOXTOROW.
Senior Tre’ Good will pace the wide receiver corps. Redshirt junior Kahlil Diarrah stands out at tight end. “He brings a tremendous threat in the run and pass game,” Hayes said.
Defensively, lineman Anthony Binyard should be a handful alongside Merrell. Binyard recorded 11 tackles-for-loss and four sacks a year ago.
Gerald Simpson is a standout linebacker entering his fourth season at Fayetteville State. He has 157 career tackles (including 60+ the past two seasons) and 18 career tackles-for-loss.
Simpson knows what it feels like to be on both the losing and winning ends of a CIAA title game. There were a few quiet bus rides back to Fayetteville in 2019 and 2021.
“That’s a terrible feeling,” he said.
So, too, Hayes said, was the feeling after getting beat by Delta State 51-0 in the first round of the Division II playoffs. There was pride in making the D2 field, but the final score proved humbling.
“It was a truly great experience vs. Delta State,” Hayes said in his interview with Ware. “That was another brand of football that we haven’t seen before. It gives us something to strive for in the future. We anticipate trying to get back to NCAA playoffs. When you get there you have to bring it on a whole (different) level.”
Tough Early Schedule
FSU will jump right into the fire this season, visiting UNC Pembroke in the opener Thursday, Aug. 31 and then hosting Lenoir-Rhyne – one of the favorites in the South Atlantic Conference the following Saturday.
The Broncos beat Pembroke 15-13 in 2022. It was the Broncos’ first victory over the Braves in nine tries in the Two Rivers Classic. Now Hayes and company want to win that game on opposing turf.
UNC Pembroke has a new coach but a familiar face to Hayes. Mark Hall comes to the program after a long stint with Chowan – the team Fayetteville State narrowly beat in the CIAA finale in ’22. Chowan leaves the CIAA this season for the Gulf South. The Hawks eventually will land in Conference Carolinas in 2025.
“I heard that Chowan was leaving the conference and I said, ‘We’re done with Coach Hall,” Hayes quipped in his interview with Ware. “But then he gets the Pembroke job and he takes 25 or so guys from the Chowan team and adds them onto the Pembroke roster. They have formed a little all-star team over there. It’s going to be a great game, a great atmosphere. We’re going to have to be ready.”
The CIAA title defense begins Sept. 16 at home against Lincoln (Pa.). Then, the Broncos go on the road for three weeks of CIAA action, facing Virginia Union, Bluefield State (back in the league, taking Chowan’s spot in the Northern Division) and St. Augustine’s. Homecoming will be Oct. 21 against Johnson C. Smith, a program on the rise in Charlotte.
By that point, we should start to know whether Fayetteville State can answer the “what to do for an encore” question. Hayes, who took over the program before the 2016 season, certainly thinks his group will be in the running for a CIAA repeat.
“Our guys have been working all summer,” he said. “Our strength coach, all of our coaches, have done a great job building this roster. We’ve built depth. We’ve added a few pieces. We lost a few pieces … I am proud to be here. I am very excited and let’s go on with it.”
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