We’re going to preview the Division I Conferences based on the lesser-known players of all the Division I teams. Let’s have some fun and give some attention to the players you likely don’t know or talk about too much, unless something goes wrong or you say, "Hey, look at that number."

Basically, we’re going to give you each team’s (we hope their starting) Long Snapper, Punter and #69. Then we’ll give you their longest road trip of the season, last conference title, playoff appearance, and a simple Yes or No if they have a new Head Coach. I’m sure I’ll question my choice for doing season previews this way this year, but I’m limited on time due to a myriad of factors. I’ll keep dreaming of being able to do this full time. Maybe one day. If you know of any sponsors, please let us know.

Last but definitely not least in the FCS Conferences!

The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC)

We’re still going to list their last playoff appearances as the SWAC and MEAC doesn’t always choose to go for the FCS Playoffs but have sometimes their history. We will highlight some of their National Champions.

Alabama A&M

• Where: Normal, Huntsville, AL

• Last Year's Record: 6-6 (4-4)

• Longsnapper: Logan MacGregor

• Punter: Austin McCready

• #69: BJ Maxena (OL)

• Longest Road Trip: Texas Southern (Houston, TX; 800 miles)

• Last Conference Title: 2021 (Spring) [Additionally claimed Black National Championship]

• Last Playoff Appearance: Division II 1989 (Jacksonville State, L 33-9)

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): Yes! Sam Shade. (Former Alabama star, Alumni, 1995)

Alabama State

• Where: Montgomery, AL

• Last Year's Record: 7-5 (5-3)

• Longsnapper: Thomas Lauria & Will Hocutt

• Punter: Steward McCall II

• #69: None Listed as of 28 JUL 2025 (No numbers for NSD players)

• Longest Road Trip: Prairie View A&M (Prairie View, TX; 726 miles)

• Last Conference Title: 2004 (2021 SWAC East Division Title)

• Last Playoff Appearance: No playoff appearances. Last Black National Championship, 1991. (11-0-1)

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No.

Alcorn State

• Where: Lorman, MS

• Last Year's Record: 6-6 (5-3)

• Longsnapper: Not listed on Roster but they list specialists differently.

• Punter: Franklin Rogers

• #69: Rashawn Gallaspy (OL)

• Longest Road Trip: Florida A&M University (Tallahassee, FL; 498 Miles)

• Last Conference Title: 2019

• Last Playoff Appearance: I-AA/FCS 1994 (First Round; Youngstown State, 66-20)

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No

Arkansas Pine-Bluff

• Where: Pine Bluff, AR Last Year's Record: 3-9 (2-6)

• Longsnapper: It was Rio Hay in 2024 but he transferred to UTEP. They do not have an updated 2025 roster page.

  

  Former Longsnapper Rio Hay

   

• Punter: Shea Yurkunas

• #69: Tyhaj Johnson (LB)

• Longest Road Trip: Bethune-Cookman University (Daytona Beach, FL; 962 Miles) Three (3!!!) trips to Texas!

• Last Conference Title: 2012 (Also Black National Championship)

• Last Playoff Appearance: 1995 NAIA (Semifinals; Northwestern State [OK]) Also, went to NAIA National Championship 1994.

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No.

Bethune-Cookman

• Where: Daytona Beach, FL

• Last Year's Record: 2-10 (2-6)

• Longsnapper: Clayton Thomas, Jr

• Punter: Max Tulen

• #69: None

• Longest Road Trip: Grambling State University (Grambling, LA; 926 Miles) Two trips to Miami. (Miami(FL) and FIU)

• Last Conference Title: 2015 MEAC

• Last Playoff Appearance: I-AA/FCS 2013 (First Round, Coastal Carolina; L 46-24)

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No.

Florida A&M

• Where: Tallahassee, FL

• Last Year's Record: 7-5 (5-3)

• Longsnapper: Ales Mocosco

• Punter: Gunnar Trout, Alexander Davis (won longest Punt of the week for Mississippi Valley State with an 80 yard boot linked below), Robert Engstier

• #69: None

• Longest Road Trip: University of Arkansas - Pine Bluff (Pine Bluff, AR; 673 Miles)

• Last Conference Title: 2023 (Also Black National Champions)

• Last Playoff Appearance: I-AA/FCS 2021 with a 38-14 loss to Southeastern Louisiana, Celebration Bowl Champs in 2023.

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No. (Coach James Colzie III is in year two.)

Grambling State

• Where: Grambling, LA

• Last Year's Record: 7-5 (2-6)

• Longsnapper: Kiami Mugo

• Punter: Johnny Schifano

• #69: None

• Longest Road Trip: Las Vegas: Las Vegas HBCU Classic; 1612 Miles [Ohio State University (Columbus, OH; 936 Miles)]

• Last Conference Title: 2017

• Last Playoff Appearance: I-AA/FCS 1989 (First Round; Stephen F. Austin)

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No.

Jackson State

• Where: Jackson, MS

• Last Year's Record: 12-2 (8-0)

• Longsnapper: Chris Levy & Hunter Burns

• Punter: Donovan Warren

• #69: Dequarious White (OL)

• Longest Road Trip: Las Vegas: Las Vegas HBCU Classic; 1766 Miles

• Last Conference Title: 2024 (Also Black National Champion)

• Last Playoff Appearance: I-AA/FCS 1997 (First Round; Western Illinois L 24-31)

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No.

• They have a stadium so powerful it took down the Kibbie Dome.

Mississippi Valley State

• Where: Itta Bena, MS

• Last Year's Record: 1-11 (1-7)

• Longsnapper: Trent Sims

• Punter: Nicholas Stephens

• #69: None

• Longest Road Trip: Bethune-Cookman University (Daytona Beach, FL; 820 Miles)

• Last Conference Title: 1959 in the South Central Athletic Conference

• Last Playoff Appearance: I-AA/FCS 1984 (First Round: Louisiana Tech L 19-66, with Jerry Rice)

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): Yes. Terrell Buckley is coming to his first season.

Prairie View A&M

• Where: Prairie View, TX

• Last Year's Record: 5-7 (3-5)

• Longsnapper: Benjamin Stewart

• Punter: García Rodríguez and Carlos Villagomez 

• #69: Jadrien Collard

• Longest Road Trip: Alabama A&M University (Huntsville, AL; 823 Miles)

• Last Conference Title: 2009

• Last Playoff Appearance: NAIA 1963

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): Yes! Tremaine Jackson will be starting his first season.

Southern University

• Where: Baton Rouge, LA

• Last Year's Record: 8-5 (7-1)

• Longsnapper: Conner Perritt & Maverick Harrington

• Punter: Nathan Zimmer #69: Shane Gardner

• Longest Road Trip: Fresno State University (Fresno, CA; 2095 Miles)

• Last Conference Title: 2013

• Last Playoff Appearance: No playoff appearances but their last bowl win was in the Heritgae Bowl in 1998 where they won 28-2 over Bethune-Cookman

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No.

Texas Southern

• Where: Houston, TX

• Last Year's Record: 5-6 (4-4)

• Longsnapper: Seth Carroll

• Punter: Christian Avelar & Jeremy Ramirez

• #69: Christopher Alexandre

• Longest Road Trip: University of California (CAL) Berkeley (Berkley, CA; 1954 Miles) and yes they’re taking the Ocean of Soul band too. Enjoy it Cal fans.

• Last Conference Title: 2010

• Last Playoff Appearance: No Playoff appearances.

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No.

The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC)

Delaware State

• Where: Dover, DE (across the street from Dover Motor Speedway for real)

• Last Year's Record: 1-11 (0-5 in conference)

• Longsnapper: Michel Bergeron (GR, played in all 12 games last year and recorded a tackle and fumble recovery), Carter Rasin (JR, played in all 12 games last year)

• Punter: William Schwerha (SO)

• #69: Nicholas Dowdell (SO)

• Longest Road Trip: 357 Miles to NC Central

• Last Conference Title: 2007

• Last Playoff Appearance: Never, last bowl game was 1977 Orange Blossom Classic (lost to FAMU 15-37)

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): Yes, DeSean Jackson former NFL Wide Receiver

Howard

• Where: Washington, DC

• Last Year's Record: 4-8 (1-4 in conference)

• Longsnapper: Wyatt Bernard (SO? Roster might not be updated from 2024, transfer from Santa Monica College after 2023)

• Punter: Jaydon Green (GR, played 12 games in 2024, played at Kentucky State (2023) and McNeese State (2022))

• #69: None

• Longest Road Trip: 1,103 miles to the Orange Blossom Classic vs FAMU (at Hard Rock Stadium)

• Last Conference Title: 2023

• Last Playoff Appearance: 1993 (DI-AA, lost in first round to Marshall 14-28), 2023 Celebration Bowl (lost to FAMU 26-30)

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No

We recently talked about the Howard Bison mascots on a podcast. So enjoy this YouTube about the Bison Couple.

Morgan State

• Where: Baltimore, MD

• Last Year's Record: 6-6 (3-2 in conference)

• Longsnapper: Griffin Dorman (RS SO, on Phil Steele’s preseason All-MEAC First Team)

• Punter: Shane Messenger (JR, preseason All-MEAC First Team)

• #69: None

• Longest Road Trip: 1.032 miles to University of South Alabama

• Last Conference Title: 2014 (co-champions with Bethune-Cookman, NCA&T, SC State, and SC Central)

• Last Playoff Appearance: 2014 (lost in first round to Richmond 24-46)

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No

Norfolk State

• Where: Norfolk, VA

• Last Year's Record: 4-8 (2-3 in conference)

• Longsnapper: Toby Willis (SR, played in all 12 games), Benjamin Heffron (JR, transfer from West Virginia Wesleyan College)

• Punter: Noah Tracey (JR, from Australia! Punted 12 times against East Carolina last year)

• #69: Jack Smoot (FR)

• Longest Road Trip: 395 miles Wofford

• Last Conference Title: 1984 (Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association, DII)

• Last Playoff Appearance: 2011 (lost to Old Dominion in the first round 18-35)

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): Yes, Michael Vick, yes that Michael Vick.

North Carolina Central

• Where: Durham, NC

• Last Year's Record: 8-3 (4-1 in conference)

• Longsnapper: None listed on roster. Mykah Stone was the 2024 longsnapper but transferred to MTSU.

• Punter: I don’t think NCCU has a punter listed on the 2025 roster. Juan Verlarde (SR) is listed on ESPN but not on NCCU’s 2025 spring football roster, but I think he graduated in 2024 according to his Twitter bio. Kaleb Robison (FR, K/P) is listed as a placekicker on ESPN.

• #69: Jordan McGill (RS JR)

• Longest Road Trip: 1,133 miles to East Texas A&M

• Last Conference Title: 2023 (co-champions with Howard)

• Last Playoff Appearance: 2023 (lost to Richmond in the first round 27-49)

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No

South Carolina State

• Where: Orangeburg, SC

• Last Year's Record: 9-3 (5-0 in conference)

• Longsnapper: Konnor Lucas (FR in 2024, SO now?, played in 11 games last year), Jack Maggio (SR in 2024, may have graduated)

• Punter: Dyson Roberts (SR in 2024, may have graduated), MaxCeon Cobb

• #69: None

• Longest Road Trip: 584 Miles to Delaware State

• Last Conference Title: 2024

• Last Playoff Appearance: 2013 (lost to Furman in the first round 20-30), 2024 Celebration Bowl (lost to Jackson State 7-28)

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No

• *Note: SC State does not say if its roster has been updated to 2025.

Thanks for reading! FBS Conferences Coming next week!