LUT WILLIAMS BCSP Editor

Shedeur Sanders

Jackson State sophomore quarter- back Shedeur Sanders and Virginia Union sophomore running back Jada Byers stood head and shoulders above the competition in the 2022 black college football season.

They are the leaders of the 2022Black college SportS page “Baad team” of gridiron all-stars and the 2022 BCSP co-offensive players of the year.

Sanders topped all black college passers with 3,740 yards and 40 touch-downs while leading the JSU Tigers to and undefeated 11-0 regular season and their second straight SWAC championship.

His numbers were in top ten in the- FCS stats in passing yards (3,758, 4th), completion percentage (.705, 4th), completions per game (26.46, 6th), passing efficiency (159.7, 10th), passing touchdowns (40, 3rd), passing yards per game (289.09, 5th), points responsible for (282, 3rd), points responsible for per game (21.7, 3rd) and total offense (302.5, 5th).

Sanders, who won the Jerry Rice Award last season as the top freshman in FCS football, was this season’s SWAC offensive player of the year. He is a finalist this season for the Walter Payton Award that goes to the top offensive player in the FCS.

Byers was equally dominant in the CIAA and NCAA Div. II.

He led all black college rushers with 1,970 yards and 19 touchdowns. His total, in fact, was the best in college football across all divisions.

The CIAA offensive player of the year was also the black college scoring leader with 126 points, 11.5 ppg., and also the all-purpose yardage leader averaging 204.4 yards per game. He led VUU to a 9-1 regular season record that earned the Panthers a berth in the Div. II playoffs.

In Div. II stats, Byers was first in rushing yards (1,928), rushing yards per game (175.3) and all-purpose yards (204.09). He was seventh in rushing yards per carry (6.7), tied for sixth in rushing touchdowns (19), fifth in scor- ing (126 pts., 11.5 points per game), and sixth in total points scored (126) and total touchdowns (21).

Joining Byers as a first team running back is Fort Valley State redshirt junior Emanuel Wilson.

This 6-1, 220-pound junior led the SIAC and only finished behind Byers in black college rushing, scoring and all-purpose stats. He piled up 1,371 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns for the 9-2 Wildcats.

Wilson was in the top ten in every Div. II category that Byers appeared

in. The first team receivers – Florida A&M senior Xavier Smith and South Carolina State redhsirt junior Shaquan “Shaq” Davis – also stuffed the stat sheet.

Smith topped the black college stats in receptions per game averaging 7.9 per contest and was also prolific averaging 92.8 receiving yards per game, second best in the black college ranks. Smith finished with 87 receptions for 1,021 yards and 11 TDs. Smith was one of only two black college receivers to top 1,000 receiving yards this season.

Davis, a rangy 6-5, 180-pound specimen, had 36 receptions for 738 yards and eight touchdowns, averaging 84.0 receiving yards per game.

Six-six, 250-pounder Kemari Averett of Bethune-Cookman is the Baad Team tight end. Averett caught 39 balls for 445 yards and seven TDs for the Wildcats this season.

The first team offensive line includes Robert Mitchell of N. C. Central, Tariq Stewart of NC A&T, Mark Evans III of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Henry Mitchell III of Benedict and Justin Meade out of Virginia Union.

NC Central’s Adrian Olivo is the placekicker and Twon Hines of Central State is the kick retuner.

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