{"id":145791,"date":"2025-08-14T18:53:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T18:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/145791\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T18:53:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T18:53:09","slug":"four-named-to-black-college-football-player-of-the-year-watch-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/145791\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Named to Black College Football Player of the Year Watch List"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n Story Links
\n <\/p>\n

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. —<\/strong> Four standout players from Florida A&M University have been named to the 2025 Black College Football Player of the Year Award watch list, representing some of the top emerging talent among HBCU football programs.<\/p>\n

Players honored<\/p>\n

Davion Westmoreland<\/a>, defensive lineman \u2014 In the 2024 season, Westmoreland, a graduate senior, recorded 33 tackles, including 8 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, and 3 quarterback hurries, with a standout performance in the season finale featuring 5 tackles, 2 TFLs, and 2 sacks.<\/p>\n

T.J. Huggins<\/a>, defensive back \u2014 A redshirt junior, Huggins led the Rattlers in 2024 with 3 interceptions and 7 pass breakups. His season stats include 12 solo tackles, 3 interceptions, and 7 passes defended.<\/p>\n

Nay’Ron Jenkins<\/a>, linebacker \u2014 As a junior linebacker, Jenkins logged 38 solo tackles, 3 sacks, and 1 interception during the 2024 season.

\nThad Franklin Jr., running back \u2014 The senior running back carried the ball 120 times for 653 yards, scoring 5 touchdowns, and averaged 5.4 yards per carry in 2024.<\/p>\n

Background on the award<\/p>\n

The Black College Football Player of the Year Award, commonly associated with the Deacon Jones Trophy, honors the most outstanding HBCU football player, based on both past performance and projected impact for the upcoming season. This year’s watch list highlights top contenders across HBCU programs.

\nFinalists will be named after the regular season concludes, and the award winner is typically unveiled during the halftime of the subsequent HBCU Legacy Bowl, which will air live on the NFL Network.

\nFAMU’s representation\u2014spanning the defensive line, secondary, linebacker unit, and offense\u2014reflects the depth and versatility of talent across the roster.

\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Story Links TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Four standout players from Florida A&M University have been named to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":145792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1318,1317,1315,1316,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-145791","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}