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The NFL Draft confirms that black quarterbacks are the face of the league

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DETROIT – For the second time in as a few years, two Black quarterbacks are expected to be chosen amongst the top three picks in the three-day NFL Draft that begins Thursday, and three could go to the first round.

Over the last two NFL seasons, African-American signal-callers have been chosen as first- and second-team Associated Press All-Pro quarterbacks, and black passers have won each the AP League MVP and Super Bowl MVP awards. The best player in the league is a black quarterback. The league’s best rookie is a black point guard. After being sidelined attributable to discrimination for much of the NFL’s history, black quarterbacks now dominate skilled sports’ most successful league, with USC’s Caleb Williams, LSU’s Jayden Daniels and Michael Penix Jr. from the University of Washington are desirous to join this talented group.

Williams, Daniels and Penix, college stars, are coveted by teams trying to excel in top sports positions. This is a far cry from what most black quarterbacks have faced in the draft, and nobody can articulate it higher than Warren Moon.

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As a senior at Washington in the 1977–78 season, Moon led the team to a conference championship, helped it win the Rose Bowl and was named conference co-player of the 12 months. However, Moon was not drafted into the NFL, and he only got his probability to play quarterback in the league after he broke passing records and won multiple championships in the Canadian Football League.

The NFL was founded in 1920, “so when you stop and think about… as long as the NFL has been around, what happened to me and many other very talented players wasn’t that long ago” – Moon, the only black quarterback enshrined in the Pro Hall of Fame Football, he recently told Andscape in a telephone interview.

“It really has been like that for all of us for a long time. And now everyone knows the reason: it was simply racism and stereotypes. What we’ve seen recently, especially with so many players drafted over the last 10 years, means we’re now desirable in the draft. The reason for this is also obvious: our success.”

LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels during a game against Texas A&M at Tiger Stadium on November 25, 2023 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
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In the previous 87 iterations of this process (the first NFL draft was held in 1936), only 28 African American quarterbacks were chosen in the first round, and none were chosen until Doug Williams finally kicked down the door in 1978. However, 16 have been chosen as of 2011 ., including one in each draft except 2016 and 2022. In the 1999 draft, which marked the first time that as many as three black passers were chosen, Donovan McNabb and Akili Smith were chosen second and third overall, respectively. In the 2023 draft, the second to feature as many as three African-American quarterbacks chosen in the opening round, Bryce Young was chosen first overall, C.J. Stroud second overall, and Anthony Richardson fourth overall.

On Thursday night, it will be shocking if the Chicago Bears, who own the first overall pick in the draft, didn’t select Caleb Williams, who was the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner during his time at USC. Daniels, who put up eye-opening stats as each a passer and runner at LSU , won the 2023 Heisman Trophy. He is widely considered a top-three pick. Last season, Penix, who throws the scenic deep ball, led Washington to the College Football Playoff National Championship game, where it lost to Michigan and finished 14-1. Despite his injury history, Penix, thanks largely to his standout days as a professional (he has demonstrated elite arm talent in addition to impressive athleticism), is now widely viewed as a high-round prospect, three NFL player personnel officials told Andscape.

Williams, Daniels and Penix will join the NFL in a season by which Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, a three-time Super Bowl winner and three-time Super Bowl MVP, is the league’s MVP. Under Mahomes’ direction, the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs became the first team since the New England Patriots in 2004 and 2005 to win back-to-back Super Bowl championships.

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Mahomes will turn 29 in September.

For the second time in five seasons, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is the reigning AP League MVP. He is 27 years old. The Houston Texans’ Stroud, the landslide winner of last season’s AP Offensive Rookie of the Year award, is the league’s fastest rising superstar. He will turn 23 in October.

The fact is that black quarterbacks have turn into the face of the NFL.

According to team officials, coaches and current and former players interviewed by Andscape, with the enormous pressure on football managers and coaches to win, green really is the important color influencing decisions in today’s draft. That established, given their long-standing position at the bottom of the league, the rise of black quarterbacks over the last 10 years is as surprising because it is noteworthy, though to not Doug Williams.

“We (pioneering black quarterbacks) at all times knew this is able to occur. It was only a matter of opportunity,” Andscape Williams, the first black quarterback to begin in the Super Bowl and win the game’s MVP award, said recently. “We at all times had guys who could do what these young guys are doing now, but they did not have the probability to do it.

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“Looking at the draft right now, no team can afford to let go of a guy who has the potential to do what a lot of these guys are doing. And not only (appetizers). When you look at so many of these teams now, you’re starting to see more and more guys getting a chance to play as subs. It’s a big difference. For a long time, boys who could become stars had a chance. But you wouldn’t see us in these replacement positions. Now yes. This is a big sign of change.”

Just have a look at the AFC North.

Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. participates in drills during an NFL game at Lucas Oil Stadium on March 2 in Indianapolis.

Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images

Jackson, Deshaun Watson of the Cleveland Browns and Russell Wilson of the Pittsburgh Steelers are the projected starters for his or her respective teams. The other two quarterbacks on the Ravens’ roster are also black. Jameis Winston is predicted to play behind Watson in Cleveland. Justin Fields, the Bears’ 2021 first-round draft pick, is Wilson’s backup in Pittsburgh.

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For years, quarterback guru Quincy Avery saw this coming.

The groundwork for change began at the local level, said the renowned trainer.

“We’re finally seeing Black quarterbacks getting opportunities at every stage of their development,” Avery told Andscape. “Now we see guys who’ve had the opportunity, irrespective of what part of the country they arrive from, to play quarterback since they were (very young). This is something we’ve not seen before.

“Later, as they moved up (in high school and college), the younger boys suddenly saw that older boys who looked like them were getting a chance to move up. So they just expected to get the same opportunities. This is not a surprise to them. We see the future right now. “We will soon see a league full of black quarterbacks.”

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As the saying goes, the die has been solid. He was once prevented from playing the game, now black quarterbacks run it. Given the trends in the NFL Draft, do not be surprised in the event that they proceed like this for a protracted, very long time.

Jason Reid is a senior NFL author at Andscape. He likes watching sports, especially any matches by which his son and daughter participate.

This article was originally published on : andscape.com
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Jalen Milroe can follow the Jalen path in NFL

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Star Black playmakers aren’t any longer an exception – they’re the rule. Throughout the entire football season, this series will discover the importance and influence of black QB from bottom -up to NFL.


Indianapolis-keep me, should you heard it earlier: playmaker Alabama born in Texas, who’s a stronger runner than a passerby, will probably be called outside the first round of the NFL Draft.

The playmaker was undefeated in Sec as a primary -year starter.

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The playmaker never played for the same offensive coordinator.

The name of the playmaker is even Jalen.

But it isn’t clear that Jalen hurts. This winter he was busy winning the Super Bowl MVP, and he didn’t play Iron Bowl or against Michigan.

Instead, it’s a former playmaker of Crimson Tide Jalen Milroewho last week Combine Combine tried to convey the case to the trainers and evaluators that he – like his namesake – is price being their playmaker franchise in the future despite questions on his ability.

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“I went through adversity. I saw everything as a quarterback, “Milroe said on Friday. “I played at the most difficult conference in the country. It would be easier to play at other conferences, but what I could see in Sec catapulted me that I was ready to play NFL. “

Alabama, Jalen Milroe, talks to the media during the NFL mix at the Lucas Oil stadium on February 28 at Indianapolis.

Justin Casterline/Getty Images

Departing from Katy in Texas, she originally got involved in Texas in 2019, but a 12 months later she fell to Alabama. After he was sitting behind the Crimson Tide Starter Bryung for 2 seasons, Milroe took his reins in the 2023 season. He helped Alabama survive Sec (8-0) this 12 months, won by the conference rival and two-time defender Georgia in the SEC championship, which caused Crimson Tide to the play-off collection.

But while Milroe had a big arm (his 10 yards for the test took third place in Sec in 2023), the pass was not his strong suit. For two seasons as a starter Milroe never achieved 3000 yards in one season, the first starter of Alabama, who did it because it … hurts.

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Hurts, from Houston, led Crimson Tide to the National National Championships in 2016–17, but during these two seasons were lower than 5,000 yards. While Hurts was a singular Rusher (1,809 yards and 21 sticks) at the moment, his weakness as a passerby is known for led to the spare Tua Tavailoa during the break of the national championships in 2017.

In the mix, Milroe decided that despite his pedestrian passes, he was still worthy of being a start at NFL.

He is aware of his weaknesses and swore that he worked in the ass to enhance outside being “one dimension.” He could move when his legendary trainer, Nick Saban, retired after the 2023 season, but decided to not fall off. He traveled six miles a day to ensure that that something was left in the fourth quarter in the fourth quarter. He studied progression and reads after I-SNAP to lift his IQ in football.

Unlike the forecast sorts of the first round, Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, Milroe threw a mix on Saturday, hoping that he would show the bands that he has mechanics to do that to the playmaker NFL. It turned out to be a mixed bag. Milroe showed strong arm strength and a very good location of sail routes, curls and it while throwing exercises, but fought accuracy on intermediate and on the routes.

“That’s so many things that I can learn more where I am today and where I will be when it comes to day 1, starting with NFL,” said Milroe before Saturday exercises. “Always be a game student, at all times attempt to develop, because it would be so many opportunities in which I can look back and say that it was the moment after I grew up as a playmaker.

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“That’s right now, I’m just trying to grow as much as possible, put my best foot forward and just look for development.”

Jalen Milroe warms up during seniors training at the Hancock Whitney stadium on January 29 at Mobile, Alabama.

Derick E. Hingle/Getty Images

Milroe was asked that he was one other playmaker in Alabama to succeed in the mix, following in the footsteps of the role (who moved to Oklahoma in 2019), Tavailoa, Mac Jones and Bryce Young. Milroe said he appreciates being in the company of others, but he added that it’s difficult to check him with others.

“We had different bands, we had different players around us, we had a different system,” he said.

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But when he specifically asked what he could study the journey of Hurts-from the first manager of the game after the super Bowl-Milroe master said he inspired him his companion Alabam.

“The most important thing I learned from J. Hurts is how he kept his head (I) always continued to work,” said Milroe. “He at all times raised his game, he has never been self -deserved, and all the pieces you see is great progress from him.

“And I have to applaud him as a person, he as a man, because he is definitely inspiring for many playmakers of my image, as well as many playmakers throughout the country. He leads to all of us. “

The couple isn’t completely similar. Hurts had about 20 kilos on Milroe when he was in college. Milroe has a stronger arm, while Hurts played more and not using a mistake of football: Milroe threw 17 interceptions and ate 67 bags for 2 seasons as a starter in comparison with 10 captures Hurts and 43 bags.

But they can each be changing the game when their teams need them. In a highly publicized match against Georgia at the starting of the last season, Milroe finished almost 82% of his passes on 374 yards and two appointments, adding 117 yards to the ground for the next two results.

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Milroe can also match the wounds in the so -called “Jalen-ISMS. “

“Climbing upstairs is not easy, but when you reach the top of this mountain, you will learn so many things when it comes to adversity when it comes to difficulties, things along the way,” said Milroe in a mix.

Martenzie Johnson is an older author for Andcape. His favorite film moment is that Django said: “You all want to see something?”

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This article was originally published on : andscape.com
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Like Tommie Smith and John Carlos from 1968. Black Power Salute inspired me to find my goal

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I’d say that I grew up within the household to be sure that that me and my siblings were aware of the black history. My parents invested in the gathering of black encyclopedias. On the duvet we had a version of the Bible with Black Jesus. Our house was stuffed with books of black novelists and thinkers, and if a black document appeared, we watched it. I watched all movies made on television about Dr. King, each “Roots” and “Alex Haley’s Queen” and I sat for all 14 hours “Eyes on the reward”-as a toddler. Bless my heart.

Having said this, there have been pockets of black history, and more likely that I had no opportunity to delve into once I was a toddler. The college was where all the will for information and understanding of the combined. I attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., One of a very powerful historically black universities within the country. It was there that I met people from around the globe whose knowledge about black history differed (often depending on the colleges and the communities by which we lived), but everyone had hunger to learn more.

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One day, through the first yr, I remember one among my friends in a T -shirt by which I had definitely seen before, but I never paid attention to. There was a black and white screen printing on the shirt (what I do know now) the enduring moment on the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968, where on the rostrum for 200-meter medals, Tommie Smith, John Carlos (races 1. And 3. Place Finaners) Everyone gathered a black fist in gloves while he played “Star Spangled Banner”. Peter Norman, the second place from Australia, wore a human rights badge, like Smith and Carlos.

Not only did they raise the fist of black power (although they each said it was for human rights), they received medals in black socks to represent poverty within the black community, and Smith wore a black scarf for black pride. Carlos showed solidarity with blue-wheeled employees, unpacking the jacket and wore a necklace from the beads for individuals who were lynched. Due to the state of Black America in 1968 and a continuing struggle for equality and civil rights, there have been calls to a boycott of the Games. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was also killed in April this yr – and all three athletes were inspired enough to find a way to do it on the rostrum, which led to one of the crucial durable images of public protest.

I remember how I learned history and realized that on the most important scene these brave men used their moment of triumph and victory to quietly protest against the conditions of underrated communities in America. I felt strengthened; We often discuss standing on the arms of giants, however the more I got into the history of black in America, the more I spotted what number of giants there have been. In college I used to be very bad and for a while ready to burn every part that represented the establishment or any obstacle to black liberation. I felt like all those individuals who even saw their space on the planet in reference to individuals who could never give you the option to speak as heroes whose lives were to be modeled later. Especially since it was also fastidiously that putting people in front of him can often bring an enormous personal loss.

When Smith and Carlos took their position, they were booed on the stadium and ordered to be sent home by the International Olympic Committee. The athletes returned home, but they weren’t welcomed by the hero, but as a substitute of rough sleds, and even in some cases the specter of death. They were also not beloved by athletes. Two men, associated eternally in history, even have a good relationship –Carlos even claims that he let Smith go within the race Because “Tommie Smith would never put his fist in the sky if I won this race,” the claim that Smith denies.

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History ultimately has a way of rights, but it surely took a few years and realizations on the front of social policy, in order that the actions of those persons are perceived as brave and needed, not only selfish and smug.

The lessons that I learned from College and continuous reading and education I gained (my head remained within the book about black history) were one among the best advantages in HBCU. The very variety of books I learned about about which I actually have never heard of – I actually have upheld me all my life.

That is why I remember sooner or later I used to be walking around Washington, the eastern Washington market and a street seller was selling different photos of moments in black history, and he had a 40 -inch photo within the Tommie Smith and John Carlos frame. I paid for it in money and spent it across the capital of the country until I returned home. I do know that it happened in 2005 (I finished Morehouse College in 2001) because I just moved to my first apartment with no roommate and it was the very first thing that I actually have ever suspended on the wall. This picture within the frame still hangs on the wall in my home in 2025 and I used it to teach my children about sacrifice and privilege and how you may have to discuss individuals who cannot.

Teenage students of Stax Music Academy Mark 25th anniversary, black history month with a concert

The query that my youngest children often ask: “How do I know who can’t speak for herself?” Which is an incredible query. For this I answered an easy fact, pointing to the photo:

“These men have made a gesture that gave people whose most of us, including them, would never see or never know them, but on which life negatively affects the alternatives of the wealthy and the federal government. Sometimes you may have to take this chance to say something because you do not know in the event you’ll ever have such a big platform.

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Son, there may be at all times someone who cannot speak for himself, and you may have to use it in a voice, because perhaps the thing you say or a stand that can help someone you understand, live a greater life. ”

I take advantage of words that may understand a little bit higher, but I can inform you that my children have a look at this photo on a regular basis, and once one among my sons said: “These guys are heroes, right?”

I say yes, they’re. They are the heroes of the Black History.

They will live eternally for speaking, and even quietly, in solidarity with those that couldn’t.

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Panama Jackson Thegrio.com

(Tagstranslate) @Ap

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Main Treasury Official Morgan State University, Sterling Steward, died

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Morgan State University, Sterling Steward


Morgan State University announced that his older associate athletics director and tax director, Sterling Steward, died.

No reason for death was disclosed, but the college has confirmed his contribution since he was employed in December 2022.

Steward died on February 26. In Morgan State he was accountable for the event of university programs, supporting partnerships and strengthening the financial and operational success of the Faculty.

“Sterling was more than a colleague-he was a respected leader, mentor and friend,” said in a written statement by Den Freeman-Patton, vice chairman and director of inter-university athletes. “His passion for athletics and commitment to raising Morgan programs were visible in everything he did. He worked tirelessly to ensure that our sports students had resources and the possibilities of distinction, and its impact will be felt for many years. We expand our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones, especially his three sons and sister when we mourn this huge loss. “

While the steward worked in Morgan, strategic growth and cooperation occurred. His work with the institutional development department helped to offer more opportunities and created lasting relationships to support sports programs.

Steward earlier he worked At the University of New Orleans (UNO) as an assistant to the college athletics director for strategic income generation. He also made stays on the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Savannah State University, Mississippi Valley State University, Alabama State University, Kentucky State University, Eastern Oregon University and Xavier University in various roles, including for a senior consultant athletics director and sports director.

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He was from New Orleans, who received the title of bachelor and master’s degree on the University of Southern Mississippi. He won a bachelor’s degree in the sphere of coaching and administration/history of sport and his master’s degree in the sphere of sport management.

(Tagstransate) Morgan State Universiry

This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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