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HBCU Players Are Making NFL Preseason Reps Matter
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As NFL teams protect starters and search for depth, HBCU players are using preseason snaps to make a serious case for roster spots, practice-squad jobs and a larger share of the football opportunity pipeline.
NFL preseason can be unforgiving for players on the edge of a roster. The reps are limited, the competition is desperate and one mistake can be remembered longer than several solid plays. Yet that same environment creates a valuable opening for players from HBCUs, who often arrive needing to prove that their production belongs in the same conversation as prospects from better-funded and more heavily promoted programs.
On OG Sports Wrap, Mark Gray focused on the early signs that Black college players are meeting that challenge. With starters likely to see little work as teams prioritize health, preseason games offer young players, undrafted free agents and late-round selections the chance to show their value. The message is simple: when the opportunity comes, production is the clearest argument.
Production is the strongest audition
North Carolina Central running back Jamari Taylor offered the kind of performance that gets noticed in a crowded backfield. Taylor carried the ball 22 times for 78 yards, scored on a two-yard touchdown run and had a long run of 14 yards as Jacksonville defeated New Orleans. Those numbers are not a guarantee, but they show a player who can handle volume when coaches give him the ball.
Gray noted that Taylor has already demonstrated the ability to produce at the college level, including a 2024 season in which he led the MEAC in rushing with 1,164 yards and 15 touchdowns. For a player fighting for a professional role, preseason is about more than a final stat line. It is about proving he can be trusted with assignments, run with purpose and help a team in the moments when the roster is still unsettled.
Pass rushers make limited snaps count
The same urgency applies on defense, especially for edge players whose chances may come in brief bursts. Dallas pass-rushing specialists James Houston IV and Isaiah Land each recorded a sack in the Cowboys’ 17-7 win over Seattle. Houston, a fifth-year Jackson State product, had his sack while playing only 18 snaps and added three tackles. That is precisely the type of flash play that can extend a roster fight.
Land, in his fourth season out of Florida A&M, arrived late to sack Jalen Milroe for a 14-yard loss. Gray’s point was not that every preseason sack locks down a job. It was that HBCU players must maximize every small window because their margin for error can be thinner. A team looking for a situational rusher, coverage contributor or developmental defender has to take notice when a player shows he can disrupt a quarterback on limited work.
The path is bigger than a 53-man roster
Gray also emphasized that the opportunity should not be measured only by whether a player immediately makes an NFL active roster. Practice squads can provide a meaningful foothold, allowing players to keep developing inside a professional environment while remaining visible to other teams. The UFL can offer another route for players who need more game film and a chance to stay in the pro football ecosystem.
That broader view matters because roster construction now demands depth across a longer season, international games and constant injury concerns. Teams may initially label a player as a practice-squad candidate or special-teams option, but those roles can reveal a diamond in the rough. For players who did not come through the traditional power-conference pipeline, a chance to contribute on kickoff coverage, return units or as a change-of-pace runner can become the start of something larger.
HBCU football is still developing pro talent
Buffalo running back Ian Wheeler is another name Gray urged listeners to track. The former Howard player had seven touches for 41 yards, nearly six yards per carry, in an early preseason appearance. Gray was careful not to overstate a small sample, particularly in games where many players are fighting to avoid being cut. Still, efficient production matters when a player is trying to demonstrate his usefulness.
The larger concern is the persistent assumption that smaller programs cannot prepare players for the professional game. Gray challenged that thinking, pointing to the history of larger programs drawing talent from HBCU schools and to the present-day performances of players earning NFL camp looks. He also acknowledged the transfer portal’s impact on HBCU programs, where retaining and replenishing talent has become more complicated. Even so, the preseason evidence suggests the pipeline remains active, capable of producing players ready to compete.
What It Means
The preseason is not the finish line, and a strong August showing does not guarantee a September roster spot. But it can change the conversation around a player. A sack in limited snaps, a productive night as a runner or dependable special-teams work can earn another week, another look and a phone call from a team that suddenly has a need.
For HBCU football, that visibility carries meaning beyond any single depth chart. Every player who turns an opportunity into production strengthens the case that Black college programs remain places where pro talent is developed, not merely discovered by accident. As Mark Gray argued on OG Sports Wrap, the league should keep watching—because these players are giving it a reason to.
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