The Florida A&M University football team is ranked second in the Power News Radio Network’s Preseason HBCU Football Poll.
The poll, which was released by the Power News Radio Network in Pittsburgh, Pa., is announced just ahead of the network kicking off its 2019 Black College Football coverage with the nationally syndicated Black College Football Weekly radio show. BCF Weekly is the longest running network radio program covering Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Football and has aired in Tallahassee on WANM-FM, FAMU’s campus radio station.
“While it is a great honor to be recognized by my peers for the work we are doing, we understand as a football program that it’s not necessarily about where we start, but where we finish,” Florida A&M head football coach Willie Simmons said. “Our ultimate team goal is to finish as the number one team by season’s end.”
Veteran broadcaster Ty Miller, who hosts the show and produces the poll, is joined by other long-time BCF Weekly contributors, including Charles Burchell, John McCann and the “G Man” Ron Gerrard. The radio show includes scores, player highlights, conference reports, interviews with Black college head coaches and the weekly PNRN Top Ten Poll.
“After Coach Willie Simmons’ strong first year run at the helm of the FAMU program, the expectations are great for an encore season and the fact that many of their tougher MEAC opponents will visit Bragg Memorial Stadium, bodes well for the Rattlers,” Miller said.
The Rattlers open the 2019 season against the University of Central Florida in Orlando on August 29.
The PNRN Preseason Top Ten are:
- Alcorn State Braves
- Florida A&M Rattlers
- North Carolina A&T State Aggies
- Southern Jaguars
- South Carolina State Bulldogs
- Bethune Cookman Wildcats
- Albany State Golden Rams
- Alabama A&M Bulldogs
- Grambling State Tigers
- Virginia Union Panthers