The Charlotte Post today profiled the much-improved Johnson C. Smith University football team, which finished 6-5 and won the Pioneer Bowl. With a slate of starters returning from last year’s Golden Bulls team, the predictions may just prove to be short-sighted.

“That’s always the toughest thing here, having a good second season, a back to back winning season,” Aycock said. “I’m excited. I was maybe a little bit disappointed about the pick overall, but we can’t control that. We know Sept. 1 is coming and West Virginia State is where we’ll travel to and look forward to taking on the challenge starting there. Hopefully, we’ll be playing somewhere in late November.”

Old habits dies hard among CIAA rankings voters, so its natural that JCSU, which has only posted three winning seasons in the last 20 years, would get a low ranking in the South division. But they do return several starters on offense and defense, and if they can compete with teams like Winston-Salem State and Fayetteville State, they may be a year away from contention for a CIAA title.

Johnson C. Smith University