With Week 6 on the horizon, here are a couple of HBCU football players to watch on Saturday.
Chris Zellous | Quarterback | Hampton
The Hampton Pirates are 3-1, and Chris Zellous is a key factor in the Pirates’ strong start. Zellous completed 24 of 34 passes for 256 yards and one touchdown while adding another 60 yards and two touchdowns in the Pirates’ 31-14 conference-opening win over Richmond on Saturday. Hampton head coach Robert Prunty was pleased with his quarterback’s performance.
“I thought Chris played with a lot of poise. It’s only his fourth star,t and he played like a veteran. I like how he mixed the run and pass and read the defense well.”
On the season, Zellous, named CAA Offensive Player of the Week earlier in the season, has thrown for 733 yards, six touchdowns, and five interceptions and has run for 262 yards and another six scores. Next for Zellous and the Pirates is a meeting with Campbell.
Jace Wilson | Quarterback | Texas Southern
With Andrew Body out for the season, sophomore signal caller Jace Wilson has been tasked with leading the Tigers’ offense. Wilson has completed 47 of his 88 pass attempts on the season for 508 yards, four touchdowns, and only one interception. In Texas Southern’s last game, a 52-7 homecoming win over Lincoln (CA), Wilson completed 16 of 25 passes for 159 yards and carried the ball three times for 30 yards and a touchdown.
Monroe Beard | Linebacker | Tennessee State
The reigning Big South-OVC Co-Defensive Player of the Week set a school record with 19 tackles in Tennessee State’s 20-10 loss at UT Martin.
The Arkansas Pine Bluff transfer leads the conference with 49 tackles (28 solo, 21 assisted). Beard has averaged 12.3 tackles per game, and outside of the Notre Dame game, in which he had seven tackles, he has had no fewer than 11 stops in Tennessee State’s last three games.
