Alabama State quarterback Andrew Body has been named the 2025 Stats Perform HBCU National Player of the Year after putting up historic numbers.
The award recognizes the top player from 21 Historically Black Colleges and Universities competing in FCS football.
An eight-person panel selected Body from a group of 10 finalists, with Delaware State running back Marquis Gillis finishing as runner-up. Body will receive the honor at the Stats Perform FCS National Awards Show on Jan. 3 in Nashville, Tennessee.
“It started with just being myself and letting them see who I was,” Body said told The Analyst. “You gotta build relationships with everybody individually. As you are putting it together, it is really fun. You see all these talented individuals and they know exactly what the mission is at hand.”
Body, a 6-foot, 205-pound redshirt junior from Corpus Christi, Texas, started eight games before a shoulder injury cut short his season. He completed nearly 71% of his passes for 1,770 yards, 20 touchdowns and one interception, posting a 203.6 passer efficiency rating, and added 518 rushing yards and four touchdowns.
The season included several standout performances, highlighted by a six-touchdown outing against Alabama A&M. In a 52-42 season-opening loss at UAB, Body threw for 312 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 119 yards and another score, earning HBCU National Player of the Week honors.
He later totaled a career-high 442 yards of offense and a passing touchdown in a 38-34 loss at Jackson State.
Body was named Southwestern Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year after leading the league in touchdown passes (20) and points responsible for (144) and ranking second in completion percentage (70.5). He earned SWAC Offensive Player of the Week three times and HBCU National Player of the Week twice.
With Body at the controls, Alabama State’s offense ranked at or near the top of the SWAC in 13 categories and in the top 12 nationally in seven.
Body’s path to the award included overcoming three straight season-ending injuries. After setting Texas Southern’s single-season record for offensive yards per game (265.9) in 2021, he suffered a shoulder injury in the 2023 opener. He transferred to Alabama State and won the starting job, only to go down in the 2024 opener as well.
Healthy in 2025, Body delivered one of the most productive seasons in program history and has announced plans to return next year, positioning Alabama State as a conference title contender. He called the honor a blessing and credited his faith and perseverance for carrying him through multiple setbacks.
“I’m really at a loss for words,” Body said. “Standing on that sideline last season, thinking about what could have been. Doing the work to get back only for God to give me everything I asked for the next season. It truly is a blessing. Like it was all his plan from the beginning.”
