LUT WILLIAMS BCSP Editor
Sunday’s match up between the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills for the AFC Championship and the Green Bay Packers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the NFC Championship, both for spots in Super Bowl LIV, will bring together players and coaches with some interesting HBCU history.
On the field, both the Chiefs, Bills and Buccaneers are likely to have one former HBCU player suit up.
Antonio Hamilton out of South Carolina State is a veteran defensive back and key special teams member in his first season with the Chiefs.
Hamilton, in his fifth season in the NFL, plays as a gunner on punt and kickoff coverage for Kansas City where he has earned quite a reputation, and as a reserve defensive back. This season he posted 12 tackles, nine solos and three assists. Hamilton graded out as the sixth-best overall special teamer in the NFL with the New York Giants in 2019 according to Pro Football Focus.
He broke into the league as an undrafted free agent with the Oakland (now Las Vegas) Raiders in the 2016 season after running an eye-catching 4.38 time in the 40-yard dash prior to the draft. After one season in Oakland, he spent three seasons with the Giants.
He was a star defensive back and kick returner at South Carolina State, earning all-Mid Eastern Athletic Conference honors as a return specialist and defensive back in 2015.
Another South Carolina State product, second-year defensive back Alex Brown, is also on the Chiefs roster but has spent the entire season on injured reserve. Brown, who also signed as a free agent, was on the Chiefs roster and played in last year’s Super Bowl winning game.
Tampa Bay will dress fifth-year defensive back and special teams ace Ryan Smith out of North Carolina Central when they face the Packers Sunday. Smith was taken in the fourth round (108th overall) of the 2016 Draft by the Bucs and has spent his entire career there.
At NCCU, he excelled as a defensive back and kick returner making all-MEAC in both categories in 2015 and was an FCS Freshman all-American in his first season. He started 16 games in the defensive backfield for the Bucs in 2017 and 2018 posting career highs of 63 tackles (50 solos) in 2017. He had 38 tackles (28 solos) with a game-saving interception in 2018. This season, he has primarily played on special teams and as a backfield reserve credited with just four tackles.
The Bills will likely suit second-year defensive end Darryl Johnson Jr. on Sunday. The former two-time first team all-MEAC defensive end and 2018 MEAC Defensive Player of the Year out of North Carolina A&T did not play in Sunday’s 17-3 win over Baltimore after suffering a knee injury a week earlier in the Bills’ wild-card win over Indianapolis.
Johnson was taken in the seventh round of the 2019 Draft, 225th overall. Prior to Sunday’s game, Johnson had appeared in 15 games this season posting 14 tackles, 11 solos and five assists, with one sack playing primarily on special teams but also as a reserve defensive end.
Chief among those on the sidelines will be former Alcorn State and NFL playing and coaching standout Leslie Frazier, the defensive coordinator for the Bills. Frazier reportedly interviewed for the Houston Texans’ head coaching vacancy on Sunday.
Frazier is entering his fourth season coordinating the defense and first with the additional title and responsibility of assistant head coach. He was formerly the interim head coach (2010) and head coach (2011-13) of the Minnesota Vikings and has had stints as defensive coordinator with Minnesota (2007-10), Tampa Bay (2014- 15) and Cincinnati (2003-04). He also was a defensive backs coach with Philadelphia (1999-2002), Baltimore (2016) and Indianapolis (2005-06) where he won Super Bowl XLI on the staff of head coach Tony Dungy.
As a player, Frazier was an all-American defensive back and baseball standout at Alcorn State finishing his career in 1981. He went undrafted but was signed by the Chicago Bears, spending six years (1981-85) as a key member of the secondary before a serious knee injury ended his playing career. He started in the backfield of the historic 1985 Bears team that won Super Bowl XX, 46-10 over the New England Patriots. In that season he posted a team-high six interceptions.
Also on the Bills coaching roster is former Howard (2009-2012) defensive tackle Rodney Hill. He currently holds the title of Seasonal Strength and Conditioning Coach. Hill started in three of his four years at Howard at defensive tacke. He has held similar positions in strength and conditioning with the Detroit Lions and the New York Giants in the NFL and on the college level at Central Florida and at his alma mater.
Another Howard product who finished his college career at Tuskegee is Kansas City’s Defensive Quality Control Coach Terry Bradden.
Bradden began his playing career spending two years as a quarterback at Howard (2009-11) before transferring to Tuskegee (2011-13) where he graduated with a degree in social work.
He is in his third season with the Chiefs after spending the 2017 season as a defensive assistant, 2018 with the defensive line and 2019 with defensive backs. Before jumping to the NFL, he had stints as an assistant at Bethune-Cookman and Florida Atlantic before returning to his alma mater of Inlet Grove (Fla.) High School as head coach and athletics director.