LUT WILLIAMS BCSP Editor
MACON, GA – Ordinarily, the defending football champion is picked to repeat when the four black college conferences get together for preseason Football Media Days in July.
Surprisingly, that was the case for just one of the four this season – the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) – that chose two- time defending champion South Carolina State to three-peat in 2026.
The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) was the third of the four to choose someone other than the defending champion (Albany State) when their programs got together in Macon last Wednesday for its
preseason event.
SIAC voters chose Edward Waters, a team that finished tied for sixth at 4-4 in the SIAC last season, as the team to beat in 2026 (see PRESEASON PREDICTIONS at top of the Page).
Maybe the ascension of head coach Brian Jenkins‘ Tigers to the top spot has to do with his battle-tested experience.
The 30-year veteran coach won parts of four championships in five years, posted a 46- 14 overall record and won three MEAC coach of the year awards when the led Bethune- Cookman in the MEAC from 2010-2014. His record as a head coach is 60-36 (.625) including a three-year stint (2015-2017) at Alabama State.
Jenkins was named interim head coach at Edward Waters just before the 2025 season and was named the permanent head coach after his team got off to a 3-0 start including a big 41-38 win over CIAA champion Virginia Union in
Week Three.
A 35-9 loss to his former employer (B-CU) the following week began a stretch where EWU lost three of four games including dropping contests to league foes Kentucky State (42-14) and Benedict (31-27). The Tigers won just one of
its final three games to finish 5-5.
Perhaps more important to EWU being picked first is that Jenkins returns players chosen as both the offensive and defensive players of the year and has three others picked as preseason all- SIAC performers.
Senior running back Johntarrious Thomas (5-6, 190) was chosen as the offensive POY coming off a season where he ran for 1,016 yards in 10 games (101.6 yards per game), averaged 7.0 yards per carry and scored 8 touchdowns. His biggest game last season was a 243-yard effort in the loss to Benedict. Junior linebacker Trevon French (6-3, 195), who had 74 tackles, 3 sacks and 2 forced fumbles, won the defensive award.
Ron Dickerson Jr.’s Tigers of Benedict (10-3, 7-1), whose only losses last season were to Albany State, were picked second. Tuskegee, 4-7 overall and tied for eighth at 3-5 in conference play a year ago, was surprisingly picked third going into its fourth season under head coach Aaron James.
Albany State, who made a run to the Div. II quarterfinals last season but lost head coach Quinn Gray to Florida A&M, was pick fourth. The new head man for the Golden Rams is David Bowser a veteran of CIAA wars at J. C. Smith and Fayetteville State.
Speaking of surprises, Kentucky State (9-3, 7-1) under Felton Huggins Jr. was the revelation last season and comes off a Div. II playoff berth after only losing to Albany State in conference play. The Thorobreds were picked fifth. Allen (6-5, 5-3), under head coach Cedric Pearl, who lost both second team all- SIAC QB Jamir Dismukes (to Fayetteville State) and POY RB Fabian Duncan (to J. C. Smith), was sixth.
New coaches Terry Sims at Clark Atlanta and Brad Sherrod at Atlanta neighbor
Morehouse enter the fray with standout quarterbacks. CAU sophomore Xavier
Jackson was the preseason first teamer while Maroon Tigers’ senior Miles Scott was named to the second team. CAU and MHS were picked 10th and 12th respectively.
Thomas Howard, who was an assistant at North Carolina A&T when the Aggies won four MEAC and Celebration Bowl titles, is the fourth new head coach in the conference as he takes the reins at Savannah State. The Tigers were picked ninth in the preseaon voting.