Since the Celebration Bowl’s launch in 2015, five different historically Black colleges and universities have won the HBCU football national championship, and 16 players have etched their names into the record books as the offensive and defensive MVPs of each game.
When the best teams in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and the Southwestern Athletic Conference face off Saturday at this year’s game in Atlanta, two more student-athletes will become a part of that Celebration Bowl history.
Andscape spoke to former Celebration Bowl MVPs about their favorite moments playing in the game, the impact of winning a national championship and what it takes to leave Atlanta with a trophy.
These interviews have been edited for length and clarity. All answers from each participant are not included. The Celebration Bowl will air on ABC at noon Saturday.
2015: North Carolina A&T defeated Alcorn State 41-34
MVPs: Aggies running back Tarik Cohen, linebacker Denzel Jones
Seth Wenig / Associated Press
Describe the feeling of finding out your team earned a Celebration Bowl bid.
Cohen: It gave us something to play for at the end of the year for playoffs. We all know it has to be like a Cinderella story for us to get into the playoffs and win out in the playoffs with as many scholarships as we had and the resources that we had. So when they announced that we went to the Celebration [Bowl] the first thing that came in our minds [was], like, ‘What gifts do we get going to the bowl game?’ It was a win-win.
Jones: Going into it, I didn’t really know how to feel about it because previously we always wanted to go to the playoffs and represent MEAC in the playoffs. The experience [in Atlanta] was unforgettable. It was a lot of people there at the time. I didn’t know about Alcorn [State] fans, and they traveled well as well. So it was a primetime matchup and it was exciting, a day I probably will never forget. It was electric [and] came down to the last play.
What’s your favorite moment from the Celebration Bowl?
Cohen: It was kind of back and forth, like an offensive game. I scored two of my touchdowns. Coach [Sam] Washington was looking because they had scored a touchdown, scored again on our defense. And he was kind of looking like, ‘Damn.’ … I was like, ‘Don’t worry. I’m gonna score again.’ As soon as I got up on the field, I ended up taking it 60, 70 yards for a touchdown.
Jones: I guess most people were expecting me to say my interception, but for me, it was just standing on the stage after the game and hoisting that trophy up in the air. … Just holding up the trophy up there with Tarik and Coach [Rod] Broadway, [I’ll] never forget that. As far as, like, playing, the interception that I caught, a lot of people still don’t believe that I caught it.
Alcorn had a play that they ran a lot. It was like a tight-end pop pass, and so throughout the whole break, that December when we were practicing, [we] kept rehearsing game plays. I remember the coaches getting on me because I wasn’t doing it right – I didn’t cover it or I turned the wrong way. So when they came out of that formation, I knew [Alcorn] was gonna run that play. Somehow I caught the ball. … The coaches [were] talking to me that whole month about that play, and it was like, ‘I got it right this time.’
2016: Grambling State defeated North Carolina Central 10-9
MVPs: Tigers running back Martez Carter, defensive back Jameel Jackson
Rick Scuteri/AP Photo
What’s your favorite moment from the Celebration Bowl?
Carter: When Baby Joe [McWilliams] blocked that kick, all our hard work had been put on display. Y’all was at home watching it, and you ain’t thinking about what we did to get there. All you know is that we won, but the whole squad just knew what we sacrificed in the offseason. Blocking that kick wasn’t something that we expected to happen, but we were hoping that it did happen. We take pride in special teams. … So blocking that kick and winning that game was for Coach and for Grambling State. We needed to say that the old Grambling football was back.
Jackson: The moment in the actual game was my interception. … At the snap we did our read steps. But once the receiver made his cut to make a slant, I seen him slip and also saw the quarterback’s arm go up – I broke on the ball. From there, I just knew it was my time to shine. … So that’s what [was] kind of going through my head: ‘I got to make this play. Our coach always tell us, ‘Big-time players make big time plays in big games.’ ‘
How did winning the Celebration Bowl impact Grambling’s football program?
Carter: I feel like that win put Grambling back in a position to get funded. They got better situations as far as lockers and weight rooms and just more things that they can use as far as scholarship money. I feel like those wins contributed to that. They got better uniforms. When you win, people want to help winners.
Jackson: [The Celebration Bowl] was still new. That game impacted and brought a lot of attention. It kind of shared a lot of the program and the talent that we had, and players got [NFL] camp invites. So I think that kind of gave us another boost to even NFL scouts [and] potential enrollees. It was a huge impact for us to win a national championship and bring it home and just give Grambling that life that it had when we was younger, that winning mentality.
2017: North Carolina A&T defeated Grambling State 21-14
MVPs: Aggies running back Marquell Cartwright, defensive back “Mac” McCain III
David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
What does it take to win the Celebration Bowl?
Cartwright: We made sure that we didn’t have any slip-ups on no parts of the team that year. Defense, offense, special teams – we always moving on one accord, and that’s pretty much what wins championships. Everybody gotta be on the same page, and everybody gotta do their job.
McCain: Make chicken. That’s what we say. We make chicken the same way anytime. So we work hard. We [work on] align assignment and technique, you know, do the right things with the little things, right? Like, walk like a champion in everything we do. That’s what we go by. Act like and walk like a champion in everything you do. So that’s really the recipe.
How did the Celebration Bowl win impact your school’s football program?
McCain: It helped a lot just to get televised on a big stage. I feel like sports is the No. 1 way to promote a school. People see it first on TV and people that didn’t know about A&T get to actually see what it’s like through the Celebration Bowl. So we had a lot of players try to come in, even transfer in because they want to be a part of it.
Cartwright: It’s going down in the history books. Years from now, everybody’s still gonna be talking about it. When we go to our games or tailgates or homecomings and or even if we’re talking junk to other players or friends, we always got history. Like, pull it up. You see what happened back in 2015 or 2017, 2018, 2019 throughout that time span. So we pretty much got bragging rights.
2018: North Carolina A&T defeated Alcorn State 24-22
MVPs: Aggies quarterback Lamar Raynard, defensive back Richie Kittles
David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
What’s your favorite moment from the Celebration Bowl?
Kittles: My favorite moment was when they played [rapper] Chief Keef and we went crazy on the sideline – that was my favorite moment. Defense, we was on the field and they was playing … I think it was ‘Faneto,‘ but the whole sideline just went crazy. Marquell Cartwright and Lamar Raynard brought a little dance from High Point [North Carolina] that had everybody doing it on the team. So every time they played that Chief Keef song, that’s the dance that everybody used to do, even if it was at parties, the locker room, anywhere. … We were all on the field, jumping up and down.
Raynard: I just knew it was the last game of my college career, and MVP really wasn’t on my mind. I just wanted to win. I tell everybody, I play for my homeboy Kylil Carter. He got in a bad car accident a couple of weeks before the game. He gets some snaps in the game for designed quarterback plays. So I just knew, like, man, I got to go out and ball for him, not for me. I wore his cleats that game, which is crazy. He signed his cleats for me because I wore his cleats.
When the final horn went off, what was it like celebrating a national title?
Kittles: It was one of the best feelings, like, I was just running. I ran because I feel like we did it. I was with my boy Antoine Wilder, and then I just heard my name, like, oh, Richie Kittles. Everybody [was] like, ‘Boy, go to the stage.’ That was probably the best moment of my life, just knowing what I overcame that season. … At the beginning of the season, I wasn’t even starting. I was coming off the bench as a backup, then to winning Celebration Bowl MVP and the confetti falling. I know all my peoples was watching.
Raynard: We did what we set out to do, which was go undefeated and then win a Black college national championship under Coach Broadway. I threw an interception on the previous possession and our defense got the stop. It probably was, like, two minutes left, and Coach Broadway came up to me. … It was like, this is what big-time players are made of, and you’re in this position for a reason. Broadway didn’t talk much, especially to the quarterback. So if he talked to you, you listened. He said that to me. We drove all the way down the field and we got to, like, the 2-yard line, and I know we did, like, quarterback sneak and I ran it in. That did it.
2019: North Carolina A&T defeated Alcorn State 64-44
MVPs: Aggies quarterback Kylil Carter, linebacker Jacob Roberts
Austin McAfee/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Describe the emotions of winning Celebration Bowl MVP.
Carter: I had a chip on my shoulder from the start of recovery from the wreck. As soon as they told me I would still be able to recover in time to play my last year of ball, in my head it was ‘go time.’ The year of the 2018 Celebration Bowl, me and Lamar [Raynard] talked before the game and I let him wear my cleats, kind of in honor of me, knowing I wasn’t going to be out there with him. He told me he was going to bring the W home. Right after the game, I told him to sign them and that I wouldn’t wear them again until we got back to the bowl game. So after all that, just to make it back to put those cleats on and perform the way we did, [it was] just a huge blessing. Wouldn’t have asked for it any other way.
Roberts: I was definitely excited when I found out. Being on the stage with the head coach and, obviously, [winning] MVP definitely was a good feeling. But I always tell myself I knew I was supposed to be in the position. It was meant to be. Especially [with] how my football journey had been up until then. So I always feel like I’m prepared for any moment at the biggest stage.
What is it like playing against the best in the SWAC and MEAC?
Carter: Facing off against a SWAC team was always fun. They bring a different type of environment than we would see all year. It’s kind of hard to explain, but it’s definitely different from the MEAC. I wish we would’ve got a chance to play some schools other than Alcorn or Grambling, but it is what it is. Both those teams always had some explosive players that were fun to match up with.
Roberts: I’m gonna give credit to the offense. They were just so electric. We had so many playmakers at the quarterback position, running back and wide receivers. They put up a lot of points that game. … Just everybody on the offense, we had a lot of hungry ballplayers who played with a chip on their shoulder, felt like [they] had something to prove each and every snap. I feel like that’s what gave us the edge.
2021: South Carolina State defeated Jackson State 31-10
MVPs: Bulldogs wide receiver Shaquan Davis, defensive back Cobie Durant
Hakim Wright Sr./AP Photo
What is it like playing against the best in the SWAC and MEAC?
Durant: Just a crazy atmosphere being that it’s an HBCU. You go to [a] Power 5 and you play in big crowds. So being at South Carolina State, we never really had a huge crowd. But of course, Deion [Sanders] has the media and all that behind him, so they brought a crowd. We went to the Celebration Bowl [and] all our fans had just come out of the woodwork, and it was just a great experience. Just to be in Mercedes-Benz [Stadium], playing in the Falcons’ stadium and just, like, playing in front of that crowd was just eye-opening for the HBCU culture.
Davis: It was basically a statement game. Like I said going into the game, it was a whole bunch of trash talk about social media. … So it was basically just going out there and just proving everybody wrong. Nobody really [was] thinking we were going to come in and do what we did. Jackson [State] was the favorite.
What does it take to win the Celebration Bowl?
Durant: I’m just treating it like another game. It’s a bright stage, but don’t let the bright stage get to you. Just go out there and don’t do nothing different. … The dog gotta be in you, not on you. I don’t think nobody had faith in [us], especially on their side. I was in the mall, and somebody asked if we were the basketball team or something like that, which is crazy! … They underestimated us, and we just went out there and punched them in the mouth.
Davis: Everybody gotta be on one accord. You gotta be locked-in and you gotta make plays when they need to be made, even when things are going wrong. Football is a game of momentum, so everything is not always gonna be, like, good things happening. … The team who has the least amount of mistakes [is] gonna win, and you gotta take care of the ball.
2022: North Carolina Central defeated Jackson State 41-34 (overtime)
MVPs: Eagles quarterback Davius Richard, defensive back Khalil Baker
Hakim Wright Sr./AP Photo
What was it like facing off against Jackson State in the Celebration Bowl?
Baker: Going into the game, we had that to lose. The only people that felt like they supported us were other Eagles or people that just wanted to see the underdog win. That’s how people looked at us. But with the other side having the big names – Shedeur Sanders, Travis Hunter, Shilo [Sanders] and all the four-stars they had over there – a lot of attention was on them.
Richard: It really just came down to preparation, which I feel like we did a good job [of] as an offense. Just going into the game, we knew we were one of the best in the HBCU world, not just SWAC or MEAC but HBCU football in its entirety. So knowing that [Jackson State] had a complete defense, from the D-line to the linebacker to the [defensive backs], knowing the hype and stuff that they had coming into the Celebration Bowl, we couldn’t go into this game half step, and we had to be on our A game.
What was your favorite moment from the game?
Baker: It would have to be Kyle Morgan’s fake punt. That was a big energy shift in the game. Latrell ‘Mookie’ [Collier]’s run in overtime was huge. Then the very last play of the game for me, just because I was on the receiver that [Shedeur Sanders] threw the ball [to] for the game to end. Seeing the ball go out the back of the end zone, you know it’s over. … You hear the horns blowing into Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Richard: The first play of the game, because that’s when I knew what kind of game it was going to be offensive-wise, that our guys came out to play. I remember I handed off [to Mookie Collier] for 10 yards. I’m just sitting behind the offensive line, attacking the ball. I just see how it opened up, how aggressive he was – that kind of just fired me up. I was like, ‘This is gonna be one for the ages.’ … We came out here to be physical and dominate, and that’s exactly what we did the whole night.
2023: Florida A&M defeated Howard 30-26
MVPs: Rattlers running back Kelvin Dean, linebacker Isaiah Major
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Describe the feeling of finding out your team earned a Celebration Bowl bid.
Dean: It was surreal. It was like I achieved one of my main life goals. … Winning MVP was even more amazing just seeing the joy on my family’s faces.
Major: To finally get over the hump and just knowing that’s kind of how the [SWAC] East shakes out every year – whoever wins out of FAMU or Jackson goes to the SWAC championship game. When we finally got it done, it was like, all right, let’s go on and win it all. So it was like a mission accomplished.
What does it take to win the Celebration Bowl?
Dean: Hard work, consistency and character.
Major: You got to play complementary football, and you got to have an unselfish team. Guys got to be interested in winning the game. They can’t be chasing stats or arguing.
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