GAME PREVIEW: North Carolina Central at Campbell

BUIES CREEK, NC – The North Carolina Central University football team will be back on the road this Saturday, facing in-state foe Campbell in a return to non-conference action.

Kick-off is scheduled for 4pm at Barker Lane Stadium and the game will be broadcast live on FloFootball.

Series history: This will be the third meeting ever between the Eagles and the Camels, with the series ending in a 1-1 draw. Each team was victorious on their home court; NC Central won 49-48 in overtime last season

Last time out: NC Central (3-2, 1-0 MEAC) picked up its first conference win of the season, defeating Norfolk State 37-10 in the Circle City Classic on four quarterback touchdown passes Walker Harris and a defensive performance that held the Spartans to 244 yards total offense and 85 yards through the air.

Campbell (2-3, 0-2 CAA) snapped a two-game skid with a 44-41 win over Delaware State. The Hornets led in the final minutes, but Chad Mascoe caught Sincere Brown from two yards out with 42 seconds left to secure the victory. Mascoe threw three touchdown passes for the Camels, all to Brown, who recorded 133 receiving yards on just five catches.

Success outside the conference: NC Central is 16-12 in non-conference games under Oliver. Over the past two or more seasons, the Eagles have a 14-4 record – including wins over three top-25 teams (No. 25 Elon (2023), No. 25 New Hampshire (2022) and No. 5 Jackson State ( 2022).

This season, the Eagles face three non-conference teams from the CAA, one from the ACC and one SWAC opponent.

Hiking with a walker: quarterback Walker Harris was named MEAC Offensive Player of the Week twice: once for his performance against North Carolina A&T, when he had 272 yards passing, three touchdowns passing and a score rushing; the other was for his performance against Norfolk State, when he threw for 245 yards and four touchdowns. He currently ranks 11th in the FCS in passing touchdowns with nine, 16th in pass efficiency with 158.8 and points responsible with 60.

Taylor made: NC Central is known for producing some great running backs, and J’Mari Taylor is cut from the same cloth as the others. In the season opener, he had 24 carries for 128 yards and two touchdowns and two catches for 18 yards and a touchdown. He finished with 146 all-purpose yards. Taylor rushed for 451 yards and seven touchdowns, averaging 90.2 yards per game. He has 12 receptions for 112 yards and one touchdown and has scored a touchdown with the ball in every game he has played this season. Taylor leads the team and the MEAC with 48 points. He currently ranks fifth in the NCAA FCS with eight total touchdowns, sixth in the NCAA with seven total touchdowns, and eighth with eight total touchdowns.

Quick to record: In the last two games Markell Quick has nine receptions for 243 yards and three touchdowns. In that same span, he had two catches of 60 yards or more. In the win over North Carolina A&T, Quick had four catches for 119 yards and a touchdown, and against Norfolk State he had five catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns. It was his first 100-yard receiving game and the first multi-touchdown game of his career.

Eagles vs. CAA: Head coach since his arrival Trei Oliver holds a 4-3 mark against Coastal Athletic Association (CAA, formerly Colonial Athletic Association) teams, with wins over North Carolina A&T, Campbell and Elon a year ago – and another win over the Aggies this season. The Eagles hosted Elon and North Carolina A&T in 2024 and travel to Campbell this weekend.

The trainers: Trei Oliver (NC Central, 1998) is in his fifth season as a collegiate head coach. With 24 years of collegiate coaching experience, including five conference championships and three national titles in Black college football, Oliver returned to his alma mater in December 2018 as North Carolina Central University’s 24th head coach. A native of Yorktown, Virginia, Oliver earned all-conference and all-region honors as a defensive back and punter during his four-year playing career at NCCU from 1994 to 1997. The 1998 graduate later returned as an assistant coach from 2003 to 2006 returned to NCCU and helped the Eagles to back-to-back Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) championships in 2005 and 2006.

Braxton Harris, who previously spent the 2021 and 2022 seasons on staff at Campbell, returned to Buies Creek after spending 2023 as head coach at FCS Southland Conference member Houston Christian. At HCU, Harris coached the Huskies to their first winning season in program history in 2023, going 6-5 overall after inheriting a program that had won more than two games once in the last six years. HCU also posted its first winning record in conference play by going 4-3 in the SLC and finishing fourth in the league after finishing last in the preseason poll. Additionally, linebacker Jalyx Hunt posted an All-America campaign (AFCA, Stats, Perform, Phil Steele) where he also earned SLC Defensive Player of the Year honors and led a group of five Huskies named All-America. SLC teams were appointed. In his first stop at CU, Harris served as associate head coach and linebackers coach as well as recruiting coordinator under Mike Minter, who resigned in December 2023 after 11 seasons.

NCCU the MEAC favorite: The 2022 MEAC champion and HBCU national champion Eagles have been selected as the preseason favorite to win the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) for the second straight year.

Four Eagles made the preseason first team: Trevon Humphrey (OIL), Jaden Taylor (DL), Cole Jones (DB) and Juan Velarde (P/K). Four other Eagles were on the second team roster: J’Mari Taylor (RB), Joaquin Davis (WR), Ja’Quan sprinkles (OL), and Max U’Ren (LB).

Nationally, NCCU receives votes in both the Stats Perform FCS and AFCA Coaches polls.

Youth movement: Underclassmen have played an important role for the Eagles in the first three games of this season, and it shows how much youth there is on this team. There are 56 underclassmen (freshmen or sophomores) on the roster who continue to play snaps for the Eagles. Five games into the season, 40 of the 56 underclassmen have seen playing time.

A North Carolina State of Mind: NCCU’s emphasis on recruiting talent in North Carolina is evidenced by the fact that of the 110 student-athletes on the team’s season-opening roster, 63 Eagles call the Tar Heel State home (63%).

A State of Mind from North Carolina, Part Two: Oliver has made a point of playing schools from the state of North Carolina, and has four on the schedule this year (Elon, North Carolina, North Carolina A&T and Campbell). Since Oliver took over as head coach, there have been at least two teams from the Tar Heel State on the schedule every year.

Since 2011, the Eagles are 20-21 against North Carolina teams and Oliver has an 8-6 advantage. The Eagles went 4-0 against North Carolina teams just a year ago, and they are 6-3 over the last two or more seasons. The Eagles are 0-2 against in-state opponents this season with North Carolina A&T and Campbell still to play.

For more information about NCCU Athletics, visit NCCUEaglePride.com or download the NCCU Eagles Athletics app.