TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Jacquay Nunnally had just broken Jerry Rice’s NCAA Division I career receptions record a few hours earlier, but by this point, he was only focused on completing a pass.
Back at Florida A&M’s team hotel in Baton Rouge, La., Nunnally’s historic feat was still settling into reality. No one in the history of NCAA college football had amassed more catches than the 5-11, stocky Rattlers’ receiver who was built more like a rugged running back.
Now not even Nunnally’s hero, Rice.
It was the second Saturday in November of the 2000 football season. Nunnally caught 16 passes for 155 yards to lead FAMU to an epic 50-49 road win over Southern. And along the way, he blew past Rice’s record of 301 career catches set 16 years earlier while playing for tiny Mississippi Valley State. Nunnally surpassed Rice’s mark by snagging a short shovel pass and racing toward the right sideline.
History was made in that moment, that night. And Nunnally was clearly humbled by it.
Records are made to be broken, man. Good for that kid. I wish him all the best.
—Jerry Rice
As the FAMU beat writer at the time for the Tallahassee Democrat, I covered Nunnally’s entire career as he marched toward the college record owned by the eventual Pro Football Hall of Famer. And those vivid memories from being there the night Nunnally broke the record are what made my recent return trip to FAMU’s campus all these years later so special.
FAMU is celebrating the anniversaries of three different championship teams from its storied football history over the course of this season. For last weekend’s home game against Jackson State, the school recognized the 40th anniversary of FAMU’s 1978 NCAA Division I-AA national champions, the only team in Black College football history to win a mainstream title under the modern FCS playoff format.
This coming weekend, the Rattlers will honor the 20th anniversary of their 1998 Black College national title team. And later this season, the school will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 1988 FAMU team that captured the school’s first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title after joining the league.
My connection is with that 1998 squad. So, it was an honor to be invited back to campus by program historian and longtime FAMU sports information director Alvin Hollins to witness the celebrations. Nunnally was a four-year starter for one of the most prolific offensive units in FCS history.
Under former coach Billy Joe’s famed Gulf Coast Offense from 1997-2000, the Rattlers stretched the field with receivers and playmakers to run what Joe loved to call “a two-minute drill for 60 minutes.”
It was the 1998 season that set Nunnally on his record-breaking course. He was the front man for a talented core of receivers nicknamed the ‘RAC Boys’ for their ability to run after catches and pile up yards and touchdowns. During that season, FAMU’s wideouts accounted for 5,029 yards and 54 scores while Temple transfer quarterback Pat Bonner passed for a school record 4,128 yards and 42 TDs.
HBCU Gameday recently produced a documentary on that historic FAMU team titled, The Original Gulf Coast Offense: The Mad Bomber and The RAC Boys.
I traveled the country covering FAMU as the Rattlers’ offense trampled end zones and lit up scoreboards all over the nation. Having once reported on football at every level – from preps to NFL Super Bowl winners – I don’t recall any team having more fun racking up points and yards than those FAMU teams.
Two things flowed non-stop for the Rattlers that season: The Gulf Coast Offense on game days, and The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill on CD blasting all week, every week, from someone’s speakers near the practice fields during workouts.
That ’98 team set records. The ’99 team advanced to the semifinals of the I-AA playoffs before losing a heartbreaker to a Youngstown State team coached by Jim Tressel, who departed a year later to Ohio State. And the 2000 FAMU season was highlighted by Nunnally surpassing Rice in the record books.
Which brings us back to FAMU’s hotel that night in Baton Rouge. I had filed my game story for the newspaper from the stadium, and then drove to meet Nunnally at the team hotel to follow up on an arrangement we made entering that weekend’s game.
“If you break Rice’s record at Southern, make sure after the game to give me the ball you caught to pass him,” I told Nunnally at practice earlier in the week. “If you’re going to break it, this is the weekend to do it. Rice and the 49ers are playing an hour away in New Orleans against the Saints on Sunday.”
My plan was to get the ball from Nunnally before FAMU’s bus trip back to Tallahassee. I’d then drive to New Orleans from Baton Rouge on Sunday to cover the Saints-49ers game. And afterward, I’d approach Rice in the visitors’ locker room with the ball Nunnally caught and explain how I covered the college player who had just broken Rice’s record the previous night.
So Nunnally tossed me his prized football that Saturday night in the team’s hotel parking lot. I stuffed it inside my work backpack and carried it into the Superdome the next day. The 49ers lost, and I waited at Rice’s locker after the game, nervous about him being in a bad mood.
Rice didn’t sign the ball, but he did congratulate Nunnally on the feat.
“I heard something about someone was getting close,” I recall Rice saying. “Records are made to be broken, man. Good for that kid. I wish him all the best.”
I then asked Rice if it was special to see a player from another HBCU now own the NCAA record. As he walked away, Rice turned back.
“Keep it in the family, I guess,” he said with a smirk.
In many ways, HBCU football is family.
It didn’t require going back for a 20-year anniversary to remind me how much of a family atmosphere existed around Nunnally and blossomed from that unique 1998 FAMU team. But I’m glad I did.
Sometimes, it’s easy to forget how much you remember about a special team and its special time.
MikeCheck HBCU Power Poll 2.0
1. North Carolina A&T (3-0):
A week off after an impressive 3-0 start allowed quarterback Lamar Raynard to heal a nagging hand injury from the Week 2 upset win over East Carolina. Raynard now looks to improve to 30-0 as A&T’s starter when the No. 4-ranked (FCS) Aggies open MEAC play with two conference games in a span of six days.
Last week’s ranking: 1
Up Next: Saturday vs Morgan State (0-3)
2. Prairie View (1-3):
No team in Black College football – and possibly all of FCS – had a tougher opening month schedule than the Panthers, whose three losses came in two respectable battles with FBS foes and a top-five ranked FCS squad all on the road. Dawonya Tucker, the nation’s leading rusher at 603 yards, now gets to feast on SWAC competition.
Last week’s ranking: 2
Up Next: Saturday at Arkansas Pine Bluff (1-2)
3. Morehouse (3-0):
The Maroon Tigers kept rolling as they kicked off SIAC play with a 41-14 destruction of Central State despite committing 104 yards in penalties. Morehouse is off to its best start since 2010 when it opened 5-0, and should maintain momentum against winless Miles at this weekend’s Chicago Football Classic at Soldier Field.
Last week’s ranking: 4
Up Next: Saturday vs Miles (0-3)
4. Tennessee State (1-0):
Will the Tigers be well rested, rusty or both? They’re back in action after a two-week hiatus due first to a lightning storm that nixed the Southern Heritage Classic, and then Hurricane Florence that washed away their scheduled game at Hampton. TSU is hoping to fill their open date later in the season to get to 11 games.
Last week’s ranking: 3
Up Next: Saturday at Eastern Illinois (0-3)
5. Bowie State (2-1):
The most lethal and complete offensive player in Black College football is Bowie State quarterback Amir Hall, who has completed 70 percent of his passes and accounted for nearly 1,300 total yards and 10 touchdowns through three games. The NCAA Division II player of the year candidate has done all of that work on the road.
Last week’s ranking: Unranked
Up Next: Saturday at St. Augustine’s University (0-2)
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