The HBCU spirit lives at the NFL combine

INDIANAPOLIS — When J’Mari Taylor hears someone say there are no players from historically Black colleges and universities at this year’s NFL combine, he pushes back.

Technically that may be correct, but there is an ever-present HBCU spirit in his soul, and he proudly carries the torch.

If not for that spirit, he may never have gotten here.

“I carry it a lot,” Taylor said Wednesday after completing a day’s worth of interviews at the combine. Taylor finished his career at the University of Virginia, but he was formed at North Carolina Central University, where he played from 2021-24.

“I had guys at Virginia ask me how the HBCU level and stuff like that was, because some guys at the Power [4] level never heard of HBCU. I tell them it was a great time. The HBCU experience, it’s different.”

Taylor is one of two players at this year’s combine with HBCU roots; Missouri wide receiver Kevin Coleman Jr. began his career at Jackson State.

The combine marks a full-circle moment for both players. Taylor and Coleman played against each other for the Black national championship on Dec. 17, 2022, at the Celebration Bowl in Atlanta. Taylor capped his redshirt freshman season with a touchdown that day, and Coleman also found the end zone in the final game of his first year with Deion Sanders’ Jackson State Tigers, playing alongside eventual Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter and catching passes from Shedeur Sanders. Taylor’s Eagles won in a 41-34 overtime upset.

Taylor remembers that game like it was yesterday. With the bands going at each other and the electricity surrounding Coach Prime, the championship game was an HBCU homecoming atmosphere on steroids.

“It was a fun game to play in,” he said. “I was excited.”

For Taylor, the most memorable part of the game was coming out of the tunnel for the second half and finding that the crowd had somehow become even larger.

“It was already packed, so you know how sometimes you come back out and it’s less fans than you’d seen before the first half?” Taylor recalled. “Man, we came back out for the second half, and it got even more packed. It was a great experience.”

Coach Prime had announced before that game that he was leaving Jackson State to accept the head coaching job at Colorado, and that he was taking Shedeur and Hunter with him. Coleman had been a top recruit coming out of high school in St. Louis. He was a consensus top-100 recruit and, largely because of Prime, committed to play at Jackson State over programs like Oregon, Miami and Florida State. As a freshman, Coleman caught 32 passes for 475 yards and three touchdowns.

A few days after the Celebration Bowl loss, Coleman announced he was transferring to the University of Louisville. He would transfer twice more, to Mississippi State and finally to Missouri. Last season, Coleman started 11 games for the Tigers, leading the team in receptions and receiving yards.

Unlike Coleman, Taylor stayed put. He would play four seasons over five years at NCCU. “There was never a point in time when I was thinking of leaving,” he said.

After his senior year, Taylor decided it was time to test himself. If the 5-foot-9, 205-pounder was to realize his dream of playing in the NFL and being invited to the combine, his chances would increase by playing at a higher level of competition. He chose Virginia and the ACC.

“I really never wanted to leave North Carolina Central, but I knew to get where I wanted to get to, I had to take that step,” Taylor said.

The gamble paid off. Taylor had an excellent year last season at Virginia, leading the Cavaliers in rushing yards and playing well enough to be invited to this week’s combine. That likely would not have happened had he stayed at NCCU.

Yet, the HBCU experience played a significant role in carrying him to a larger stage and eventually to Lucas Oil Stadium for the combine. NCCU gave Taylor an opportunity to play Division I football out of high school when no other program was willing to offer a scholarship.

He was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. After high school, his best opportunity was to play Division II football at Winston-Salem State University, where a teammate of his had received a full scholarship. Taylor was invited to walk on at WSSU but felt he was better than Division II.

“I was like, if that’s the case, I might as well go to walk on at a D-I program that I know I’m capable of playing in,” he said. “I knew my level of competition and capability, so I was like, I might as well walk on at North Carolina Central.”

Through connections, Taylor arranged to walk on at NCCU, where Trei Oliver was building a dynamic MEAC program. In Durham, Taylor learned a lesson in perseverance. There was no 2020 season because of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2021, he appeared in four games, primarily on special teams, as he found himself behind eight other running backs on the depth chart.

By 2022, Taylor had worked his way up the ladder, largely through attrition: one running back was kicked off the team, another recruit wasn’t what the staff thought he would be. “Finally, it was me and another guy, and we were like a one-two punch in the backfield,” he said.

Taylor took a major step forward in the Eagles’ Celebration Bowl championship campaign. His production dipped the following season, but he broke out as a senior, rushing for 1,146 yards and scoring 15 touchdowns. “2024 was all me,” he said, referring to his last season at NCCU.

Taylor, armed with a degree in interdisciplinary studies, decided he wanted to play on a larger stage instead of using his final year of eligibility at NCCU. That led him to Virginia for the 2025 season. He took over as Virginia’s featured back and ran for more yards in ACC play than anyone else in the conference, finishing the Cavaliers’ 11-3 season with 1,062 rushing yards on 222 attempts.

“Like I said, I never really wanted to leave Central,” he said. “The only reason I left Central was because it was to the point where I was like, if I did it [there], then why not go to the FBS level and play at the level that I wanted to play at? It was never about the NIL [name, image and likeness] part for me, because coming from North Carolina Central, anything over how much my full scholarship was, I was going to be totally fine with.

“It was just all about football for me and giving myself a better opportunity to get where I am today, and that’s to be able to be at the highest level with the highest guys in [the] NFL combine.”

Taylor said even if he knew coming out of high school what he knows now, he still would have chosen NCCU and the HBCU route.

“I would do it exactly the same way, because it taught me a lot about growing up,” he said. “Everything’s not going to be your ways always. There are plenty guys in this league that’s athletic just like you, or even more athletic. It’s about how you take control of your destiny and how you want to push through it. I would do the same thing exactly again.”

There are no HBCU players at this year’s combine. That is technically correct. But in Taylor, the HBCU spirit is distinct and present.

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