The talk of the HBCU football world following Howard's 10-9 victory over Florida A&M in the Orange Blossom Classic was the play of the new starting Rattlers quarterback, RJ Johnson III.
Johnson finished the game throwing for 183 yards on 17-of-32 passing. While he struggled at times, including a missed connection with a wide-open receiver that could have put Florida A&M in a position to score, Johnson emerged as the victor of the quarterback battle to replace last year's QB1, Daniel Richardson.
Despite the offensive struggles, Florida A&M head coach James Colzie III fervently defended Johnson and indicated he would remain the starter on this week's SWAC Coaches Call.
“We actually didn't even have a conversation at halftime about making a change. I think we want to make sure we give everybody an opportunity, but we already felt RJ was the guy to win the job because he won the job. We thought RJ was the guy [who] could lead us to the win. I thought he did a really good job on his last drive to possibly get us to victory.”
He continued, “But RJ Johnson III and Jet Petty are going to compete every single day. Again, RJ had a very good day today in practice. That's why you get a chance to evaluate the film, look at it, and make the appropriate corrections. RJ spun the ball pretty well today. We haven't had any conversations about any changes or anything like that. I wish we would stop talking about it, but we haven't made any decisions on that.”
He also added perspective about Johnson's experience at Toledo and his expectations for him versus Florida Atlantic.
“This was this guy's first game after sitting at Toledo for two years, a situation a lot of quarterbacks are in. He's going to go into his second game, and I think we'll see a big improvement from him this upcoming Saturday.”
Florida A&M's offense struggled across the board. Although they outgained Howard in total yards (272 to 201), they finished with only 89 rushing yards and converted just 5 of 16 third-down attempts. The Rattlers' defense, however, proved to be highly effective, holding Howard to just 56 rushing yards and intercepting a pass from new Howard starting quarterback Tyriq Starks.
Florida A&M looks to get their mojo back as they play FBS opponent Florida Atlantic on Saturday at 6 PM EST. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
