One of many greatest free brokers in HBCU soccer is headed to Charlotte. Armone Harris, a dynamic large receiver from Tampa, Florida, has formally dedicated to Johnson C. Smith College (JCSU) soccer, becoming a member of a reloaded Golden Bulls roster that’s out for redemption in 2025.
Harris, one of many prime free agent transfers within the portal, acquired gives from FCS HBCUs, together with Jackson State, Alabama A&M, and Alabama State. However after a record-breaking season at Clark Atlanta and a highlight-filled profession at Allen College. Armone Harris is teaming up with former Fort Valley State quarterback Kelvin Durham in what might be essentially the most explosive offenses in Division II soccer this fall.
One other daring step ahead for a JCSU program that fell wanting glory in 2024—and now seems prepared to complete what it began.
For eight weeks in 2024, JCSU soccer was the story in HBCU sports activities. Not simply due to wins, however due to the way in which they gained, the way in which they appeared doing it, and the way in which followers fell in love with them in actual time by HBCU Gameday’s uncooked, behind-the-scenes docuseries, Brick x Brick with JCSU Soccer.
They have been the most popular HBCU within the nation—undefeated at 8-0, ranked within the Division II polls, and even incomes a couple of highlight segments on ESPN’s Faculty Gameday.
However simply as rapidly as they climbed, the autumn hit tougher.
In back-to-back heartbreakers, the Golden Bulls’ goals got here crashing down. First, a crushing loss to CIAA powerhouse Fayetteville State in Charlotte—bodily, methodical, cruel. Then, in a bitter rivalry recreation, they fell to Livingstone Faculty, the Blue Bears ripping away not simply bragging rights however a CIAA Championship Sport berth and an NCAA Division II playoff look. Identical to that, JCSU’s season went from a dream to a documentary ending in tears.
Now in 2025, JCSU is reloading, not rebuilding—and so they’ve acquired a brand-new weapon.
Enter Armone Harris, probably the most electrical large receivers in HBCU soccer, transferring in from Clark Atlanta College. The Tampa, Florida native isn’t only a stat sheet stuffer—he’s a game-changer, and the newest chess piece in head coach Maurice Flowers’ grasp plan.
Flowers, heading into yr 4 on the helm, has stacked the deck along with his first full recruiting class and a wave of senior transfers hungry for redemption. The Golden Bulls are locked in on a single objective: end what they began.
Main the switch cost in Charlotte is former Fort Valley State quarterback Kelvin Durham, one of many prime DII signal-callers within the nation. Durham, who performed below Flowers when he was at FVSU, brings a dwell arm, fast ft, and even faster decision-making. Over his profession, Durham has thrown for nearly 6,000 yards and over 50 touchdowns. However greater than numbers, Durham brings pedigree and poise—and he didn’t come to Charlotte alone.
Durham helped lure Harris to JCSU. Mockingly, the expertise of those former SIAC playmakers has already been featured in an HBCU Gameday Authentic.
The 2023 HBCU Gameday characteristic titled “Contender” was centered on Kelvin Durham’s FVSU squad dealing with off towards an upstart Allen College staff hungry to show they belonged with one of the best within the convention.
Contender – FVSU vs Allen – 2023
Durham threw for 5 touchdowns. Harris, then at Allen, torched defenders for six catches, a landing, and over 85 receiving yards in a shootout thriller. Now, two years later, each will make their debut on Brick x Brick as JCSU Golden Bulls.
That wasn’t the tip of Harris’s rise.
When Allen head coach Teddy Keaton took the reins at Clark Atlanta in 2024, Armone Harris adopted, promptly rewriting the Panthers’ document books. In only one season, he set college information in receptions (75), receiving yards (1,004), and touchdowns (14), main CAU to an SIAC Championship Sport look in Keaton’s first yr.
Now, he brings that explosiveness to a JCSU offense that instantly seems like a juggernaut.
JCSU soccer’s 2025 reload isn’t nearly flashy new arrivals. It’s acquired some severe firepower getting back from final yr, too. Brevin Caldwell, probably the most constant and adorned wideouts in HBCU soccer, returns after averaging over 100 yards per recreation final season. Giving Durham not one, however two senior receivers with 1,000 yard seasons in 2024. Within the backfield,
Kammarro Edmunds, the bruising again who led the staff in with 5.7 yards per carry final yr, is again to anchor the bottom recreation. And maybe the largest x-factor? Quavaris Crouch, the previous Tennessee star and second-team All-Massive Ten linebacker at Michigan State, is lastly returning to his pure collegiate place on protection after a stint at working again. With NFL-caliber athleticism and sideline-to-sideline instincts, Crouch has the potential to remodel JCSU’s protection right into a championship unit. And if the sneak peek we acquired of him at center linebacker this spring is any indication. He will probably be a dominant power on the DII degree.
Throw within the return of Brick x Brick—HBCU Gameday’s cinematic fly-on-the-wall sequence that captures all of it in actual time—and this yr’s Golden Bulls squad gained’t simply be taking part in for wins. They’ll be taking part in for legacy.
The 2025 Johnson C. Smith soccer staff isn’t sneaking up on anybody. They’ve acquired expectations, they’ve acquired an HBCU Gameday docuseries, and so they’ve acquired the town of Charlotte behind them. The CIAA is stacked, and the scars from 2024 nonetheless sting. However this staff has what one of the best HBCU applications are made from—expertise, toughness, and togetherness.
