Opposite to the CAA preseason ballot, the Hampton Pirates imagine they’re on the cusp of a breakout season.
Coach Trenton Boykin highlighted the crew’s grit that stored the Pirates in a number of one-score video games in 2024.
“Every sport, we targeted in and locked in. Our guys did an awesome job of preventing… you’re at all times looking for a technique to recover from that hump. Our crew caught collectively in robust instances, each through the season and thru the winter and spring,” he stated at CAA Media Day.
This offseason, Boykin’s message has been about “doing arduous issues collectively,” driving house a way of unity and resilience.
Ja’Quan Snipes, who rushed for 531 yards and 6 touchdowns in 2024, described his private targets: “Growing into that starter function, enjoying a full season, and being a brute drive for my crew… Coaching’s gone properly by means of the summer time and spring, and I’m simply prepared.”
Defensive again Cam Sturdifen echoed these sentiments, specializing in staying wholesome and stepping up as a pacesetter within the defensive unit.
“We’re right here to win video games. We’ve to be extra disciplined—these are shut video games, usually determined by one play or one missed project,” he stated.
Each gamers mirrored on final 12 months’s challenges, acknowledging a season that began robust however faltered down the stretch. “These 4 video games, it was extra so one play away,” stated Snipes. “Now we all know what we’ve to do.”
Sturdifen added that this 12 months’s low season coaching has been about “getting over the hump and ending video games robust by specializing in the little issues.”
Pirates 2025 schedule full of HBCUs
The 2025 schedule options an uncommon slate: no FBS opponents, however 5 video games in opposition to fellow HBCUs—one thing Boykin insists was not a strategic transfer however a product of scheduling that happens years upfront: “It simply occurred to be that approach… it wasn’t by design.
Ranked eleventh within the CAA preseason ballot, the Pirates are utilizing the perceived slight as motivation. “We all know what the convention thinks of us… we simply take that as motivation,” stated Snipes.
Requested what he would say to doubters, he responded, “Simply watch. The proof is within the pudding. We’re going to work arduous, and the outcomes will come.”
Place battles stay a key storyline as fall camp approaches, particularly at quarterback. Boykin indicated a aggressive camp forward with 4 quarterbacks within the combine, and praised the depth and expertise of his extensive receivers and offensive line: “Broad receiver might be probably the most superior group. With our operating again place, that group goes to be aggressive. I’ll be excited to see who rises to the highest.”
For now, the purpose is easy. As Coach Boykin put it: “We need to go on the market, execute, and be 1-0 on Saturday. If we try this, we’ll attain the targets we’re after.”
