2022 Boeing Red Tails Classic Game Preview

With New Head Coaches, Tuskegee and Fort Valley State Universities Find Themselves on a Similar Path

While Red Tails Classic is poised to honor Tuskegee Airmen, both teams come in with a chance for a great new chapter

By Donald Hunt

There’s nothing like the rematch.

Then there are those rematches that cascade with so many intriguing angles, it’s a thrill from the start.

In the second annual Boeing Red Tails Classic (6 p.m. Sept. 4 on ESPNU) at Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama, not only do the opposing teams bring an exciting new story, but the game is a headline maker in and of itself.

On one side of the equation, the reigning champ gets a chance to show its knockout punch was no fluke, and on the other, last season’s losing team gets a do-over and a chance to write a new story.

For Tuskegee University and Fort Valley State, this is where we are: another standoff in the second annual Boeing Red Tails Classic, which admittedly wasn’t much of a game last year, with Fort Valley State shutting out Tuskegee 30-0.

Tuskegee, quite naturally, is on the back foot. That this matchup of HBCU rivals from the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference sets off college football season gives its showcasing of the Tuskegee Airmen and their legacy a perfect platform.

In some respects – for both teams – last year’s game doesn’t matter. For starters, both schools have a new head coach looking to put his stamp on the program.

Nobody understands that better than Reginald Ruffin, Tuskegee’s director of athletics and head football coach, who replaces a legend in Willie Slater, now the head football coach at Clark Atlanta University, a rival SIAC school.

“Fort Valley State did a great job last year of handling their business, and so for me it’s a tough role coming in,” Ruffin said. “I’m trying to get this program back to its original form of being back on top in the SIAC. You know, Coach Slater did a great job when he was here. I worked here as an assistant. We had a lot of championships here. We have to get back to our roots. We got to work and get ready to play a good Fort Valley team.”

Indeed.

Ruffin was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Tuskegee for five seasons (2006-2010). He returns to Tuskegee after nine years as head coach at Miles College, another SIAC rival. He led the Golden Bears to four SIAC championships and one conference title game. He finished his run at Miles College with a 59-39 overall record that included three SIAC Coach of the Year honors.

Facing him on the other sideline will be Shawn Gibbs, who replaced Maurice Flowers as Fort Valley State’s head coach. Gibbs comes to Fort Valley State from North Carolina A&T State, where he was assistant head coach and running backs coach. The goal is to improve on FVS’ less-than-stellar 5-5 record (3-3 SIAC) last year and create a new narrative. The Wildcats’ goal? Finishing higher than their predicted fifth place in the SIAC East Division.

“I think it’s a tremendous opportunity for both schools to get some much-needed exposure,” Gibbs said, making sure to get the coaching pleasantries out of the way. “It’s well-deserved publicity for us. We get a chance to play one of the most historic programs (among) universities and on the whole HBCU landscape. They have a great coach – a new coach, but a proven winner. A coaching staff and some good players.

From a football perspective, however, Gibbs knows this game is a new opportunity for the Wildcats to measure themselves early.

“It’s the first game of the year,” he said. “We’ll come out of the box in a conference game on national TV against a good opponent and a great atmosphere. And to be able to do that in an atmosphere like the Red Tails Classic, with so much history behind it, it’s an absolute blessing.”

Tuskegee, meanwhile, is predicted to finish third in the SIAC West Division. The Golden Tigers’ key players are offensive lineman Nathan Harrison and tight end Latrevien O’Neal. Harrison, a 6-foot-2, 298-pound senior, bolsters the Tuskegee ground and passing attack with his blocking skills. He played on the Golden Tigers’ 2017 team that won the conference title.

O’Neal, a 6-1, 225-pound junior, had 17 receptions for 295 yards and five touchdowns last season, averaging just over 17 yards a catch. Harrison and O’Neal have earned preseason second-team All-SIAC honors.

Ruffin plans to institute a basic philosophy on both sides of the ball.

“We didn’t have very many returning starters,” said Ruffin, who inherited a team that with a 3-8 overall record (2-4 SIAC) in 2021. “So we have some work to do. We got to get back to playing Tuskegee football. That’s great defense and not turning the ball over offensively and being great on special teams. We have to be disciplined, and staying focused and really playing hard-nosed Tuskegee football.”

Gibbs also seems to have a good foundation heading into this season. He has seven preseason All-SIAC standouts leading the way. Four of them are first-team selections: offensive linemen Emanuel Boone and Waylin Bell, running back Emanuel Wilson and defensive back Tyler Moore. Chosen for the second team, the Wildcats have two defensive stalwarts, lineman Tim Alderman and cornerback Christian Maddox, as well as punt returner Hakeem Ellington.

Wilson, a 6-1, 220-pound redshirt junior, led the conference in rushing last year with 835 yards and seven TDs. He was recently selected to the 2022 East-West Shrine Bowl 1000 List.

“Coach (Maurice) Flowers and his staff did a good job with the players,” Gibbs said. “We had a good start. Of course, we want to build and get bigger, stronger and faster. We want to progress. This team is going to be hungry and be competitive. I think our running back is one of the best in Division II football. He can play. Emanuel Wilson was named first-team all-conference.”

Both coaches also understand the larger significance of this game – that its bigger purpose is to recognize the significance of the Tuskegee Airmen as trailblazers in the U.S. Armed Forces and across history.

“Any time we have a chance to participate in something that is history that happened to start with our pilots, the Tuskegee Airmen, and Tuskegee University, with the history and the partnership and with Boeing having the opportunity to sponsor this classic and to go with our history,” Ruffin said, “those guys, the Tuskegee Airmen, and what they went through with racism and segregation and to be able to come out on top and to be a beacon of life and hope for African Americans. For us to be a part of this history of the Red Tails Classic as the athletic director and the head football coach and to pay homage to every (Tuskegee) airman that’s alive and those who have passed on for the contributions to the world, to America and contributions to our history, it’s an honor to play in this football game.”

Donald Hunt, a longtime writer for the Philadelphia Tribune, has covered Historically Black Colleges and Universities for more than three decades. Follow him on Twitter at @DHUNTTRIB.