Thanks, especially, to South Carolina State, HBCU athletes still have a presence in the NFL.

Starting this season, there were 31 HBCU alumni on active NFL rosters and seven hailed from S.C. State of the MEAC.

North Carolina A&T claims three NFL players while Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Fayetteville State, Grambling, Jackson State, Prairie View, Southern and Norfolk State have two each.

Contributing one each are Tennessee State, Alabama State, Albany State, Florida A&M, North Carolina Central, Morgan State and Virginia State.

Unfortunately, former VSU star Trenton Cannon has been placed on the injured list. The running back suffered a knee injury in week two with the Tennessee Titans.

Norfolk State’s NFL players are Detroit’s defensive back Bobby Price and Jacksonville’s linebacker De’Shaan Dixon.

Broken down by positions, there are 10 offensive linemen, seven defensive backs, six defensive line- men, four linebackers, two receivers, one running back (Cannon) and one punter. There are no quarterbacks.

By conferences, the SWAC leads with 12 followed by MEAC with 11, Independents with four, CIAA with three and SIAC with one.

Of the S.C. State Bulldogs in the NFL, perhaps the most prominent is Darius “Shaquille” Leonard, an Indianapolis linebacker.

The Colts’ second round draft pick in 2018, Leonard was NFL Defensive Rookie of Year in 2018 and was named All-Pro in 2018, ’20 and ’21.

Times have changed. There were more than 100 HBCU players in the NFL in the 1960s and ’70s.

The Kansas City Chiefs won the 1970 Super Bowl with a roster brimming with 15 HBCU alumni, including Richmonder Willie Lanier out of Morgan State.

There are 34 HBCU graduates (including Lanier) in the NFL Hall of Fame, representing 17 schools. Most played decades ago.

The landscape changed dramatically late in the ’70s when the majority white schools swung their doors open wider to Black athletes.