Norfolk State Spartans at Delaware State Hornets

DeSean Jackson gets the better of Michael Vick as rookie HBCU coaches, former Eagles meet in Philly

The Pro Bowl players are now improbably linked as HBCU coaches, taking a career path that would have shocked both Vick and Jackson when they each shined in the NFL.

“I never thought I’d look across the field and watch him coach,” Vick said. “I know vice versa for him. It was just a really cool moment, a surreal moment. You just never know what life is going to put in front of you.”

Jackson got the better of Vick in their first meeting as historically Black college coaches thanks in large part to Amir Anderson's blocked punt for a score that sent Delaware State to a 27-20 win over Norfolk State on Thursday night.

This was no ordinary regular-season win. Jackson had the game circled on his office schedule and the Hornets carried him off the field on their shoulders as if they had just won a Super Bowl, an appreciation of the win and how — much like Vick — he's raised the profile of HBCU programs.

“I'm just proud of, man, both of us,” Jackson said. “We're in a position where we're inspiring, changing young men's lives at HBCUs. Man, it don't get no better than that.”

Kaiden Bennett threw a 24-yard TD pass to Tahmir Ellis for the Hornets and James Jones scored on a 76-yard run in the fourth quarter to seal the latest conference win for Jackson's team.

Vick and Jackson were the signature attractions for each program headed into a rare nationally televised weeknight game for HBCU programs at an NFL stadium.

Both players keyed the Eagles' run to the 2010 NFC East championship, where a banner is raised at the top of Lincoln Financial Field. Vick, the strong-armed, left-handed QB, and Jackson electrified the NFL that season when they connected on an 88-yard touchdown pass against Washington and a 91-yarder against Dallas to help both players earn Pro Bowl nods.

“Man, just the energy when I walked on the field, smelling the grass, it just went through my veins,” Jackson said.

Jackson, who won a Super Bowl with the Rams and retired after the 2022 season, made the pitch to move the game from campus to Philadelphia. Former NFL stars Hugh Douglas, Marshawn Lynch and Cam Newton, and Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham were at the Linc and thousands of fans — more than each program would average at a home game — waited out some early rain before Delaware State gave them a jolt.

Norfolk State led 6-3 — the good times started when Otto Kuhns hit JJ Evans for a dynamite 13-yard score — when it punted deep in its own territory. Anderson got a hand on the punt and scooped the ball in the end zone for a 10-6 lead that Delaware State took into halftime.

Kuhns and Evans broke out that old Vick-to-Jackson dynamic on a 70-yard score that pulled the Spartans to 19-13 late in the fourth. Kuhns threw for 311 yards and three touchdowns, and Evans finished with five catches for 124 yards. DreSean Kendrick had nine catches for 112 yards.

“Having a chance to work with guys like JJ, guy like DreSean, guys in that locker room, being part of that HBCU culture is extremely cool,” Vick said. “I look forward to better days.”

Patrick Fisher-Butler kicked field goals of 30 and 26 yards for the Hornets (6-3, 2-0 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference).

With emotions perhaps charged playing in front of a big crowd under the lights — thought the actual attendance total was far less than the announced 47,266 fans — the teams got into a scuffle at the end of the third and Delaware State offensive lineman Isaiah Cook was ejected for throwing a punch.

Jackson and Vick’s missions are clear — use their celebrity, their connections, their football smarts to resuscitate two long-suffering programs in the HBCU community much in the way Deion Sanders did at Jackson State on his way to a Power Four program at Colorado.

The 45-year-old Vick, who starred in college at Virginia Tech and was a four-time Pro Bowler in 13 NFL seasons, is off to a rocky start in his rookie season.

Norfolk State, with an enrollment of about 5,100 students, is 1-8 and has lost seven straight games. Vick recently fired some assistant defensive coaches as he tries to revive a Spartans’ program that has made only one playoff appearance since moving to FCS in 1997.

Jackson has orchestrated a rapid turnaround at Delaware State, with an enrollment of about 6,500 students, that already included its first conference win since 2022. The Hornets beat rival North Carolina Central 35-26 last week for their first win in Durham since 1977.

“We had (eight) games before this, and every game, it was hard not to think about this game,” Jackson said.