The SWAC is officially turning the page to 2026, and this year’s media day in Birmingham is going to feel a lot different. Two of the biggest names in HBCU football history will be in the room for the first time as head coaches.
Florida A&M’s Quinn Gray Sr. and Southern’s Marshall Faulk are both set to make their SWAC Media Day debuts on July 15. Gray, a former Rattlers quarterback who won a national title at Albany State, came back to Tallahassee after the school parted ways with Willie Simmons. Faulk is a whole different story. The Pro Football Hall of Famer has never coached at any level in college football before taking the Southern job. That hiring sent a jolt through the conference, and now we’ll finally hear him talk about his vision for the Jaguars.
Prairie View A&M is coming in as the defending champion after Tremaine Jackson’s first season ended with a championship trophy. That’s a program that wasn’t on anybody’s radar as a title contender when the year started, and now they’re the team everybody’s chasing. Jackson will bring two players to Birmingham as the Panthers try to prove last season wasn’t a fluke.
Jackson State is probably the most interesting team to watch this offseason. They fell short of winning the SWAC last year after dominating the conference under Deion Sanders. Now they’re trying to get back on top, and the pressure is on head coach T.C. Taylor to show the program hasn’t lost its edge. Two Tigers representatives will be in Alabama to talk about that bounce-back effort.
Alabama State enters the year with real optimism. Quarterback Andrew Body decided to come back to Montgomery after a short stint in the transfer portal, and that changes the whole outlook for the Hornets. Body is one of the most dynamic playmakers in the conference when he’s healthy, and his return might be the single biggest offseason win for any SWAC program.
Full list of attendees
The conference released the complete roster of coaches and players scheduled to be at the Sheraton Birmingham Hotel. Every one of the 12 SWAC schools will send their head coach plus two student-athletes. The event starts at 10 a.m. central and runs through the afternoon.
This is also the first time the SWAC is holding media day in July instead of the usual summer slot. The conference moved it up to get ahead of the season and give teams more time to build buzz before fall camp starts. Whether that works or not, we’ll find out in a few months when the games actually start.
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