Geremy Hickbottom in action at HBCU Legacy Bowl Game.
The 2022 Tennessee State University Football Spring Game is set for Saturday, April 9 at Hale Stadium. The game is part of the Year of the Tiger Week that begins on Wednesday, April 6. All are invited to come out on that Saturday for a fun-filled day of fandom and football.
Here’s the schedule for the week of events: Wednesday, April 6 — Courtyard Wednesday, hosted by TSU Football (12 noon- 2 p.m.); Thursday, April 7 — Big Blue Golf Classic at the Ted Rhodes Golf Course – 8:00 a.m.; and Saturday, April 9 — Hale Stadium: Big Blue Family & Fan Day — (11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.), TSU Legends 7v7 Game – 1:00 p.m., and Blue & White Game – 3:00 p.m.
At press time, only four contests of the TSU 2022 fall football schedule had been confirmed and announced, all on Saturdays: Sept. 3 at Eastern Washington University, in Cheney, WA; Sept. 17 at Middle Tennessee State University, in Murfreesboro, TN; Oct. 8 at Home, hosting Bethune-Cookman University; and Nov. 19 at Texas A&M-Commerce, in Commerce, TX.
The Ohio Valley Conference and Southland Conference have a football scheduling alliance that provides quality Division I non-conference matchups for teams in each league in 2022 and 2023. The TSU matchup for the 2022 season is November 19 – Tennessee State at Texas A&M-Commerce.
Texas A&M University–Commerce is a public research university in Commerce, Texas, with an enrollment of over 12,000 students as of fall 2017, the third-largest institution in the Texas A&M University System.
OVC football members include Eastern Illinois University (Charleston, Ill.), Murray State University (Murray, Ky.), Southeast Missouri State University (Cape Girardeau, Mo.), Tennessee State University (Nashville, Tenn.), Tennessee Technological University (Cookeville, Tenn.), and the University of Tennessee at Martin (Martin, Tenn.). Southland football members include Houston Baptist University (Houston, Texas), McNeese State University (Lake Charles, La.), Nicholls State University (Thibodaux, La.), Northwestern State University (Natchitoches, La.), Southeastern Louisiana University (Hammond, La.), and Texas A&M University-Commerce (Commerce, Texas).
Hickbottom Named HBCU Legacy Bowl Offensive MVP
TSU football graduate student quarterback Geremy Hickbottom was named Offensive Most Valuable Player of the first-ever HBCU Legacy Bowl, leading Team (Jake) Gaither to a 22-6 victory over Team (Eddie) Robinson at Yulman Stadium on the campus of Tulane University on February 19, 2022. Hickbottom went 9-of-15 passing for 72 yards and rushed five times for 25 yards, including a 3-yard score with 9:18 to go in the game.
“It’s a big deal,” Hickbottom said. “It’s a big deal. I go down in history, so I appreciate it. I appreciate the Black College Football Hall of Fame for putting this together for us, and I just hope my career can go from here.”
The HBCU Legacy Bowl, presented by the Black College Football Hall of Fame, is a postseason all-star game showcasing the best NFL draft-eligible football players from Historically Black Colleges and Universities. It was broadcast live on NFL Network. More than a football game, the week-long celebration of Black culture and history will provide invaluable exposure for HBCU students.
