A Howard University alum just became a UFL champion — and he did it on his home turf.
Former Howard University running back Ian Wheeler rushed for 81 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries, earning United Bowl MVP honors as the Louisville Kings upset the defending champion DC Defenders 27-20 at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. on June 13, 2026. Wheeler’s United Bowl MVP performance joins a historic list that includes Richard Dent of Tennessee State, Doug Williams of Grambling State, and Jerry Rice of Mississippi Valley State — all HBCU alumni who earned MVP honors in a professional football championship game. For the second straight year, an HBCU product was the story of the United Bowl.
A Walk-On Who Never Stopped Believing
Ian Wheeler’s journey to United Bowl MVP is the kind of story HBCU football was built to produce.
Wheeler arrived at Howard as a walk-on with nothing guaranteed. He left as one of the most decorated players in MEAC history — finishing with nearly 2,500 all-purpose yards, returning a school-record three kickoffs for touchdowns, winning two MEAC championships, earning a 3.57 GPA, and landing a spot on the MEAC Commissioner’s All-Academic Team. In October 2023, Wheeler was accepted into Howard University’s medical school. He chose football instead.
After the 2024 NFL Draft, Wheeler signed with the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent and scored two touchdowns in his preseason debut. Then a season-ending ACL tear in the final preseason game ended his Bears tenure before it started. Most players never come back from that. Wheeler did.
“This is a great opportunity for me because unfortunately I went through some tough times and didn’t get any rookie minicamp invites or workouts,” Wheeler said after the championship. “I’m just thankful.”
He returned to the scene of his greatest college moments — Audi Field, where he played countless games as a Bison — and delivered the biggest performance of his professional career. His mother was in the stands. It was her birthday. Wheeler made it a night she will never forget.
The Play That Won the Championship
Louisville trailed 16-13 heading into the fourth quarter. On the very first play of the period, Wheeler took a handoff, found open space, and broke free for a 44-yard touchdown run up the middle that gave the Kings a lead they would never surrender. Two plays after a Cameron Dantzler interception on the ensuing DC drive, James Robinson punched in a score to push it to 27-16. A dramatic 60-yard field goal from DC’s Matt McCrane made it 27-20, but the Kings held on as the Defenders’ final drive stalled on a 4th and 5 from the Louisville six-yard line.
Wheeler’s championship performance capped a postseason run for the ages. The week before, he sealed Louisville’s semifinal win over the St. Louis Battlehawks with a 51-yard game-clinching touchdown. Over two playoff games, Wheeler amassed 170 rushing yards and two touchdowns — putting the HBCU pipeline on full display for a national audience.
Shannon Harris: HBCU Coach, Back-to-Back Champion
Wheeler’s MVP night was extraordinary — but the HBCU coaching story at Audi Field belongs to Shannon Harris, a Tennessee State University alumnus who coached the DC Defenders to their second straight United Bowl appearance.
Harris took over as interim head coach just one week before the 2025 UFL season opened. He guided DC to a championship that year, won the Buddy Teevens Coach of the Year Award, and was named permanent head coach heading into 2026. This season, he navigated a 5-5 regular season record and the loss of starting quarterback Jordan Ta’amu to a season-ending knee injury in Week 8 — and still coached the Defenders to the championship game.
Harris is not the only HBCU product on DC’s sideline. Offensive line coach Brian Braswell played at Hampton University before a coaching career spanning the NFL, XFL, and major college football. Quarterbacks coach David Johnson played at Edward Waters University. The DC Defenders’ championship culture has HBCU fingerprints all over it.
HBCU Products. Professional Champions.
The 2026 United Bowl made one thing impossible to ignore. HBCU athletes and coaches do not just belong at the professional level — they win championships there. Wheeler’s United Bowl MVP performance puts him in the same sentence as some of the greatest names in professional football history. And Shannon Harris, now a back-to-back finalist and one-time champion, is one of the most coveted coaching names heading into the 2026 offseason.
“HBCU talent continues to prove we can help teams win at the highest level,” one analyst wrote after the final whistle. “Open your minds, offer contracts, and win.”
The HBCU community already knows what the rest of the sports world is slowly learning — the talent has always been there. The 2026 United Bowl just made that point impossible to argue.
