Quinn Gray on FAMU football’s legacy, returning as Rattlers head coach
Quinn Gray was hired as FAMU football’s 20th fulltime head coach on Dec. 23, 2025. The former Rattlers quarterback was Albany State’s head coach.
- Florida A&M was ranked No. 10 in the first-ever Black College Football preseason poll.
- The ranking follows a 5-7 losing season and the hiring of new head coach Quinn Fordham Gray Sr.
- No FAMU players were selected for the preseason All-SWAC first or second teams.
- The Rattlers will open their 2026 season at home against Albany State on August 29.
After a down season and hiring a new head coach, Florida A&M must rise through the ranks to regain top billing in HBCU football.
In the first-ever Black College Football preseason poll, released on Thursday, July 9, the Rattlers were picked No. 10 in the top-10 poll, featuring Southwestern Athletic Conference and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference teams of NCAA Division I’s Football Championship Subdivision.
The SWAC and MEAC endorse the first-year weekly poll, which also has a Division II voting system for the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
Defending Celebration Bowl and Black College Football national champions South Carolina State earned the top spot, earning 185 points and 36 first-place votes. FAMU will face them on Sept. 6 in the Orange Blossom Classic at Miami Gardens’ Hard Rock Stadium.
Prairie View A&M, which won the SWAC title in 2025, is second.
Jackson State, Alabama State, North Carolina Central, Delaware State, Grambling State, Bethune-Cookman, Texas Southern, and FAMU are third through 10th, in that order.
The Rattlers earned 32 points in the Black College Football poll, voted on by a 57-person panel of media members, HBCU football experts, and head coaches.
The poll was released one day after FAMU was the only SWAC program without a player selected to the preseason All-SWAC first or second team.
Under newly hired head coach and former FAMU Sports and MEAC Hall of Fame quarterback Quinn Fordham Gray Sr., the Rattlers look to rebound from a 5-7 season in 2025. Then coached by James Colzie III, it was the program’s first losing season since 2017.
The Rattlers will be at SWAC Media Day on Wednesday, July 15, in Birmingham. Gray, quarterback Isaiah Knowles, and defensive end Antonio Camon Jr. will represent the team.
They will open the 2026 season on Aug. 29 at home in Tallahassee against the Albany State Golden Rams on Ken Riley Field at Bragg Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. and on SWAC TV. Since they are on an NCAA Academic Progress Rate-related postseason ban, FAMU’s season ends on Saturday, Nov. 21, against heated rivals, the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats, at the Florida Classic in Orlando.
Black College Football inaugural preseason poll results
- South Carolina State, MEAC (10-3, 5-0), 185 points (36 first-place votes)
- Prairie View A&M, SWAC (10-4, 7-1), 165 points (two first-place votes)
- Jackson State, SWAC (9-3, 7-1), 149 points (four first-place votes)
- Alabama State, SWAC (10-2, 7-1), 141 points (six first-place votes)
- North Carolina Central, MEAC (8-4, 3-2) 107 points
- Delaware State, MEAC (8-4, 4-1) 98 points
- Grambling State, SWAC (7-5, 4-4) 63 points
- Bethune-Cookman, SWAC (6-6, 5-3) 46 points
- Texas Southern, SWAC (6-5, 5-3) 42 points
- Florida A&M, SWAC (5-7, 4-4) 32 points
Florida A&M football 2026 schedule
All times are Eastern
- Saturday, Aug. 29: vs. Albany State, 7 p.m., SWAC TV
- Sunday, Sept. 6: vs. South Carolina State, Orange Blossom Classic at Miami Gardens’ Hard Rock Stadium, 3 p.m., ESPNU
- Thursday, Sept. 10: at Miami, 8 p.m., ACC Network
- Saturday, Sept. 19: vs. Tennessee State, 7 p.m., HBCU GO
- Saturday, Sept. 26: vs. Alabama A&M (SWAC), 7 p.m., SWAC TV
- Saturday, Oct. 3: BYE
- Saturday, Oct. 10: at Alabama State (SWAC), 3 p.m., HBCU GO
- Saturday, Oct. 17: at Jackson State (SWAC), 3 p.m., ESPN Network
- Saturday, Oct. 24: vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (SWAC/Homecoming), 3 p.m., HBCU GO
- Saturday, Oct. 31: vs. Southern (SWAC), 3 p.m., HBCU GO
- Saturday, Nov. 7: at Alcorn State (SWAC), 3 p.m., SWAC TV
- Saturday, Nov. 14: vs. Mississippi Valley State (SWAC), 3 p.m., SWAC TV
- Saturday, Nov. 21: vs. Bethune-Cookman (SWAC/Florida Classic), 3:30 p.m., ESPN+
