Florida A&M University has been a hot topic in the football world for the past five years.
Since 2018, the Rattlers have been a perennial powerhouse in the Football Championship Subdivision and at the HBCU level.
Most recently, FAMU won its first Southwestern Athletic Conference and Celebration Bowl titles last December, capturing the program's 17th Black College Football National Championship. The Rattlers finished 2023 ranked 10th in the FCS Coaches Poll.
That success has allowed players to access opportunities through the NCAA transfer portal and coaches to pursue professional advancement.
In January, former FAMU head coach Willie Simmons stepped down after a five-year stint to become the running backs coach for the Duke Blue Devils of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Simmons led the Rattlers to a 45-13 record and two Black College National Titles in 2019 and 2023. Prior to FAMU, Simmons served as the head coach at Prairie View A&M, where he has nine seasons of head coaching experience.
Currently an assistant at Duke under head coach Manny Diaz, Simmons will be helping with special teams and recruiting players nationally in addition to coaching the running backs.
Simmons hopes to use those skills to one day become a Power Five head coach.
“These last nine years have prepared me for the next step. Being a head coach allows me to see things from a different perspective and have a greater understanding of what a head coach deals with on a daily basis,” said Simmons, who has also worked as a position coach and coordinator at the FCS and FBS levels.
“You’re just getting used to the life of coaching a position instead of overseeing an entire program, so I tell myself my job is to support. [Diaz] To ensure his plan works and encourage his colleagues to do the same.
“It will be great to bring my experience as a head coach and help build a championship program.”
The FAMU football team has also become a forum for former assistant coaches to thrive.
Former Rattlers special teams coordinator Chili Davis spent the 2022 season at “The Highest of Seven Hills,” building one of the nation's best units, led by All-American punter Chris Fadoul.
After leaving FAMU and spending one season at Kansas State University in the Big 12 Conference, Davis took the position of assistant special teams coach with the Los Angeles Rams. Taking the Rams job will reunite Davis with former FAMU star wide receiver Xavier Smith, who is entering his second season in the NFL.
Davis, who has worked with the Rams during summer team activities, said the coaching staff has a tradition of working out together as a staff to calm down before starting the day's business, which could be draft preparation, player onboarding or meetings.
Davis is soaking up all the information he's learned at football's highest level.
“I had heard great things about the Rams organization before coming here, and then to actually be in the organization and experience it first-hand confirmed everything I thought,” Davis said. “It was awesome to be surrounded by people who showed me different ways to be a professional coach and develop great players.”
Former FAMU recruiter Devin Rispres realizes dream on Deion Sanders' Colorado staff
Behind the scenes of FAMU's success was the program's former director of recruiting, Devin Rispress.
Lisples, a Tallahassee native and former Rickards Redskins football star running back, joins the Rattlers staff in 2022 from an experienced local high school football assistant coaching position.
With his connections to Florida high schools, Rispress had an eye for identifying high school talent and identifying those entering the transfer portal. For example, Rispress recruited two FAMU transfers last season who he coached under Rickards, rising senior running back Kelvin Dean Jr. and former Rattlers receiver Marcus Riley.
Dean was named Offensive Player of the Year in the Celebration Bowl in 2023. Riley was an All-SWAC selection and is currently a member of the New York Jets' 90-man roster.
Lisples left FAMU in January to join Colorado coach Deion Sanders' team as assistant director of player personnel and high school relations for the Buffaloes. Lisples and his young son, Devin Worldwide Jr., live far away from Leon County.
But for Boulder's Lispress, the goal remains talent acquisition.
“I'd been watching Colorado from afar and been a fan,” Rispress said.
“Being at FAMU really prepared me for this role. I took everything I learned from Willie Simmons and the coaches at FAMU and packed it into my toolbox and brought it here. It made my transition into this role a lot smoother.”
“It's a little bit different because I'm not a director, but what I do is the same. Recruiting is my job and that's what I do here.”
For Rispres, working with Sanders and assembling a talented roster for the second-year Buffaloes coach ahead of the team's first season in the Big 12 is a dream come true.
Born and raised in Tallahassee, Lisples played cornerback for the Florida State Seminoles before becoming a Pro Football Hall of Famer and grew up rooting for “Prime Time.”
“It's amazing to work with one of my favorite athletes, Deion Sanders, and now I can help him compete for a Big 12 Championship and become the first African-American coach to win a national championship,” Rispress said.
“I love the focus he has on developing young people as people and footballers. He also invests in his staff, helping with the professional development to help us move forward and achieve our ultimate goal in the coaching business.”
“Believe everything negative you've read or heard about Coach Prime. It's a lie.”
Former FAMU head coach and current Duke University assistant coach Willie Simmons has a long coaching history.
Though their tenure at FAMU was relatively short, the impact the school and football program had on Davis and Rispres will never be indelible.
“The tradition of the school and the program is so rich, and whenever I play or coach at FAMU I feel an obligation to maintain that standard and raise that bar,” Davis said. “Every part of my journey has prepared me for this moment.”
“Your dreams can come true at FAMU.”
Rispress, who played his college football for FAMU's rival school, the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats, said he is forever grateful to Tallahassee and the Rattlers for allowing him to prove himself as a recruiting leader at the Division I level.
“I'm from Tallahassee so I get a lot of support from Rattler Nation and the city,” Rispress said. “I'll always be grateful for FAMU. Even though I'm a Wildcat, FAMU holds a special place in my heart.”
“So I had to show my respect.”
Davis and Rispres are just two of the assistants who have worked on Simmons' staff and been promoted, with several of Simmons' FAMU assistants including KJ Black (Atlanta Falcons), Kenneth Gilstrap II (UAB), Alex Jackson (Mississippi State), Brandon Sharpe (Louisville) and Ryan Stanczek (UTEP) also reaping the rewards of their efforts.
Simmons' FAMU assistant head coach, James Colzie III, also succeeded him in leading the Rattlers.
Former head coach Rattler Simmons is proud to see his staff climb the coaching ladder.
“One of my goals as head coach was to prepare my assistant coaches for bigger and better things,” Simmons said.
“They all had goals and aspirations and I wanted to do everything I could to help them achieve them. I was blessed with great coaches who accomplished great things. That speaks to the quality of the program we ran, and it directly correlated to the quality of the coaches.”
“They're all doing great things in their new endeavors, and it's really gratifying to see that.”
Florida A&M Rattlers 2024 Football Schedule
- Aug. 24 in Atlanta* against Norfolk State in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge at 7:30 p.m., ABC
- Aug. 31 vs. South Carolina State, 6 p.m., ESPN+
- Sept. 7, Miami, 6 p.m., ACC Network
- Sept. 21, Troy, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN+
- Sept. 28 vs. Alabama A&M, 6 p.m., ESPN+
- Oct. 5, at Alabama, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN+
- Oct. 19, at Jackson State, 3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN Networks
- Oct. 26 vs. Southern, 7 p.m., ESPN Network
- Nov. 2 vs. Texas Southern (Homecoming), 4 p.m., ESPN+
- Nov. 9, Prairie View A&M, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN+
- Nov. 16 vs. Mississippi Valley State, 1 p.m.
- Nov. 23 vs. Bethune-Cookman, Orlando*, 3:30 p.m., ESPN Network
- November 30: FCS playoffs begin
- Dec. 7: SWAC Championship, location/team TBA, ESPN2
- Dec. 14: Celebration Bowl, Atlanta*, team TBA, 12 p.m., ABC
Bold = SWAC
* = Neutral site
Gerald Thomas III covers Florida A&M University sports for the Tallahassee Democrat. He can be reached by email at gdthomas@tallahassee.com or via app (formerly Twitter). translation:.
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