HBCU Football: 10 of the best players of all time

These are 10 of the greatest players in the history of HBCU football. These schools don’t get enough credit for producing these elite players.

When college football was predominately segregated (especially in the south), there were few places where black high school players could play big-time college football. The Big Ten became a haven for southern black players in the 1950s and 1960s.

Players like Willie Thrower and Sandy Stephens found success in the Big Ten. For the most part, however, if black players wanted to play college football, they went to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

For more than 20 years, from the 1950s to the 1970s, HBCUs produced more black NFL players than anywhere else. Two players on this list, Doug Williams and Buck Buchanan were barrier breakers.

Williams was the first black quarterback drafted in the first round, and Buchanan was the first black player drafted No. 1 overall. The 1970s was perhaps the last great period of black college football players going to the NFL.

Not only was Williams the first drafted in the first round, but he was also the first black quarterback Heisman finalist from an HBCU.

This list of players is not the 10 best of all-time but 10 of the best. Who would you add to this list?