March 25, 2026 was a day filled with community, culture, and opportunity as the Orange Blossom Classic returned to center stage with its official kickoff press conference at the Miami Gardens Municipal Complex.
The morning opened with remarks from Miami Gardens Mayor Rodney Harris, who set the tone by welcoming guests, teams, and stakeholders into the city with pride and purpose.
“I welcome you all to the city of Miami Gardens. On behalf of 115,000 residents that live here in our city, we welcome the Orange Blossom Classic and we welcome you to our beautiful city,” Harris said. “We’ve always been supporters of the Orange Blossom Classic, and we will continue to support the Orange Blossom Classic because this event stands for more than just a football game. The event represents HBCUs at the highest plateau that you can even think about.”
With Labor Day weekend already circled on the calendar, anticipation continues to build for the highly anticipated matchup between South Carolina State University and Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. The game is set for September 6, bringing together two powerhouse HBCU programs with deep history and even deeper purpose.
South Carolina State enters the season as back to back MEAC champions under Head Coach Chennis Berry, while Florida A&M begins a new chapter led by Quinn Gray Sr., a FAMU alum and the program’s 20th head coach.
At the center of it all is the continued growth of the Orange Blossom Classic itself. Executive Director Kendra Bulluck-Major highlighted the event’s cultural and economic impact on South Florida, especially within Miami Gardens.
“Number one, we are the only African American event in South Florida to be nationally televised,” Bulluck-Major said. “This event, since its inception in 2021, has brought in over $100 million back to Miami-Dade and Broward County.”
Now entering its sixth year, the Orange Blossom Classic has positioned itself as more than just a game. It is a cultural institution, a driver of economic impact, and a celebration of Black excellence rooted in HBCU tradition.
That tradition was front and center in the words of Coach Berry, who spoke not just about football, but about legacy and discipline.
“I am a product of an HBCU. I’ve been on an HBCU campus my whole life since I was 18 years old, as a player and a coach,” Berry said.
Coming off a dominant 2025 season that included an HBCU national championship, Berry emphasized that success for his program goes beyond the field.
“We had an outstanding season. We won the 2025 HBCU national championship. We not only won on the field, but we won in the classroom,” he said. “We had 99 players when the season ended. We had over 60 players with over a 3.0 GPA, and six of our players had a 4.0 GPA.”
For Florida A&M, Coach Gray is stepping into leadership with a clear focus on legacy and responsibility. As both a head coach and an alum, his approach centers on education, identity, and pride.
“It’s my responsibility not only as their head coach, but also as an alum, to make sure that the players understand the foundation that they stand on,” Gray said.
He continued, outlining a unique approach to building culture within his program.
“Every Tuesday and Thursday, we have a meeting and history lesson about former coaches, former players, and the people who walked the halls at Florida A&M University,” he said. “So they understand the people that came before them and the foundation they walk on.”
For Gray, it all comes back to pride.
“Just moving forward, it’s all about the pride that you have in the university.”
As the press conference came to a close, one thing was clear. The Orange Blossom Classic is not just about a game on September 6. It is about legacy, education, culture, and community all coming together on one stage.
And in Miami Gardens, that stage continues to grow.
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