‘Not done yet.’ Johnson C. Smith football eyes another historic season

Before training camp begins, Red Ventures CEO Ric Elias, a major donor, likes to visit the Johnson C. Smith football team. He comes every year to talk to players.

But this time, the visit meant more.

During the pre-training camp conversation, three words jumped out from his speech that have become JSCU’s defining motto this season: Not done yet.

“It fits us,” head coach Maurice Flowers said. “Because we are not done yet. We have more work to do.”

The phrase comes after a program-defining season, where the team finished 8-2 after decades of posting losing records. In 2022, JCSU only won two games during Flowers first season. By 2023, the Golden Bulls were bowl eligible. Last season, they crept inside the NCAA Division II Top 25 for the first time in program history — and remained there for six weeks. They also sold out Irwin Belk Complex for the first-time ever last year.

Now in his fourth season, Flowers has even loftier goals entering the season opener against Morehouse College at Harvard Stadium during The Essence HBCU Classic. He wants to win a Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship, a title JCSU hasn’t won since 1969. He wants to finish inside the top 10. He wants to make program history by qualifying for the Division II playoffs.

And Flowers’ players are responding to plans that would have seemed outlandish three years ago.

The head coach asked someone to watch practice last week. The visitor noticed a shift. Practices looked fun last year. This time around, players appeared more serious.

“It looks like they’re on a mission for unfinished business,” Flowers said. “That’s good. So, that’s the growth of the program that there’s a certain expectation of performance and also what we want out of this season.”

Part of the difference stems from the way last season ended. After eight consecutive wins to start, the Golden Bulls dropped their last two games, taking any hopes of a CIAA championship berth with it.

The team saw the fans’’ disappointment. Flowers said the winning streak made it feel like JCSU was already in line for the championship game.

The team acknowledged all of those feelings. The loss. The inability to finish strong. The lost opportunity to make even more history.

“There’s no one that has higher expectations for the program than the young men in the program and the coaching staff,” Flowers said.

Now his players understand their mission. The head coach hasn’t raised his voice much in practice because he doesn’t need to.

Flowers believes this is the most talented roster he’s coached at JCSU.

And others have taken notice; the Golden Bulls are picked to finish second in the CIAA.

The Golden Bulls are backed by a strong receiving core. They have three of the top-10 running backs in the CIAA. The offense will be led by quarterback Kelvin Durham, who Flowers recruited when he was head coach at Fort Valley State from 2020-21 (before coming to JCSU.)

Durham started three years at Fort Valley State. Durham passed for 5,922 yards and recorded 62 touchdowns. Last year, he had a career-high 2,096 passing yards and 23 touchdowns. He’s the all-time leading passer in Fort Valley State history. And now he’s a Golden Bull.

Durham will speak during offensive breaks. It’s a job Flowers used to have, but the team responds to its new quarterback.

During those chats, Durham pushes the team to be better. He’ll say the performance wasn’t good enough and that more needs to be done.

“The best of him is going to come out on the field because he’s one of the fiercest competitors I’ve seen,” Flowers said.

The offseason has left Flowers excited for what’s ahead.

He often thinks about his first season at JCSU, leading a team that wasn’t favored to win any games. His players made do in a weight room too small for the team. They only won two games.

“It’s not one that I’m looking back and saying, ‘Look at the great job we’ve done,’” Flowers said. “We still have a lot of work to do.”

Or in the words of Elias, they’re “not done yet.”

This story was originally published August 27, 2025 at 5:30 AM.

Emma Moon

The Charlotte Observer

Emma Moon recently graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a bachelor’s degree in Media and Journalism, and English and Comparative Literature. During her time at UNC, Emma served as the assistant sports editor and summer sports editor for The Daily Tar Heel, the university’s independent student newspaper. In these roles, she primarily covered UNC football, men’s basketball, women’s soccer and baseball.