Rattler Rewind: How FAMU ‘RAC Boy’ Jacquay Nunnally caught and ran his way to football stardom

FAMU wide receiver Jacquay Nunnally lit up defenses as a member of the RAC Boys in 1998. He was voted to the 50th anniversary All-MEAC team.

Rattler Rewind is a weekly summertime series authored by the Tallahassee Democrat’s FAMU Beat Reporter, Gerald Thomas. If you have suggestions for future Rattler Rewind guests, contact Thomas at GDThomas@Tallahassee.com.

Hearing the name ‘Jacquay Nunnally’ gives Florida A&M football fans nostalgic memories of one of the most explosive athletes in the Orange and Green.

Nunnally played wide receiver for the Rattlers from 1997-2000, where he garnered four All-American and All-Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference honors during his tenure. He also was named the Black College Player of the Year twice, in 1998 and 2000. Nunnally was inducted into the FAMU Sports Hall of Fame in 2009 and the MEAC Hall of Fame in 2010.

However, Nunnally didn’t arrive on The Highest of Seven Hills destined for stardom. Endless work accompanied by a bit of luck landed the record-shattering Nunnally as one of FAMU football’s most revered football players.

“We had a really good receiving corps ― John Rutledge, Marvin Taylor, Undre Williams ― we had so many receivers,” Nunnally said in a phone interview with the Tallahassee Democrat. “So coming into that redshirt freshman year, I was like third or fourth string. It was to the point where, in the first game of the year, Demetris Bendross (former FAMU receiver) and I were on the sidelines squirting water on each other to make it look like we were sweating when we took pictures.

“That’s how I ended up with number 85. I was nothing.”

Early in the 1997 season, injuries piled up on FAMU’s receivers.

An abbreviated position group and a matter of opportunity provided Nunnally a fast track to show he was capable of quality playing time. And Nunnally…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/rattler-rewind-famu-rac-boy-090332657.html

Author : Tallahassee Democrat

Publish date : 2024-06-18 09:03:32

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.