HBCU News Spotlight:
- Alex Simmons, tight end, selected to MEAC first team; 6-foot-4 junior from Brooklyn caught nine passes in 11 games last season.
- Arturo Mattocks, linebacker, named to MEAC first team; 6-foot-1 graduate student made eight tackles in 2025 but missed 10 games due to injury.
- Aki Harvey, defensive back, selected to MEAC first team; 6-foot-4 senior recorded 17 tackles in his first season at Morgan State.
Three Morgan State football players were named to the MEAC’s first-team all-conference squads in voting announced Tuesday in advance of the 2026 season. Additionally, the Bears were picked to finish fourth in the league’s standings.
Tight end Alex Simmons, linebacker Arturo Mattocks and defensive back Aki Harvey were selected to the conference’s first team in voting conducted by the league’s coaches and sports information directors.
Simmons, a 6-foot-4 inch junior from Brooklyn, N.Y., caught nine passes in 11 games last year. Mattocks, a 6-foot-1-inch graduate student from Montgomery Village, made eight tackles in 2025, but missed 10 games due to injury. Harvey, a 6-foot 4-inch senior from Columbia, recorded 17 tackles in his first season at Morgan last year.
Five other Morgan players, redshirt senior running back Keith Jenkins Jr., wide receiver Justin Perry, defensive lineman Justin Dutton, punter Shane Messenger and return specialist Malique Leatherbury were selected to the MEAC’s second team squad.
Meanwhile, the team was picked to finish fourth in the league race, behind South Carolina State, North Carolina Central and Delaware State, but ahead of Norfolk State and Howard. The Bears (4-8 in 2025) finished fifth with a 1-4 conference record, just ahead of Norfolk State.
The all-conference teams and league predictions were announced at the league’s preseason media day held at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium.
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