The last yard of Andrew Body’s Alabama State legacy

More than 23,200 fans watched Alabama State cap a historic 2025 football season with a 58-21 win over in-state rival Tuskegee in the Turkey Day Classic last November.

Alabama State finished the season 10-2, securing its first 10-win season since 2004, the same year the program captured its most recent Southwestern Athletic Conference championship. Still, the celebration rang hollow since Alabama State had failed to reach the SWAC championship game.

“Ten and two sounds great from the outside, but without a championship being attached [to the wins], it didn’t mean nothing,” Alabama State quarterback Andrew Body said.

Body felt that emptiness from a distance. He had spent the Hornets’ final four games of the season rehabilitating his right shoulder, which he injured for the third time in his college career during a Nov. 1 victory over Prairie View A&M.

Through eight games, Body completed 70.6% of his passes for 1,770 yards, 20 touchdowns and one interception. He rushed for 518 yards and four scores. Even after missing one-third of the season, he earned SWAC Offensive Player of the Year and Stats Perform HBCU National Player of the Year honors.

While the awards confirmed what Body had accomplished, they could not complete what he had started. Now, in his final college season, Body carries the responsibility of turning Alabama State’s breakthrough into the championship that has eluded the program for 21 years.

The 6-foot, 205-pound dual-threat quarterback began his career at Texas Southern before transferring to Alabama State in January 2024. After two seasons with the Hornets, the Corpus Christi, Texas, native announced in December 2025 that he planned to enter the transfer portal and officially did so in January. Then came the whirlwind. 

About 50 programs expressed interest. Calls and text messages arrived so relentlessly Body said he sometimes needed a second phone to track them. He communicated with Vanderbilt and Penn State and visited North Texas, Missouri State, Memphis, Florida International and Delaware State.

While Body had options, he also had unfinished business. After nearly a month in the portal, he withdrew and returned to the program he calls his second home.

“That was the biggest reason I came back,” Body told Andscape.

His return gives Alabama State a proven playmaker.

“It’s one thing to be a great player,” Alabama State head football coach Eddie Robinson Jr. said. “He’s come back to the SWAC, HBCU football and Alabama State for one more year. My challenge to him has been, ‘What’s going to be your legacy?’ 

“You’ve got to take the next step to cement your legacy, not just as a great player but as a great team leader who can lead a team to a championship.”

That challenge extends beyond Body’s repaired shoulder. The Hornets are returning 55 players but lost 41, leaving four returning starters on offense and four on defense. Robinson must mold a contender around the veteran quarterback whom he has entrusted to hold the team together.

Body also must learn another offensive language. Tony Hull, whom Alabama State hired in January, is Body’s second offensive coordinator in three seasons at Alabama State. 

When Hull and Body first spoke, their conversation stretched beyond formations and play calls. Hull gave Body a candid evaluation, asked about his NFL aspirations and explained what reaching them would require.

Hull did not arrive with a rigid system; instead, he studied Alabama State’s personnel and shaped the offense around its strengths. Body’s role is less gunslinger than conductor, diagnosing the defense, distributing the ball and knowing when restraint can matter as much as brilliance.

“He’s basically the point guard of the offense, and his teammates hold him to that standard,” Hull said. “Whatever the defense gives him, he’s going to take advantage of it. His approach is not, ‘I want to make everything happen myself.’ The work he puts in when no one is around ultimately makes him special.”

The partnership has not always been comfortable. Body considers that the point.

“He challenges everything, my mental, my physical, my emotional and my spiritual,” Body said. “A coach is there to take you to a place where you can’t take yourself. So, I keep telling him to push me as hard as he can.”

Body once played as if every possession required a rescue. Robinson likened Body to a basketball player accustomed to taking 50 shots. According to the coach, Alabama State needs fewer shots and more assists from Body, decisions that elevate everyone around him.

A touchdown can still reveal the wrong read. A 20-yard scramble can electrify a crowd while concealing the easier opening Body missed.

“There have been times when he’s thrown a touchdown and everybody’s cheering, and I’m like, ‘Come here. That was not a good decision,’” Robinson said with a laugh. “Love the result, but that was not the right decision. It takes a lot of different ingredients to make good gumbo. In football, it’s no different. Consistently good equals great.”

Body understands that distinction now – his injuries helped him learn it.

“I realized I had to do some different things to get a different result,” Body said. “I couldn’t just be out there playing backyard football.”

The margin between spectacular and sound can be as narrow as a yard. Alabama State knows because 1 yard defined its entire 2025 season.

On Oct. 11, the Hornets trailed Jackson State 38-34 in the final seconds of a game at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium. 

Alabama State designed a run for Body toward the short side of the field. Jackson State closed the opening, forcing him to improvise and flip a last-second pass to lead blocker Jamarie Hostzclaw. Jackson State stopped Hostzclaw at the 1-yard line. The loss would ultimately serve as a tiebreaker for control of the SWAC East and keep Alabama State from reaching the conference championship game.

“It’s always a handful of plays that you look back at and know could have been the difference in a game,” Body said. “We carried that hurt with us because we didn’t want to feel that pain again. We’re not going to feel that pain this year.”

Body has tried to make that urgency contagious. Defensive back Ta’Shaun Sims usually prefers to work quietly and allow his example to speak for him. Body has challenged Sims to become more vocal.

“Player-led teams win championships,” Sims said. “Now, his leadership is rubbing off on me.” 

Alabama State will open its season Saturday against Southern in the inaugural Birmingham Football Classic at Legion Field. The symmetry is difficult to miss. Robinson and first-year Southern coach Marshall Faulk were players on opposite sidelines in Super Bowl XXXIV, a game immortalized when the Tennessee Titans, Robinson’s team, finished 1 yard short of the end zone against Faulk’s St. Louis Rams. Twenty-six years later, the two New Orleans natives will meet as head coaches.

For Alabama State, the history carries a fresh sting. The Hornets must face Jackson State and reigning SWAC champion Prairie View — the opponents that shaped their unfinished 2025 season — on consecutive November weekends.

Crossing the final yard will require more than Body’s arm or his legs. It will require stronger judgment, uncomfortable accountability and a willingness to make the ordinary play when every instinct calls for the extraordinary.

“Being a leader, sometimes you have to be OK with not being liked,” Body said. “You might have to be the villain in some instances to get your point across. … In order for us to get what we want, this is what it’s going to take.

“When I got injured, I couldn’t feel sorry for myself. God makes no mistakes. I can never trip because God gave me another opportunity to play again. Anything worth having is never easy. This time, we’re leaving no doubt.”