TALLAHASSEE, Fl. (WTXL) - The Florida Classic is a date circled on every Florida A&M fans calendar, and for this Rattler football team, this game is everything, especially for this year's seniors. They've never beated the Wildcats, and they look to change that in their final match-up.
"It's been a wild one man," laughed redshirt senior quarterback Ryan Stanley. "This senior class has seen the ups and downs."
Stanley was a freshman in the fall of 2015 on a Rattler team that went 1-10. He'd redshirt that year, but the memory of that fall forever stuck in his mind.
"A lot of guys that came in with us, didn't make it all these four or five years," he said. "They transferred out because of going 1-10, they thought we didn't have it or just didn't make it."
"I came in into a losing program and now I'm leaving this program better than how I found it," added Terry Jefferson, who also came in with Stanley in the Class of 2015.
Five years in, and better they are. FAMU is back in the FCS polls for the first time in a decade, and they're riding a nine game win streak into this weekend's Classic, where they're looking to beat Bethune-Cookman for the first time since 2010.
"Probably the most amazing story of any senior class that's come through here in a very long time," said head coach Willie Simmons. "To start 1-10 your first year, and to now have the chance to finish 10-1, I don't know if there's any program in the country that can boast that type of change over someones career."
A chance to rewrite the books more than this team already has and change the course for the future.
"A victory this weekend would definitely put a stamp, not just for my legacy, but for this class," said Stanley. "It'd be the cherry on top."
"The last few times I've cried in these past couple years were at the end of this game," added Jefferson. "Hopefully I'll cry again, but hopefully for a different reason. These tears will be tears of joy."
Saturday's match-up is set for a 3:30 kickoff in Orlando.
