COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Benedict College Tigers open the 2025 football season on Saturday, taking on the Fayetteville State Broncos at 5 p.m. in the Labor Day Classic in Charlie W. Johnson Stadium.
 
"I'm really excited. Fall camp has been fun and we've gotten a lot better. But now it's time to go against someone else and to show the young men and let them get the frustrations out on someone else besides each other," said Benedict head coach Ron Dickerson Jr.
 
The game will air on The Grio, which is available nationwide on multiple platforms. The Grio is available on cable outlets DIRECTV Channel 342 HD and DISH Network Channel 360 HD. On streaming TV, it is available on theGrio.com, Local Now, Sports.TV, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, DIRECTTV STREAM, Freecast and PlutoTV.
 
Tickets are available at www.benedicttickets.com.
 
The Tigers are coming off a 4-6 season in Dickerson's first season at the helm. One of the major focuses during the offseason was for the Tigers to get bigger and stronger, and Dickerson feels they accomplished that.
 
"We really worked hard in the offseason to get in shape and also to get stronger," Dickerson said. "Last year, we got pushed around a lot. This year, we didn't want to get pushed around. We were really dedicated in the weight room. So I'm really excited to see them go play somebody else."
 
The Broncos went 4-5 in 2024, a down year after winning eight or nine games in each of the previous three seasons. Three of those losses last year were by a touchdown or less. Dickerson expects Fayetteville State to pose a tough challenge, with Fayetteville State returning the bulk of their defense from last season, as well as plenty of talent on the offensive side, including quarterback Joe Owens Jr., who threw for more than 2,000 yards and 12 touchdowns.
 
"Fayetteville State is a great team," Dickerson said. "They've got a lot of talent and a ton of returners coming back. It's going to be a game where we're going to have to play sound football and hope that our conditioning comes into play, and gives us the upper hand in some of the instances where they have a lot more experience."
 
The Tigers have plenty of talent returning as well, especially on defense where they bring back leading tackler Isaiah Stephens and defensive end Israel Nwokocha, who was one of the top sack leaders in the SIAC last season. On the offensive side of the ball, Benedict returns three receivers who had exceptional seasons as freshmen – Troy Hillman, Malaqhi Jones and Jaxon Williams, who was an All-American as a kick returner. Charles "Tre" Simmons, who started most of the season at quarterback last year, made the move to wide receiver in order to get the ball in his talented hands.
 
"Throughout fall camp, every (position) room had a ton of competition in it. The guys who are going to start, they won the job outright. Our defense has a lot of veterans coming back, but again, our skill positions have a lot of key people coming back, and we added a few to those also. And we put a lot of weight on our offensive line."