Ever since the social uprising related to the death of George Floyd began, there has been a steady trend of high school student-athletes making verbal commitments to compete at HBCUs.
That trend continued last week when high school volleyball standouts and twin sisters Bria and Cimone Woodard decommitted from Texas A&M to play at Howard University.
I am super excited to announce that I will be attending and playing volleyball at Howard University!!! I can’t wait to be a bison!#HU25 pic.twitter.com/iHhqdl1ozU
— Bria Woodard (@bwoodard_) September 4, 2020
“I am super excited to announce that I will be attending and playing volleyball at Howard University!!!,” Bria said in a Sept. 4 tweet. “I can’t wait to be a bison! #HU25.”
Acknowledging that playing at Howard would not be the same as playing at a “Power Five” institution like Texas A&M, the duo indicated that playing for the Washington D.C. based HBCU was more of a “culturally-based” decision.
“We had to recognize that and decide what we wanted more,” Bria told PrepVolleyball.com. “At first when we went through the recruiting process, we wanted a big conference and a big school. We had to take a step back and see that we can still play at a great school [at Howard] and make more of a decision that is culturally-based. At Howard, we get the best of both worlds — excellent academics and athletics.”
As a result of the decision to play at Howard, Bria and Cimone will become fifth-generation HBCU students.
