'Trojan Explosion' hopes to blast to ESPN Band of the Year title

ETTRICK – Virginia State University’s year just keeps getting bigger.

A week after it was announced VSU would host the second presidential debate of 2024, the university’s Trojan Explosion Marching Band was named the top Division II HBCU (historically Black colleges and universities) band by ESPN. That selection ensures the band of a trip to Atlanta Dec. 15 to ESPN’s first-ever HBCU Band of the Year competition.

To reach this point, Trojan Explosion had to climb in the rankings that ESPN started two months ago. The trek was not that long – those rankings had VSU at No. 3 – but still, it needed to be among the top two when the final rankings came out this month.

VSU competed in the Division II and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) category.

When the final rankings came in, VSU and Florida Memorial University were at the top – VSU for Division II and Miami-based FMU for NAIA schools.

The two schools will square off in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the title of Division II/NAIA HBCU Band of the Year.

Dr. Taylor Whithead, director of VSU’s marching and pep bands, called the selection “a tremendous honor.”

“The band has worked incredibly hard and has had some amazing performances over the past year,” Whitehead said in a statement released by VSU.

Those performances included February appearances at the White House and on NBC’s “Today” show, an August appearance at the National Battle of the Bands competition in Houston, and a featured part of a Fox Sports story on the top HBCU bands in the nation.

The ESPN rankings were based on such band aspects as auxiliaries, drum majors, musicality, percussion and drill/marching/maneuvering. Individual performances were judged across those areas.

At some point in the rankings, VSU was rated the top in drum majors, auxiliary and percussion.

The Dec. 15 competition will be shown on ESPN3 and ESPN+ networks. Show time is 6 p.m.

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @BAtkinson_PI.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: 'Trojan Explosion' hopes to blast to ESPN Band of the Year title