Caroline Wills
Before Monday, Korion Sharpe had never spoken in front of the media, despite entering his fifth season with the Aggies.
North Carolina A&T head coach Shawn Gibbs and radio host Donal Ware found it hard to believe. Sharpe appeared comfortable. He was the first player to step up to the podium. He commanded the room.
The football team named the four-year starter one of its captains for the 2025 season, but speaking to a crowd of media and Aggie alumni, something other than the locker room was a new feeling.
"[When] Korion was telling me this was the first time he's been here in one of these press conferences, I'm thinking, 'What? You've been one of the better players around here for a long time,'" Gibbs said. "Now it's time for him to lead and people to get to know what a great person he is and what a great football player he is."
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When asked on the coach's radio show if he enjoyed the news conference opportunity, Sharpe paused before joking, "It's different. It's not something I've done before. I love it for my first time."
But the opportunity almost never happened.
After a second straight season of only one win and countless losses, Sharpe entered the transfer portal last November, frustrated and looking to move on. The Charlotte native committed to NC A&T back in 2020 as the only lineman in the early signing period, working his way up the ranks to a breakout season in 2022 when he earned All Big South second team honors. An injury the following year forced him to redshirt, but the Aggies' struggles compounded by the time he returned, culminating in a 1-11 record and a 10-game losing streak to end the 2024 season.
NC A&T hired Gibbs - a familiar face for Sharpe - to rebuild. Gibbs served as the Aggies' running back coach during the lineman's freshman year. They didn't talk much then, but Sharpe said he knew what Gibbs stood for. The former A&T assistant coach was a part of an Aggies staff that found great success from 2011-17 and 2018-21 before taking over as a head coach at Fort Valley State. Sharpe trusted Gibbs would bring the fire back.
He also knew that NC A&T was one of the first places to take a chance on him. During his high school days at Rocky River, he didn't receive offers from Power Four schools, only Group of 5 programs. Offensive line coach Ron Mattes was also the first coach to teach him technique.
"It's been [some] rough years," Sharpe said. "It just taught me not to quit on anything, whether we're talking about football or going back to life. Things are gonna get hard. It's been hard, but we're just worrying about the future and this season."
The decision to return earned the redshirt senior preseason HBCU All-American and All-CAA honors ahead of Saturday's opener. In what will likely be his final season in Greensboro, Sharpe views those accolades as "blessings." Still, he's more concerned with finally winning some games.
He spent the offseason drilling his footwork, an area that cost him during the 2024 season, and bringing together a young offensive line. Already, he's noticed a change in his teammates' confidence. The energy is different. But so is the mindset.
The lessons he's learned from his coaches and career at NC A&T have also made him think differently about his future after football. Once his playing days are over, he wants to train other offensive linemen, especially those in his hometown who do not have access to the same resources as others.
"I want to be able to pour back into the young people what these coaches and former coaches did to me," Sharpe said. "(I want to) teach them everything I know and learned from them."
And teaching will come easy once he has a few more news conferences under his belt.
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