Alabama A&M Football is set to take the field in Atlanta on Saturday, Aug. 29, and the game carries more weight for one alumnus than a normal early-season matchup. Alabama A&M will face Howard University at Center Parc Stadium in the 2026 Cricket MEAC/SWAC Challenge, with kickoff at 6:30 p.m. Central and 7:30 p.m. Eastern on ABC.
For Michael Jackson Jr., the date lands close to home in more ways than one. Jackson, who grew up in Marietta, Georgia, graduated from AAMU in 2023 and now serves as vice president of the Metro Atlanta Alumni Chapter. He said attending the game means everything to him, and that being able to support his alma mater in his hometown means he has to represent.
That reaction carries extra weight because Jackson did not go to Alabama A&M just to stay close to home. He studied construction management, spent three years in the Student Government Association and was elected SGA vice president, and said he first felt a sense of belonging when he stepped onto campus. His path through the AAMU Honors Program and University Echo Student Ambassadors, along with work on MALE Initiative Week, the Bulldog Choice Awards and student leadership events, helped shape the person now helping lead the chapter’s push in Atlanta.
Jackson and the Metro Atlanta Alumni Chapter are planning a Bulldogs Takeover Atlanta weekend built around the game. The slate includes a kickoff pep rally, the chapter’s 21st Annual Scholarship Golf Tournament, Bulldogs at The Battery, and HBCU Night at the Atlanta Braves game. That turns one football date into a longer homecoming-style run for Bulldogs and Bulldog Nation, with the chapter using the matchup to rally support far beyond the stadium.
The game itself still sits at the center of it all, and that is where the tension in Jackson’s story lives. He left home for independence, yet Atlanta is now the place where his college years, alumni role and family roots meet. He has said he would make the same decision 100 more times, and that he learned so much about himself at AAMU that the gratitude goes deeper than academics. On Aug. 29, the city that raised him and the university that shaped him will share the same stage.
What comes next is simple and specific: Alabama A&M and Howard University will meet at Center Parc Stadium, and Jackson’s weekend of alumni events is set to unfold around that kickoff. For him, the football game is the anchor, but the real story is how one Saturday in Atlanta has become a full expression of AAMU pride.
