By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN. Advocate sportswriter
There are plenty of teams in the Southwestern Athletic Conference which could use a proven running back.
Grambling, Southern, Prairie View, and even defending champion Alabama A&M come under that heading.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff has two.
There are plenty of teams in the Southwestern Athletic Conference which could use a proven running back.
Grambling, Southern, Prairie View, and even defending champion Alabama A&M come under that heading.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff has two.
The Golden Lions found a star in junior Martell Malett (a conference-best 1,129 yards and 14 TDs rushing and another 180 yards and one TD receiving) last season. That came while junior Mickey Dean, the 2005 SWAC Freshman of the Year who once declined an invitation to walk on at Arkansas, was injured most of his sophomore season.
“We feel very fortunate to be able to have two running backs the caliber of Malett and Mickey,” UAPB coach Mo Forte said. “A lot of teams can’t say that.
“You want to find a way to get the ball in their hands. It’s a problem because you don’t have enough footballs. But it’s a problem you like having.”
The “problem” only gets worse, because if the M&M’s have the ball, how are senior quarterback Chris Wallace, the reigning SWAC Offensive Player of the Year and the preseason pick to do so again, and speedy playmaker Jason Jones going to hook up?
UAPB’s biggest concern is making sure the offensive line is strong, with having to replace up to four starters.
Forte and Co. have a tradition of a strong run game and always being able to assemble lines to power that strong suit.
“Our line is better than it was the first day,” Forte said. “I don’t know where we are until we play an opposing team.”
The Golden Lions were the story of last season, starting 1-3, expected to do little and then losing Dean and having Forte’s health issues move him to the press box but yet winning seven in a row to get to the SWAC Championship Game.
Faced with the adversity, UAPB bought into its “one play, one game at a time” mantra.
This season, they’ll have to cling to that philosophy even more, because expectations are sky-high.
“We’re not talking about going to Birmingham (Ala., for the Dec. 15 SWAC title game),” Forte said.
Defending champion Alabama A&M, the conference’s preseason pick to win the Eastern Division, has, unlike UAPB, been a contender, making four of the last seven SWAC title games. But last season was the breakthrough year.
“Now, we know it’s out there. Now we know we’ve done it before,” A&M coach Anthony Jones said. “It helps you that you’ve crossed that bridge.”
The Bulldogs, powered yearly by stingy defense, have consistently been one of the teams to beat.
“I just don’t see a dominant team (in the SWAC),” Jones said. “Everybody is catching up with everyone else.”
Here’s a quick look at the SWAC, in alphabetical order, including last season’s record:
Western Division
ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF (8-4): Wallace ties the bow on the best offensive package. Golden Lions’ run last season shows they’re for real.
GRAMBLING (3-8): First-year coach Rod Broadway won last season’s black college national team from North Carolina Central. That team was stacked; this team isn’t.
PRAIRIE VIEW (3-7): Panthers feel establishing a passing game is final piece. Really? PV ran for 1,806 yards but threw for just 692, second to last of 116 I-AA teams, last season.
SOUTHERN (5-6): Jaguars are young at linebacker and running back, and quarterback and young and thin on offensive and defensive lines.
TEXAS SOUTHERN (3-8): Two bowl subdivision teams are on the schedule for a struggling program. Team shows flashes and can spring an upset.
Eastern Division
ALABAMA A&M (9-3): Bulldogs lost LB Johnny Baldwin, a fifth-round pick of the Detroit Lions, but has eight defensive starters back. The question is in finding a running back. Ulysses Jones, an electric return man, starts.
ALABAMA STATE (5-6): Hornets were inconsistent at quarterback last season, but Alex Engram should settle in, and the running game is solid with Jay Peck.
ALCORN STATE (6-5): The Braves still don’t know who the starting quarterback is and they’ve got six new starters on defense.
JACKSON STATE (6-5): Rick Comegy continues to stockpile talent. The Tigers will look to put last season’s second-half collapse behind them.
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE (6-5): The Aries Nelson era is over, with little to show for it, and here comes Paul Roberts. There’s a veteran offensive line and Johey Hargrett back at running back, but junior-college players will have to solidify a defense with four returning starters.
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