BY JOHN DEVLIN, Special to The Post and Courier
MEAC Preview
For the first time in the Buddy Pough era, South Carolina State is the preseason team to beat in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
The Bulldogs received eight of a possible 16 first-place votes and 266 points overall in the annual MEAC preseason poll released in July.
"It's nice to know that people in our conference think that highly of us," said Pough.
"Maybe they know what I know — that we have more talent in all areas of our team than we've had at any time since I've been here. But it was still a bit of a surprise because Hampton's won the championship for three straight years. Nothing matters until we start playing, anyway. We haven't won anything yet."
Pough realizes his team is on the hot seat after three straight close-but-no-cigar seasons in the quest to win the MEAC title and qualify for the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-AA) playoffs.
"We have the athletes in place," said Pough. "We have experience, size and speed, and good depth. Now, it's up to us to get off our fannies as coaches and make it happen."
The conference produced a strange three-team race for first place last season.
After losing early to Bethune-Cookman in Charleston, S.C. State finally beat Hampton to put itself in control, only to fall by the wayside in a bitter 10-9 road loss at Delaware State.
Pough expects Hampton, Delaware State and perhaps Bethune-Cookman to be their prime challengers for this year's championship.
Hampton took a heavy graduation hit on both sides of the ball, losing such stars as running back Alonzo Coleman, quarterback Princeton Shepherd and linebacker Justin Durant.
Coleman, who became the all-time leading MEAC rusher and scorer, retired as one of six backs in FCS history to produce four straight 1,000-yard plus rushing seasons. Shepherd, a Columbia native, had a 30-7 record in three seasons as the starter. Durant, a product of Wilson High in Florence, was a three-time MEAC defensive player of the year, and was drafted in the second round by the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL.
And that's just the top of the list. Hampton also graduated its top three receivers, three offensive linemen, all four secondary starters and the best place-kicker in the conference.
The Pirates do have some returning talent on hand, including running back Kevin Beverly, who ran for 725 yards and a conference-high 12 touchdowns last year, and preseason All-America defensive end Kendall Langford, the preseason MEAC defensive player of the year.
Though the conference coaches and sports information directors think a change at the top of the standings is imminent, Hampton remains the MEAC darling by various national ranking outlets. The Pirates, for instance, are ranked 16th on the most recent Sports Network list, while S.C. State is 25th.
Delaware State finished in a second-place tie with S.C. State last season, blowing a chance to share the title in a 20-17 loss to Howard in the regular-season finale.
The Hornets, third in the MEAC preseason pecking order with no first-place votes, has a justifiable lack-of-respect case to make this season. DSU, after all, returns 15 starters, including quarterback Vashon Winton, top receiver Shaheer McBride and four of the top six tacklers from last season's much-improved defensive unit.
Winton completed nearly 60 percent of his passes last season for 1,171 yards and 10 touchdowns, with just two interceptions. McBride caught 55 passes for 825 yards and 11 scores a year ago, rating All-MEAC honors.
All-MEAC guard Jeremy Breath anchors a veteran offensive line.
The defensive standouts are inside linebacker Russell Reeves, who led the team with 79 tackles last season, strong safety Tyrone Kelly (76 tackles) cornerback Akeen Green and outside linebacker Kelly Rouse (5 TFL, 3.5 sacks in nine games).
If nothing else, the Hornets had a conference-high five players voted to the preseason All-MEAC first team: McBride, Breath, Rouse, Reeves and Green.
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