BIRMINGHAM — Give Johnny Thomas, the Alcorn State football coach, this much: He sure knows how to turn a negative into a positive.Asked to identify some of his team's strengths at the SWAC Media Day at the Birmingham Sheraton, Thomas answered with his team's experience. Then, this:
"Our inability to get over the championship rung, to get over that, to me that's a strength because it's a motivational factor that should be on the mind of all the guys on the team," Thomas said.
So Thomas, who will start his 10th season as the Braves' head coach when ASU hosts Grambling on Sept. 1, isn't dancing around what seems to be the biggest issue for Alcorn State heading into this season. ASU has been good enough in the past few seasons to contend for a SWAC Eastern Division title but just hasn't been able to do it.
Case in point: 2006, when Alcorn State went 5-4 in the league and finished a game back of Alabama A&M, which beat ASU 35-26 late in the year.
"We didn't execute when we had to execute," Thomas said. "We didn't tackle well when we had to tackle well. We didn't cover well when we had to cover well. We didn't take our man when we had to take our man. Those kinds of things. To me, that's just we didn't execute well."
In fact, ASU has been teetering on that fulcrum for some time. The team went 0-11 in 2000, then started a stretch of six straight seasons in which it posted winning records but couldn't win more than seven games. Most importantly, it couldn't advance to the SWAC Championship Game.
As for 2007, Thomas thinks his team can overcome some of that lack of execution with the 16 starters it returns, eight on each side of the ball. ASU returns both quarterbacks that split time last season, two of its top three receivers and its starting running back.
The defense also returns the bulk of its production, save linemen Mark Butler and Martin Jackson.
Receiver Tony Hughes is perhaps the team's most potent offensive weapon, one that Thomas calls a big-play threat. Hughes likes being tabbed that way, but to be sure, he wants fans to know more about the team's off-season work ethic and togetherness.
"Alcorn this year is basically just getting it done," Hughes said.
It's a refrain echoed by senior linebacker Antonio Cooper. Thomas is counting on him being more aggressive after off-season surgery repaired a shoulder, and Cooper is counting on himself being more attentive knowing that this is his last go-round.
"The difference is we're more together, the ones that are here for summer workouts," Cooper said. "We're bonding more than we have the past couple of seasons."
Alcorn will have one less chance to prove itself, as a snafu caused the cancellation of a classic in Las Vegas and reduced the Braves' schedule to 10 games. Included in that is a trip to Division I-A UAB.
"This team has a lot to prove," Thomas said. "We had some guys in some positions that I think might have the talent, but haven't proved that they have the talent to make things happen."
Since going 0-11 in 2000, Alcorn State has been close to a SWAC division title but not quite there. Its records since then:
Year Overall Conf.
2001 6-5 5-2
2002 6-5 3-4
2003 7-5 5-2
2004 7-4 4-3
2005 6-5 5-4
2006 6-5 5-4
Alcorn State University Band and Golden Girls
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