Grambling
First-year Grambling coach Rod Broadway brought back 45 players from spring and added about 45 more in preseason camp. And he still isn’t sure what he has, with the Tigers opening at Alcorn on Saturday.
“I don’t know how good we’ll be, because I don’t know the competition (in the SWAC), Broadway said. “I don’t know that we’re consistent enough to be a good football team now. I don’t know what these kids are going to do, actually.
“We’re trying to change the culture here. &hellip When you’re 3-8, you create some bad habits. It’s a job. You can tell by body language. It’s amazing what one bad year can do.”
Broadway is unsure who will take the place of RB Ab Kuuaan. Four freshmen — Cornelius Walker, Frank Warren, Kenny Batiste and J.R. Spivery — are among the possibilities.
“Once they get in the flow, they’ll be good running backs, not great, not bad, just good running backs at this point,” Broadway said.
Prairie View
Senior running back Arnell Fontenot, who ran for the game-tying and game-winning touchdowns in the Panthers’ 26-23 overtime stunner over Southern last season, won’t be with the team this season because of “personal issues medical issues,” said PV coach Henry Frazier III Monday, though the Houston Chronicle reported earlier this month Fontenot is academically ineligible. The plan is Fontenot will redshirt this season, Frazier said.
Fontenot ran for 483 yards and three TDs last season with Kerry Wilson, a senior last year, going for 498 yards and four TDs.
Sophomore Calvin Harris, who ran for 422 yards and one TD last season, is No. 1.
Sophomore Donald Babers, a nonqualifier last season, is second. Babers will also be a return specialist. Ben Boyd is third.
“We won’t give up on the kid, but we have some ample backups,” Frazier said. “I don’t think we’ll miss a beat.”
Alabama State
First-year Grambling coach Rod Broadway brought back 45 players from spring and added about 45 more in preseason camp. And he still isn’t sure what he has, with the Tigers opening at Alcorn on Saturday.
“I don’t know how good we’ll be, because I don’t know the competition (in the SWAC), Broadway said. “I don’t know that we’re consistent enough to be a good football team now. I don’t know what these kids are going to do, actually.
“We’re trying to change the culture here. &hellip When you’re 3-8, you create some bad habits. It’s a job. You can tell by body language. It’s amazing what one bad year can do.”
Broadway is unsure who will take the place of RB Ab Kuuaan. Four freshmen — Cornelius Walker, Frank Warren, Kenny Batiste and J.R. Spivery — are among the possibilities.
“Once they get in the flow, they’ll be good running backs, not great, not bad, just good running backs at this point,” Broadway said.
Prairie View
Senior running back Arnell Fontenot, who ran for the game-tying and game-winning touchdowns in the Panthers’ 26-23 overtime stunner over Southern last season, won’t be with the team this season because of “personal issues medical issues,” said PV coach Henry Frazier III Monday, though the Houston Chronicle reported earlier this month Fontenot is academically ineligible. The plan is Fontenot will redshirt this season, Frazier said.
Fontenot ran for 483 yards and three TDs last season with Kerry Wilson, a senior last year, going for 498 yards and four TDs.
Sophomore Calvin Harris, who ran for 422 yards and one TD last season, is No. 1.
Sophomore Donald Babers, a nonqualifier last season, is second. Babers will also be a return specialist. Ben Boyd is third.
“We won’t give up on the kid, but we have some ample backups,” Frazier said. “I don’t think we’ll miss a beat.”
Alabama State
Sophomore quarterback T’Chelpio Woods, who started at times last season and came off the bench to throw two TDs in a loss at Southern, is academically ineligible, first-year coach Reggie Barlow said.
Junior Alex Engram, a former Western Michigan transfer who threw for 787 yards and six TDs last season, is the starter.
Freshman Devin Dominguez and junior college transfer Chris Mitchell competed with Engram in preseason camp.
Jackson State
Division II power Delta State is on the schedule Saturday, but JSU coach Rick Comegy said he wants to start playing the big powers in the state, Mississippi State and Ole Miss, for bigger game checks.
“A lot of schools in our conference have hooked onto that,” Comegy said. “I’d sure like to be part of that, so we don’t get left behind.”
Notes
The conference has 11 television games, including Sport South, with three of those Saturday: Southern vs. FAMU in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge (ESPN Classic), Texas Southern vs. Prairie View in the Labor Day Classic (tape-delayed on ESPNU) and UAPB at Valley (CSTV). Four more televised games will be seen by Sept. 22. Interim SWAC Commissioner Duer Sharp on Monday confirmed, when the conference goes to a seven-game mandate starting next season, conference schools can still play each other in games that won’t count toward SWAC standings.
THE RATING GAME 1. Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Wallace and the best 1-2 punch of tailbacks in the SWAC
2. Jackson State
Started 5-1 but finished 1-4 in first year under Comegy
3. Alabama A&M
Bulldogs lost a lot on offense, but Kelcy Luke is a solid QB
4. Southern
Has all the tools, except on offensive and defensive line
5. Grambling
New coach Broadway doesn’t sound excited about his team
6. Miss. Valley State
Seemed to building toward run, but that didn’t happen
7. Alcorn State
See above, except Braves have been on same treadmill yearly
8. Alabama State
RB Peck is solid, but still has new coach, rebuilding to do
9. Prairie View
Lost a lot of close games, but still losing many games
10. Texas Southern
TSU coach Wilson, 4-29 in three years, has a veteran team
Wallace and the best 1-2 punch of tailbacks in the SWAC
2. Jackson State
Started 5-1 but finished 1-4 in first year under Comegy
3. Alabama A&M
Bulldogs lost a lot on offense, but Kelcy Luke is a solid QB
4. Southern
Has all the tools, except on offensive and defensive line
5. Grambling
New coach Broadway doesn’t sound excited about his team
6. Miss. Valley State
Seemed to building toward run, but that didn’t happen
7. Alcorn State
See above, except Braves have been on same treadmill yearly
8. Alabama State
RB Peck is solid, but still has new coach, rebuilding to do
9. Prairie View
Lost a lot of close games, but still losing many games
10. Texas Southern
TSU coach Wilson, 4-29 in three years, has a veteran team
THE BIG GAME
Southern vs. Florida A&M
2 p.m. Saturday at Legion Field in Birmginham, Ala., on ESPN Classic
One of the series that defined black college football is back, with the schools playing for the first time since 2001 and beginning a five-year run with a nationally televised game. Though today’s players don’t have a feel for the rivalry and the teams have lost the swagger they had in the late 1990s, having the rivalry back is fun.
Southern vs. Florida A&M
2 p.m. Saturday at Legion Field in Birmginham, Ala., on ESPN Classic
One of the series that defined black college football is back, with the schools playing for the first time since 2001 and beginning a five-year run with a nationally televised game. Though today’s players don’t have a feel for the rivalry and the teams have lost the swagger they had in the late 1990s, having the rivalry back is fun.
-- Joseph Schiefelbein
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