Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Alabama A&M notebook


Huntsville Times

Totten looking for leaders at receiver.

Alabama A&M receivers coach Roger Totten has been pleased with the play of his young group, but admits he's looking for some of them to emerge as leaders.

The Bulldogs have used five different players at wide receiver, but there are no seniors among the bunch.

The group includes seldom-used juniors Gerald Stockdale and Paul Kellum, sophomore Thomas Harris and redshirt freshmen Nate Baxter and Rashad Johnson.

"I'm trying to find a leader," Totten said. "That's something we haven't found yet ... a guy that's going to step up. Leadership is very important when you have a lot of young players.

"Sometimes, guys have to be put in leadership roles when they don't want to be or they have to be put in roles because they're in a position to be a leader. We need some of those guys to step up."

Totten said the likely candidates include Stockdale, Harris, Baxter and Johnson.

"All four of those guys have the same personality," he said. "We need them to be more involved in what we're doing and be more vocal."

Jones excited about practice:

The Bulldogs practiced for more than two hours Tuesday as they began preparations for Saturday's homecoming game against Texas Southern. Kickoff is 3 p.m. at Louis Crews Stadium.

"We had a real good practice," A&M coach Anthony Jones said. "Our guys were attentive. They had a desire to learn. We made some mistakes, but it wasn't because of a lack of effort ... it wasn't because guys weren't trying to understand. This was a good bounce back day for us."

Baxter status up in the air: Baxter, who sustained an ankle injury against Mississippi Valley State and didn't play in last week's 31-6 loss to Grambling, didn't practice Tuesday.

His status for Saturday's game against Texas Southern is up in the air.

Totten was unsure if Baxter would be available against the Tigers.

"I really don't know," Totten said. "He's still working on it ... trying to get it ready, but I really don't know."

Reggie Benson

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