Championship quality: FAMU coach praises SCSU

Photo: FAMU Coach Rubin Carter

By THOMAS GRANT JR., T&D Senior Sports Writer

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A reporter received a quick response from Florida A&M head football coach Rubin Carter to his question regarding the offensive woes of Saturday's opponent South Carolina State.

"Don't mean a thing," said Carter during Tuesday's teleconference. "A wounded animal fights back, man, and that's exactly what I see with that team right now. They've had some injuries, some nicks and also other types of situations going on with them. But they're going to come out and they're going to fight. They have a lot of pride too and that's the one thing and not just with South Carolina State, but one thing about our conference. It's competition week in and week out."

Not only does Carter still see a championship-quality squad in the Bulldogs, but also a mirror image of his Rattlers. Both teams enter Saturday's contest sporting similar records, having played the majority of their games on the road and seen their rosters riddled by injury.

Nevertheless, Carter expects to see the Bulldogs' team which has won the last four meetings in the series since Oliver "Buddy" Pough's arrival and not the one ranked last in the conference in passing efficiency and scoring offense.

"I don't why they have been struggling," he said. "I know in the preseason, the pick was South Carolina State being on top and I don't discount that at all. They are a good football team and I know they've had some situations with players being nicked and bruised and all those other things.

"On the defensive front, their defensive line is one of the best in the conference and the offensive center (Raymond 'Duck' Harrison), he's one of the best players. He's going to be a challenge for our defensive line, our interior guys, because he'll knock your head off. They've been competing at a high level. But for whatever the reason, injuries, transition with personnel, those things do occur and it's tough to replace good players."

FAMU has also struggled with developing team continuity with a new starting quarterback and several young starters on the defensive line. In the 27-23 loss to Winston-Salem State this past Saturday at the Circle City Classic at Indianapolis, Ind., the Rattlers hurt themselves with two first-half fumbles which were turned into touchdowns and gave up 296 rushing yards.

"It was a difficult game for us," Carter said. "We didn't start out real well. We shot ourselves in the foot early in the game and spotted Winston-Salem (State) two touchdowns with turnovers down in the 'Red Zone' area and those are the types of things you can't do versus any football team. But they're a good team. They came out and I thought they executed a lot better than we did and we have to be able to be better in that area."

This was also the first game FAMU played since the abrupt departure of starting quarterback Albert Chester II. The preseason All-MEAC first-team selection and four-year starter left the team just days following the team's 18-17 victory over Tennessee State in the 19th annual Bank of America Atlanta Football Classic - a game in which Chester was pulled in the first half for senior Leon Camel.


FAMU's starting QB Leon Camel hands off ball to Freshman RB Phillip Syvester.

Chester later told The Famuan in an Oct. 5 article that health issues, including a entrapped nerve, which caused numbness, tingling and weaknesses around the arm area, were the primary reasons for his decision. He and his father, former FAMU quarterback Albert Chester Sr., also alluded in the same article to "ongoing problems" with the coaching staff stemming from a lack of communication.

Carter acknowledged those issues during the teleconference, but insisted he has an open door policy with all of his players.

"Most of the players feel comfortable with coming in and sitting down and talking and discussing what's going on with them in situations and then others don't feel comfortable about doing it," he said. "It all depends on the personality of the young man. I would have liked to have seen it occur, come in and have a conversation prior to being in a situation where you're taken out of a game and having to be replaced by another player. That creates more conflict than anything else."

At the same time, Carter is confident the Rattlers will rally behind the 5-6, 170-pound Camel, who's 21 of 54 passing for 271 yards, one touchdown and an interception.

"We have to become a football team - that's what it's all about and every player understands that on our team," he said. "We've gone through adversity before as a program and this year is no different. But the team has to come together and understand this is what it's all about. One player doesn't make the entire squad. It takes the entire team. They have to rally around the offensive side of the ball and support Leon and his effort and everybody really understanding their role and performing at a high level."

Camel does have experience against SCSU, completing 5 of 6 passes for 39 yards in last year's 28-21 loss in Tallahassee. Carter also pointed out that even when Chester was the starter, Camel took most of the snaps during practice due as Chester was often absent or late due to the classroom commitments of his major pharmacy.

"I think it will help him a great deal," Carter said about Camel. "Number one, he's played against them before and he's gotten more action than that actually last year. He played in several games where he was productive and his mobility is one of his assets and that's what he's capable of doing very well which is escaping rushes and that type. We want to get him to settle in, to understand what we want from him. I think Leon is starting to get a thorough understanding of the offense and also the different people that's around him, particularly Willie Hayward (who had seven catches for 117 yards against Winston-Salem State), who's back with us.

"The young man has a tremendous amount of pride. He's an undersized player, but he has the heart of a lion."

Although linebacker Michael McMillan did earn MEAC Defensive Player of the Week honors after tallying 12 solo tackles and two sacks against Winston-Salem State, Carter is very concerned about a run defense which has allowed 184 yards per game on the ground.

The last thing he wants to see is the Bulldogs' offense experience a revival of the "explosiveness" it's shown in the previous two meetings.

"We've been on the road for three weeks now...and now we're going into the 'Doghouse' down in Orangeburg where Coach (Oliver "Buddy") Pough always has his teams prepared. They've had some tough games that they've been playing in. I know they've been nicked and bruised similar to ourselves with some of our defensive people have injuries. But they'll come out there and fight. Coach Pough always does a great job in getting his team prepared for competition. So we know we'll have our work cut out for us, but we'll put together our best gameplan going in and keep our players up and help them to understand that we're midway through the season and we have to finish strong."

RATTLERS vs. BULLDOGS

WHO: Florida A&M (2-3, 1-2) at South Carolina State (2-3, 1-1)

WHEN: 2 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Oliver C. Dawson Stadium

TV: ESPNU (Channel 160 on Digital Time Warner Cable; Channel 609 on DirecTV and Channel 148 on The Dish Network)

RADIO: WQKI 93.1 FM (Orangeburg)