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Showing posts with label Alcorn State University Braves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alcorn State University Braves. Show all posts
LORMAN, MS — After dropping their first conference game of the year last week against Texas Southern, the Alcorn State Braves are looking to get back on the winning track.
But it sure isn’t going to be easy as the Braves will head to Grambling, La., to face the only undefeated team in SWAC play, the Grambling State Tigers.
After losing their first game of the season to Football Bowl Subdivision team Louisiana Tech, the Tigers (4-1, 4-0 SWAC) have reeled off four victories in a row, including a 22-7 victory over Alabama State last week.
GRAMBLING, LA — The Grambling State football team aims to make some improvements in discipline and alignment when it hosts Alcorn State for a 2 p.m. kickoff Saturday at Robinson Stadium.
The Tigers are 4-1 overall and a perfect 4-0 in conference play, but they are also one of the most penalized teams in the conference. GSU ranks ninth out of 10 SWAC teams in yards penalized, averaging 85 penalty yards per game.
Rod Broadway knows how Earnest Collins and Alcorn State feel right about now - that is, life with a true freshman quarterback. Collins and the Braves (3-2, 2-1 SWAC) travel to the conference's lone undefeated team Saturday, Broadway's Grambling Tigers (4-1, 4-0). They do so with QB Brandon Bridge, who graduated from high school about six months ago.
Broadway knows all about that. True freshman Anthony Carrothers leads the Tigers' offense. "We know a little bit about what they're going through," Grambling's fourth-year coach said.
A preview of the SWAC championship game could take place this weekend at Eddie Robinson Stadium. Alcorn (3-2, 2-1 travels to Grambling (4-1, 3-0) on Saturday at 2 p.m. in a battle of East and West Division leaders. Both have a shot at reaching the league title game on Dec. 11 at Birmingham’s Legion Field. Alcorn is tied atop the Eastern Division with Jackson State.
The Tigers must stop Alcorn quarterback Brandon Bridge, who’s given the Braves stability at the position.
Halfway through an entertaining season in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, Alcorn State is tied for first place in the Eastern Division. Grambling sits atop the West. The two teams meet at 2 p.m. Saturday in what could be a doozy of a cross-divisional game.
It could also serve as a showcase for two young-but-dynamic quarterbacks: Grambling’s Anthony Carrothers and Alcorn’s Brandon Bridge. Of the SWAC’s 10 regular starting quarterbacks, Carrothers and Bridge are the only true freshmen.
1. GRAMBLING Tigers are looking more and more like the class of the West. 2. TEXAS SOUTHERN Besides Grambling, TSU is only team in control of its own fate. 3. JACKSON STATE QB Therriault ranks 3rd in nation in passing with 1,772 yards. 4. ALCORN STATE Braves can vault to top with win at Grambling this week.
WHAT WENT RIGHT: The running game. Grambling ranks 13th in the country in rushing, with more than 232 yards per game. Senior Frank Warren has been a workhorse. He ranks second among FCS running backs with more than 146 yards per game — less than 6 yards behind nation's leader Preston Brown (Tennessee State). Defensively, the Tigers are very impressive considering the unexpected loss of Christian Anthony, the reigning SWAC Defensive Player of the Year. The team's only loss came to FBS member Louisiana Tech.
NATCHEZ, MS — Beau Pré Country Club has seen its fair share of golf tournaments over the years, but this week marked the first time it hosted a college tournament.
The Alcorn State River City Invitational took place at Beau Pré Monday and Tuesday, with six teams participating: Alcorn State, Texas Southern, Prairie View A&M, Alabama A&M, Mississippi Valley State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
The Braves men finished fourth, shooting 805 as a team. Alabama A&M placed first with a score of 613, followed by Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 643 and Prairie View A&M with 673.
Soldier Field in Chicago is the unlikely site of this year’s matchup between Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State. The rivals clash on at 5 p.m. in the Windy City because the Delta Devils’ home, Rice-Totten Stadium, is under renovation and will be unavailable this season. Valley (0-2) has struggled through two games.
“Things have jolted me, but I’m not knocked off track,” Delta Devils coach Karl Morgan said. “I knew the limitations when I took the job.” Alcorn coach Ernest Collins doesn’t have a problem with playing in Chicago because the Braves (1-0) can attract recruits. “It will be great experience for the players to go out in an NFL stadium and play,” Collins said. “We’ve got a big alumni base in Chicago; it will be great for Chicago alums to see us play on their home turf.”
LORMAN, MS — Because of NCAA rules, Alcorn State head football coach Earnest Collins is only allowed to have limited contact with his players until Aug. 4. Because of this, Collins defers to the Braves’ strength and conditioning coach, Lavell Williams, in keeping his team busy during July. And Williams is taking his experience as a former coach with Kansas, Texas Tech and the Dallas Cowboys, and using it to get the Braves in peak physical condition for the upcoming season.
“At this point in the summer, conditioning is the main thing. We’re doing strength and conditioning together, but focusing on conditioning,” Williams said. “The reason for that is that these guys have to be out in the heat. We want to make sure they can go at 100 percent without their muscles being bogged down.” That way, by the time the fall rolls around, muscle endurance won’t be an issue, Williams added. “That’s the main reason why we’re concentrating on conditioning, after we concentrated more on strength (closer to) the beginning of the summer,” he said.
Lorman, MS - On the college circuit, the feeling at Alcorn State is completely different than it was this time last year. While last year, the Braves were coming off a messy coaching change and 2-10 season, this year there is hope as coach Earnest Collins led his team to a surprising second place finish in the SWAC East division and a 14-7 victory over archrival Jackson State in the Capital City Classic.
Alcorn has some good things going for it this season, most notably a more favorable schedule. Instead of opening their season on the road against Bowl Subdivision teams Southern Miss and Central Michigan, the Braves open their 2010 season at home against NAIA school Langston. They then take a week off before beginning SWAC play against Mississippi Valley State at Soldier Field in Chicago.
The Braves do have to replace all-everything quarterback Tim Buckley, but do return their top receivers Edward Johnson and Terrance Lewis and their entire stable of running backs, as well as several key defensive starters.
GRAMBLING, LA — The Grambling women's basketball team took down Alcorn State 82-74 on Monday. It was GSU's second win in a row and fourth in five games. Secrett Anderson (transfer from Florida A&M) came off the bench and had a game-high 35 points for the Lady Tigers (8-12, 5-6 Southwestern Athletic Conference). The forward also had a game-high 11 rebounds. In large part to Anderson's play, GSU had 38 points in the paint. The game was tied eight times, but GSU separated itself late in the second half. GSU went on a 9-3 run with 8:56 left in the game. The Lady Tigers had a 34-30 lead at halftime and extended it to 10 — their largest of the game — with 2:02 left in the game. Alcorn State dropped to 13-7 and 7-3 in the SWAC.
Chicago Bulls guard Lindsey Hunter, a SWAC Hall of Famer who played basketball at Alcorn State and Jackson State, is defying the odds. The average NBA career is just five years, but Hunter is in his 17th season. Only Shaquille O’Neal, in his 18th season, has been in the league longer. This season, the average NBA player is 27.71 years. Hunter celebrated his 39th birthday on Dec. 3 and is the oldest player in the league.
The Detroit Pistons used the first of their back-to-back first round picks to select Hunter 10th overall in the 1993 NBA Draft, one spot ahead of University of Tennessee guard Allan Houston. Everyone else in 1993 draft class has moved on. Most notably No. 1 pick Chris Webber is an analyst on TNT’s NBA telecasts; Houston works in the New York Knicks’ front office, and Sam Cassell, the 24th pick, is an assistant coach with the Washington Wizards. Not Hunter, even though he said two years ago that he planned to retire at the end of the 2007-08 season. “I say that every year,” says Hunter, who is in his second season with the Bulls. “The biggest reason (for continuing to play) is I love the game. I really love the game of basketball.”
LORMAN, MS — Alcorn State has extended the contract of head football coach Earnest Collins by three years. The Braves (3-6, 3-4) sat alone in first place in the Eastern Division midway through the season after being picked to finish last. Alcorn couldn’t hold on, but a win against Jackson State gave the program three wins for the first time since 2006 when the team finished 6-5. Collins coached the Braves this season on a one-year deal, following the firing of former coach Johnny Thomas and weeks of turmoil within the program.
“We are delighted that Coach Collins will continue to lead the Alcorn State University Braves football program,” said Mrs. Brenda T. Square, interim director of athletics. “He and the entire football staff share the University’s vision for excellence and they care about the welfare of our student-athletes both on the field and in the classroom.” In 2008, Collins served as the defensive coordinator/associate head coach for the Braves. Prior to joining the Braves’ staff, Collins spent a year coaching secondary for the University of Central Florida, where the Knights ranked third in the C-USA defensive statistics.
I’m sure most Alcorn State fans remember what was going on with the football program about this time last year. To put it mildly, it was chaos. Seven assistant coaches were fired without the knowledge of the head coach. Then, after the head coach threatened to sue the school, the assistants were reinstated, and then the head coach, Ernest Jones, was fired himself. Through all of the turmoil, one man stood out and was left with picking up the pieces and trying to rebuild what had been torn down. That man was Earnest Collins. Collins, was the defensive coordinator under Jones and was named interim head coach after Jones was fired.
Collins might have only been just that, an interim, if some senior football players hadn’t met with Alcorn State President George Ross and convinced him to make Collins the head coach on a permanent basis. So Collins was given the job full-time, but only received a one-year contract, which put him in a tough situation from the outset. Most coaches don’t operate on one-year contracts, and schools usually extend a coach’s contract before it comes down to the last year because they don’t want the coach to be seen as a lame duck.
JACKSON, MS — When the Alcorn State Braves scored two quick touchdowns in the opening six minutes of the first quarter, most observers probably assumed their game against Jackson State Saturday would be a high-scoring one. However, the Alcorn State defense wound up being the story of the game, as the Braves did not score again after the quick 14 points. The Braves defense held the Tigers to negative 12 rushing yards on 38 attempts, and tallied eight tackles for a loss, en route to a 14-7 win in the Capital City Classic at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Jackson State managed only one touchdown, a 38-yard pass reception by Anthony Mayes with less than two minutes left before halftime. Braves head coach Earnest Collins said his team felt like it had something to prove in terms of its rushing defense. “It was a challenge for our defensive guys,” Collins said. “We’ve been getting the ball run on us for the last couple of weeks. I’m so thankful that the Lord blessed me to have a coordinator like Zach Shay, because his temperament is, he wants to go, go, go, go, go. I knew that, at some point in time, he would get these guys going again.”
Tray Rutland's collegiate football career ended Saturday on the turf of Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium. The Jackson State senior came off the bench in the first quarter but wasn't able to stop a 14-7 Alcorn State victory. The Capital City Classic, however, won't be the last time JSU fans can watch the strong-armed, 6-foot-3 lefty. Rutland plans to join the baseball team in the spring and pitch for coach Omar Johnson. In the meantime, Rutland will go down as one of the most talked about players since coach Rick Comegy took over the program. He was a highly-touted transfer out of Mississippi State but couldn't beat out Jimmy Oliver in 2007. He started most of 2008 and led JSU to a second consecutive SWAC Championship Game.
This season was supposed to be his time to shine, but he was benched in the first game and didn't return to the starting lineup until the fourth week. Inconsistency prompted his return to the bench in the seventh game against Mississippi Valley.
Alcorn State coach Earnest Collins stood in the middle of the field at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium, rain falling from the sky and chunks of ice resting on his head. As an announced 16,429 made their way out of building wet and cold, Collins wasn't bothered at all. Maybe that's because he had just been hit with a celebratory Gatorade shower and was being handed a trophy for a 14-7 win over Jackson State in the Capital City Classic, ending a two-year run by the Tigers. "I'm kind of at a loss for words," Collins said. "We started preparing for 2010 this week.
Attendance: 16,429@ Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium, Jackson, MS
Southern University senior wide receiver Juamorris Stewart might have said it best following the Jaguars 48-42 win over Alcorn State on Saturday night. “Anything can happen in the SWAC,” Stewart said. “We’ve got to come out every week and play our best.” Southern had just built a seemingly comfortable 20-point fourth-quarter lead only to have Alcorn State rally for three late scores. As things turned out, Southern couldn’t breathe easy until Evan Alexander recovered an onside kick with 19 seconds left.
The play put a cap on a wild finish that seemed improbable early on as both the Southern and Alcorn State offenses took their time heating up. “We had to find our rhythm and chemistry on the field,” Southern center Ramon Chinyoung said. “Of course, in the second half we made a lot of adjustments. We knew what we could and couldn’t do, and that’s how we were victorious in the second half.”
Southern University Coach Pete Richardson had to work to the last 10 seconds to pull-out the victory over Alcorn State.
So when Byron Williams darted up the right sideline, broke a tackle near midfield and broke loose for a 91-yard kickoff return that gave Southern a 20-point lead over Alcorn State in the fourth quarter Saturday night at A.W. Mumford Stadium, what, exactly, was he thinking? “I was like, ‘Yes, it really hurt ’em.’ But I didn’t really pay attention to the clock,” Williams said. “They had a lot of time to get the ball back and score.” And the Braves scored. A lot. As the final minutes came to a close in this Southwestern Athletic Conference opener, the Jaguars had to hold on for dear life as Alcorn erupted for four touchdowns in a rally that just fell short in a 48-42 thriller.
Alcorn State senior quarterback Timothy Buckley didn’t want to leave Southern’s campus with a loss. Neither did his offensive mates, or first-year coach Earnest Collins Jr. Don’t get this misunderstood. Though Alcorn was outscored 100-0 in its first two games, its opponents were Football Bowl Subdivision foes. On the road. Against fellow Football Championship Subdivision foe Southern (3-1, 1-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference), Alcorn (0-3, 0-1) put together a performance that would have made former quarterback Steve McNair proud. And if the Braves could have gotten another defensive stop or sustained another offensive drive, his five-touchdown performance may have been enough to win. Instead, his Braves fell 48-42 Saturday at A.W. Mumford Stadium.
First quarter
SOUTHERN — Juamorris Stewart 11 pass from Bryant Lee (Josh Duran kick) at :11. DRIVE: 6 plays, 40 yards, 1:55. KEY PLAYS: SU goes for it on fourth-and-6 at the Alcorn 25, converting when Lee hits Stewart on a stop route. One play later, Stewart gets a key block from wideout Corey Cushingberry and hops into the end zone. Southern 7, Alcorn 0.
After missing two games and sitting on the bench for the first half of Southern’s 48-42 victory over Alcorn State, strong safety Gary Chatman finally got back on the field. But he didn’t do it at strong safety. Chatman, a starter at drop linebacker the past two years, returned to his old position during the third quarter of Saturday’s wild game, and he did so out of necessity. SU’s linebacker corps was already thin heading into this game, thanks to a handful of minor injuries and a virus that spread through the unit.
Drop linebacker David Daye didn’t dress out because of flu-like symptoms. Then, during the game, linebackers Marcus Clark missed time because he was getting re-taped, and André Coleman stepped out with an apparent injury to his left arm. In stepped Chatman, who’s still recovering from a sprained ankle, which he suffered in the season opener at Louisiana-Lafayette.
Attendance: 16,940 at Mumford Stadium, Baton Rouge, LA
HATTIESBURG, MS - Austin Davis directed the Southern Miss offense with efficiency Saturday night against Alcorn State, finding everyone of his playmakers with ease in the first game of the season. With his biggest target, DeAndre Brown, standing on the sideline in jeans, Davis picked apart the Alcorn State defense as every key player on the Golden Eagles offense had several opportunities with the ball in their hands.
"What Austin has done is he's doing a better job of managing the offense," coach Larry Fedora said. "He's got a fresh understanding of what we want him to accomplish. He's going to take the open receiver because he's reading the coverage to see where it should go." Southern Miss cruised to a 52-0 victory over the SWAC team from Lorman before a record crowd of 36,232 at M.M. Roberts Stadium.
First-year Alcorn State head football coach Earnest Collins Jr. has much better memories from his first visit to Roberts Stadium than the ones he and his Braves carried back to Lorman on Saturday night. In 2007, Collins was defensive backs coach for Central Florida when the Knights left Hattiesburg with a Conference USA victory over Southern Miss. Saturday night was a completely different story, as the Golden Eagles struck early and often, handing the Braves a 52-0 thumping before the largest crowd in stadium history - 36,232 - in the season opener for both teams.
"I'm a realist," said Collins, who was associate head coach/defensive coordinator for the Braves last season. "The first part is, we didn't execute like we should have. The second part is, to put it bluntly, we were outmanned." Collins paused, offering a possible third part.
Roars reverberated at Roberts Stadium Saturday well before the University of Southern Mississippi and Alcorn State University lined up in the historic first meeting between the intrastate rivals. Damion Fletcher’s picture, looming from the big board over the south end of the stadium, revved up the Black and Gold faithful every time. The U.S. Army’s parachutist team turned the crowd into children, with eyes turned to the sky and fingers pointing at the smoky, red swirls following the Black Daggers descent into the stadium.
But the most poignant applause came during a video tribute to the late Steve McNair, the Mount Olive native who rose to national prominence while quarterbacking the Braves and whose summer football camp was an annual fixture on the USM campus. McNair, who went on to become a standout in the National Football League with the Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens during a 13-year career, was shot and killed on July 4 in Nashville. Thousands attended a memorial service a week later at USM’s basketball arena, Green Coliseum.
LORMAN, MS — With Alcorn State’s baseball season coming to an end with a loss in the SWAC Tournament championship game last Sunday, one might think that coach Willie “Rat” McGowan could finally take it easy. After all, McGowan did announce his retirement last month and has coached his final game in the ASU dugout. But McGowan’s retirement doesn’t take effect until June 30, and the coach is still working hard until then.
“I’m recruiting and trying to find some ball players,” McGowan said on Wednesday. “We’ve got some good kids coming in. I’m going to be coaching until my last day. I want to leave the Alcorn baseball program competitive for the next coach. I think the team we’ll put together will be able to win a championship.”
Coach Willie "Rat" McGowan #25, won 720 games with the ASU Braves.
And that is something McGowan’s final Alcorn team almost did. The Braves lost the opening game of the SWAC Tournament to Texas Southern before winning four straight games to advance to the championship game. However, the Braves lost to Southern 12-10 to bring down the curtain on McGowan’s 40 years at the helm of the Alcorn baseball program.
On the last day of what he later called the greatest weekend of his life, Southern shortstop Jesse Olivar woke up with puffy eyes and sore muscles. Actually, he didn’t wake up at all. He couldn’t sleep. Throughout his young life, Olivar had never won a championship — not in Little League, not in junior high, not on summer teams, not ever. Now he was close.
“I was so excited to play,” he said. “I was already tired from the night before. I took a bath and tried to stay loose. Then I got a massage, so I could come out in halfway good shape.” On Sunday afternoon at Lee-Hines Field, near the end of a wild, emotional Southwestern Athletic Conference baseball tournament, Olivar found himself at the center of the storm.
It was ironic: At the climax of the Jaguars’ 12-10 slugfest of a win over Alcorn State — one that capped a wild ride to the SWAC title and clinched a berth in the NCAA tournament for SU, not to mention that elusive first ring for Olivar — his defense helped seal the deal.
