Carter finds way to Florida A&M after all

 Rattlers Head Football Coach Joe Taylor

A little more than a year ago, when Jimmie Tyson was recruiting Ravonne Carter out of Hialeah High School, Tyson saw all sorts of possibilities. Tyson, secondary coach at Florida A&M, saw a lot of Carter at cornerback, but figured he'd be the perfect nickel back. Special teams was also an option.

Tyson felt that the special relationship he'd developed with Carter meant he was on his way to FAMU. He went to New Mexico State instead. But right after the Lobos completed their second 1-11 season, Carter headed out. One of his first calls was to Tyson, who didn't hesitate to let Carter know he could come to FAMU.

"Things didn't work out as I had planned, and I felt like I needed to be closer to home," said Carter, who was a highly-touted player in high school. "FAMU was my only hope.

FAMU High grad set to make mark with Rattlers

At the urging of some parents who were watching him coach a pee-wee flag football team, George Stanley inserted his son, Jordan. Jordan was only 4 years old, but what happened next pretty much explains why he excelled at FAMU High and is hoping to do the same at Florida A&M.

"He scored a touchdown," the older Stanley said, recalling his son's first touchdown. "He was so happy, he took off running. He didn't realize that we had to finish the game. He didn't care. He was having fun."

Jordan Stanley, 5-feet-9, 190 pounds, is having even more fun nowadays for two reasons: First, he is playing his favorite position at running back; and second, he'll be playing the next three seasons as a Rattler. He's already making an impression in spring practice as he competes against Eddie Rocker and LaVante Page for a spot on the depth chart.

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S.C. State football expects even more improvement

Coach Buddy Pough's Bulldogs enter the 2010 pre-season ranked seventh in the nation in the FCS standings.

After two years of playing on an elite level, South Carolina State must replace key personnel entering this fall. But with the state of his program, coach Buddy Pough doesn't believe in using the 'R' word. "I don't think we can talk about rebuilding anymore," he said. "Our program's at the point now where we put some guys in some different spots and we continue to move on. We've got to be better. "Every year, regardless of who we lose, we expect to improve."

Pough and men's basketball coach Tim Carter spoke Thursday night to the university's Greater Augusta Alumni Chapter at Cafe 209. Pough has given the alumni reason to proudly wear their garnet and blue. The Bulldogs have won the past two Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championships with a combined 16-0 league mark. The team also went 10-3 and 10-2 the past two years, respectively, with losses to Appalachian State in the first round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs each year.

The Bulldogs entered the 2009 postseason ranked seventh in the nation in the FCS standings. They also ended the year No. 1 in three polls that rank Historically Black Colleges and Universities. "We want to be one of the top Championship Subdivision programs in the country," Pough said. "We don't necessarily want to be just a top HBCU program. We are working really hard to be with the Appalachian States and Georgia Southerns. Hopefully, we'll continue to improve."

S.C. State must replace its top two running backs, top two wide receivers and top tackler from last season. The Bulldogs return their entire offensive line, entire linebacking corps and senior quarterback Malcolm Long. The team will begin the 2010 season with a challenge. After losing at South Carolina in 2009, the Bulldogs open Sept. 4 at Georgia Tech.

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NSU Announces 2008-09 Track & Field Recruiting Class

NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk State University men’s track and field coach Kenneth Giles announced Friday the addition of 11 athletes to his program, which has won the last three MEAC indoor and outdoor titles.

Giles signed an array of accomplished sprinters, hurdles, middle distance specialists and throwers who he feels will help NSU remain among the top track programs on the East Coast. The recruiting class includes two national champions and five state champions.

Leading the list of sprinters to join the Spartans is Sean Holston (Fairfax, Va./Robert E. Lee HS). Holston, a 2007 high school graduate who originally signed with Florida State, has enrolled at NSU and plans to join the track team this season. He won the 200 and 400 meters at the 2007 Nike Indoor National Championships. Holston clocked a meet-record time of 47.12 seconds in the 400, the seventh-fastest time ever run by a U.S. high school athlete. He went on to run a PR of 46.47 outdoors last year at the Southern Track Classic.

Holston, the 2007 Virginia (VHSL) outdoor champion in the 200 and 400, has also run personal-best times of 21.07 in the 200 and 10.59 in the 100. ,

“Sean could be the next Chris Brown for us,” Giles said, referring to the NSU All-American and current Olympian for the Bahamas. “Simply put, Sean is one of the top recruits we’ve ever had here.”

Sean Holston may re-write the MEAC record book before his career is over at NSU. In the 200 meter race on this clip, Spartans signee Thomas Speller finishes second to Holston for a 1-2 finish. Look out MEAC!


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Suber, Coppin earn return trip to NCAA tourney

Photo: Senior guard Rashida Suber, #22 flips layup for winning shot in the MEAC Championship game with .04 second left in game for Lady Eagles victory.

RALEIGH, N.C. - Rashida Suber saved Coppin State not once, but twice in the final 22 seconds yesterday.

Moments after the senior barely avoided a five-second violation on an inbounds play with a crucial timeout, Suber came out of a scramble at midcourt with the ball, leading to a game-winning, belief-defying scoop shot that beat North Carolina A&T, 72-70, in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference women's championship game.

Just like that, Coppin escaped overtime and went from crying to, well, crying. "They were tears of joy," Suber said, a black MEAC championship hat adorning her head, after she delivered Coppin (22-11) to the NCAA tournament for the third time in four years.

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Hampton's Taylor sets example in MEAC

Photo: Hampton's head coach earns respect from DSU, other rivals

By KRISTIAN POPE, The News Journal

DOVER -- Joe Taylor's first job in college football, as an assistant coach at Eastern Illinois in 1978, was just as important as the one he holds now.

Maybe that is the secret behind Taylor's quiet rise through the college ranks.

"I guess I was told, wherever you are is supposed to be the best job," Taylor said.

A virtual unknown to the mass-consuming audience of college football, the head coach at Hampton University is showered with great esteem within his own sect.

Winners of three-straight Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championships and seven playoff bids, Taylor's Pirates have placed the bar where few programs can reach.

Delaware State coach Al Lavan, who brings his team to meet Taylor's Pirates at 1 p.m. Saturday at Armstrong Stadium in Hampton, Va., holds reverence for Taylor's exploits.

The Hornets' only victory over a Taylor-led Hampton team occurred in 2004, in Lavan's first season at DSU. Taylor is 11-1 all-time against the Hornets.

"Teams that do that, it's not an accident," Lavan said. "Joe Taylor for a number of years has had his program running at a high level, and that's impressive."

Morgan State head coach Donald Hill-Eley, who also worked as an assistant under Taylor, echoed the sentiment.

"It's hard to do anything in life three times," Hill-Eley said. "You just have to respect who they are. It doesn't happen haphazardly."

In 15 seasons at Hampton, Taylor has directed his team to eight conference titles (CIAA and MEAC). He owns a 194-73-4 record with the third most wins among active Division I-AA coaches.

Taylor, who attended Western Illinois, began his career in the mid-1970s as a physical education teacher around Washington, D.C., before he was offered a chance to coach the offensive line at Eastern Illinois.

In 1984, he took over at Division II Virginia Union and took the program to three division playoffs.

Taylor took over then-Division II Hampton in 1992 and has been on a roll ever since. Since Hampton classified as Division I and joined the MEAC in 1995, he has won 102 games against league opponents.

Taylor takes it all in stride.

"We've been blessed in this profession," Taylor said. "At Eastern Illinois, we won a Division II championship, so that was great. Virginia Union, we won some championships there. But you just wake up every day and take what the Lord gives you and try to make the best of it. Maybe when I'm sitting in the rocking chair I'll look back on it."

Taylor has been long rumored to be an overdue candidate for a I-A job. He said he's spoken with some I-A leadership, but the positions were never enough to warrant leaving the Pirates.

Last year, Taylor relinquished his role as Hampton athletic director to concentrate on football. That move started rumors of his pending retirement. But Taylor laughed off any notion of retiring soon.

"I look at the guys who retired, and they don't last long," Taylor said. "As long as your health is good and people want you around, you just enjoy what you're doing and you don't look that far ahead."

Without question, Taylor's success in recent years has allowed him to lure many transfers from upper-division programs and high school recruits who wouldn't normally go to Hampton.

Five Pirates players last year were invited to the NFL combines. Even the best players Delaware State has offered in recent years, linebackers Kenny Kern and Sam Smith, were talented but failed to be included in the type of consideration Taylor's players regularly receive.

Despite losing 14 seniors to graduation, Hampton remains in a position to win a fourth championship. It enters Saturday's game with a 3-0 record, all against MEAC competition.

While no one wants to be Taylor, coaches want the secret to his successes.

"His program is much more attractive to attract high-level people," Lavan said. "The consistency in the acquisition of personnel is critical at a certain point. The ability to acquire personnel and use them in that context, that's why guys win."