Stopping TSU's run key for Southern

Baton Rouge, Louisiana - As well as Southern University's defense has played this season — Stump Mitchell, the boss himself, has conceded that the defense has given SU a chance to win almost every game — the Jaguars do have a weakness. They're suspect against the run.

Mitchell knows it. Defensive coordinator O'Neill Gilbert knows it. They've lived through it. And Southern fans have watched it, sometimes with frustration. When the Jaguars are forced to slow down a robust ground game, the results aren't often pretty.

Tennessee State gained 342 rushing yards. Prairie View gained 161 rushing yards. Mississippi Valley State: 230. Arkansas-Pine Bluff: 298. You get the idea. With that in mind, SU's next Southern (3-5, 3-3 Southwestern Athletic Conference) faces Texas Southern (3-5, 1-5) at 6 p.m. Saturday at Delmar Stadium in Houston — and if the home team can establish its potent rushing attack early, the Jaguars' bus ride home to Baton Rouge won't be much fun.

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Beyond the bluff: Southern University football legacy

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (NBC33) — The Southern University football program has seen its better days. This year the Jags are 3 and 5 leaving fans longing for the glory days. From 1993-2003 Southern football was a SWAC powerhouse winning five titles.

We caught up with members of the 1993 SWAC Championship team to get there perspective on being a champion and what it will take to turn a season around.

"2011 LSU tiger team, that was Southern University 1993 team. We had depth. We had size. We had speed. We had talent, and we had swagger," said Virgil Smothers, former Southern University right defensive end, " We knew we were good."

Members of the 1993 Southern University football team say they'll always remember winning the Southwestern Athletic Conference Championship. "We were always prepared. Preparation is no just on the field it's in the film room. We study film. We study their tendencies. We went in the weight room. We work out. We prepare like a well oiled machine," said Smothers.

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Spears makes return to SU as Alcorn coach

Baton Rouge, Louisiana -- This weekend's game will be a homecoming of sorts for so many more than the Southern University faithful. Sure alums, former faculty members, administrators and fans from all over will converge on the Baton Rouge campus on Saturday in anticipation of seeing old friends, watching a little football and hearing the SU band, also known as the Human Jukebox perform.

But as Southern (2-5, 2-3 Southwestern Athletic Conference) prepares to host Alcorn State (2-4, 1-4) Saturday at 5:30 p.m. inside A.W. Mumford Stadium, the Jaguars are also aware it will be a homecoming for several players and coaches from the visiting team.

Alcorn first-year head coach Melvin Spears, a Clinton native, grew up a short drive away from the SU campus.

Michael Roach, a Baton Rouge native and a 1985 graduate of SU, is Alcorn's assistant head coach/defensive coordinator. Roach played football at SU and later coached at the school after graduation. Until last year, he was also the head coach at Southern Lab, which is located on the SU campus.







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Roles have changed at SU ... but not expectations

Baton Rouge, Louisiana -- It’s been seven months since we’ve seen Sandy Pugh in the place she seems most comfortable: sitting on her trademark stool, clutching a whiteboard, surrounded by players during a timeout in crunch time of a women’s basketball game.

Only weeks after Southern’s season ended with a loss to Tulane in the WNIT, Pugh found herself in a new, very unfamiliar position, assuming the role of interim athletic director after SU fired Greg LaFleur.



The search for a permanent replacement continues, and Pugh has agreed to stay on as long as Southern needs her. But her extra duties meant one thing for the women’s basketball team: more heavy lifting for assistants Carlos Funchess and David Frank. Naturally, they answered the call.

Hey, vacations are overrated, right?

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Mitchell 1-for-2 on late choices

Baton Rouge, Lousiana - In the final moments of Saturday’s 22-21 loss at Arkansas-Pine Bluff last week, Southern coach Stump Mitchell had to make two crucial decisions. One of them was right on the money. One wasn’t.

With 2 seconds left, the Jaguars were down by seven points and had the ball at the UAPB 11-yard line. Southern lined up for a play, and UAPB took a timeout - ostensibly to take a longer look at the Jaguars’ offensive formation.

Mitchell then called for a throwback screen to Sylvester Nzekwe, which gave the Jaguars the touchdown they needed. The call, and the players’ execution of it, fooled the defense enough for Nzekwe to beat a lone defender and sneak inside the left pylon.

That, in turn, left Mitchell with another tough decision: Should he go for an all-or-nothing two-point conversion? Or try for the extra point and overtime?

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Busy times for Southern University’s Banks

Baton Rouge, Louisiana -- You’ll have to forgive Roman Banks if he’s a little short on sleep these days. The man has quite a lot on his mind. Originally, the first-year Southern men’s basketball coach planned on starting preseason practice Friday - but he adjusted on the fly, and with good reason.

At 9 a.m. Saturday, Banks - who finished a stellar career at Northwestern State in 1992 - will be inducted into the university’s “N Club” Hall of Fame. He and his family planned to leave Baton Rouge late Friday night, accept what Banks called “a tremendous honor,” then pack up the car and head back to SU, where the team will crank up its first practice together at 6 p.m. inside the F.G. Clark Activity Center.



“I got the call out of the blue,” said Banks, fresh from an eight-year stint at Southeastern Louisiana. “I know several years ago, when I would go up there, they would tell me my time is coming up. I guess I got voted in there when my time came up. I’m just glad to know that the body of work that you did over time, that people respect it and appreciate it.”

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Melee erupts shortly after UAPB celebrates victory over SU

PINE BLUFF, Arkansas - What started as a celebration for Arkansas-Pine Bluff after its thrilling 22-21 victory Saturday night over Southern soon turned ugly after the final play, with swinging helmets, thrown punches, fans throwing soda bottles and some coaches and players getting hit with pepper spray.

The game had a wild finish preceding the fracas.

First, UAPB took a 22-15 lead on a 14-play, 79-yard drive ending with a Dennis Jenkins touchdown run and two-point conversion pass with 1:30 remaining.

Then, Southern completed a mad drive for what looked like it would be a game-tying score. The 76-yard, seven-play drive ended with no time on the clock when quarterback Dray Joseph found Sylvester Nzewke on an 11-yard throwback screen to get the Jaguars within 22-21, pending an extra point.

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Not again, SU Jaguars: Late FG lifts Prairie View

Baton Rouge, Louisiana -- Once again, the offense fell asleep in the second half. Once again, the opponent had claimed momentum.

Yet somehow, in the fourth quarter of a pivotal, tense, 23-20 loss to Prairie View inside A.W. Mumford Stadium, the Southern football team found itself right where it wanted to be — with the football in the fourth quarter, with a chance to drive for the game-winning score. Once again, just as quickly, it all fell apart.

With 5:23 remaining in this Southwestern Athletic Conference showdown, Prairie View forced a fumble, recovered a fumble by SU quarterback Dray Joseph, then drained the clock and got a 19-yard field goal from Christopher Barrick with 10 seconds remaining, allowing the Panthers to escape Baton Rouge with a suddenly firm grip on first place in the Western Division.

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Backup QB struggles

Mitchell: Douglas ‘was different’ Saturday
Southern football coach Stump Mitchell said he thought freshman quarterback J.P. Douglas “was different” Saturday after the Jaguars’ 23-20 loss against Prairie View at A.W. Mumford Stadium, noting that Douglas was ineffective in his usual role as part-time player.

“I think J.P., he was different tonight. He was different before the ballgame,” Mitchell said of Douglas, who completed only 2 of 8 passes for 20 yards after he entered the huddle in the third quarter.

“I watch all these guys, and I don’t know if he ... He was just different. He was dancing. He was doing several things in pregame, which I just didn’t think that was him. Now, maybe I don’t know him. But I know he’s a heck of a player. I don’t know if he was right there tonight.”

A week earlier, Douglas had come off the sideline and ...



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SU offense fizzles in 2nd half

There were signs the Southern University offense is beginning to find its comfort zone during Saturday night’s 23-20 loss to Southwestern Athletic Conference rival Prairie View. Unfortunately for Southern, most of those signs disappeared in the second half when it could put up only a lone defensive score.

“I guess we’re learning that it takes 60 minutes to win the game,” offensive tackle Chris Browne said. “You have to do your job the whole game. You can’t stop.”

Southern ran 41 plays and gained 158 yards in the first half, but managed only 99 in the second half. The overall effort came up just short and squandered a defensive effort that was good enough to impress Jaguars coach Stump Mitchell.

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SU Jaguars eye chance at SWAC West lead with victory over Prairie View

Baton Rouge, Louisiana - Setting aside his whistle and practice plans for a moment, Stump Mitchell played the temporarily role of salesman Tuesday afternoon.

The second-year Southern football coach made an aggressive pitch to fans, encouraging them to get fired up for this week’s home game against Prairie View. Mitchell’s team has given them one good reason to buy a few tickets.

“It’s a special weekend because of the situation we find ourselves in,” Mitchell said.

Thanks to last week’s 28-21 win at Mississippi Valley State, the Jaguars (2-3, 2-1 Southwestern Athletic Conference) trail Prairie View by only a half-game in the Western Division. Southern can leapfrog the Panthers (3-2, 3-1) into first place with a win this week. The teams meet at 6 p.m. Saturday in A.W. Mumford Stadium.




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Hawkins knows Southern University has to get back up

Baton Rouge, LA - What was it that Muhammad Ali, Vince Lombardi and Rocky Balboa used to say? They each phrased it a little differently, but the line always went something like this: There’s no shame in getting knocked down. The shame comes when you don’t get back up.

Charles Hawkins knew that. Southern University’s junior wide receiver has known it for a while now. So last weekend, after Tennessee State safety Joseph Wylie leveled him for a second time in the Jaguars’ ugly season-opening loss, leaving Hawkins on the ground with stabbing pains in his chest, rib cage and back, the young wideout knew the deal.

Eventually, he had to get back up. And eventually, he got back in the game.

At 6 p.m. Saturday in A.W. Mumford Stadium, when the Jaguars (0-1) open Southwestern Athletic Conference play against Alabama A&M (0-1), they’ll try to do the same.

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This season to test Southern University fans, Mitchell

Baton Rouge, LA - Covered in sweat, physically spent and anxious to wrap up a long preseason, Southern football players gathered around Stump Mitchell near the 20-yard line on the south end of A.W. Mumford Stadium.

There, they took a knee. There, they listened as their 5-foot-8 coach delivered a fiery post-scrimmage speech — a speech intended to fire up the Jaguars for the week that lay ahead. This week, he told them, the season arrives. This week offers a chance for everyone to see how far they’ve come.

“These guys will be ready,” said Mitchell, whose team faces Tennessee State in Nashville, Tenn., at 6 p.m. Saturday, more than ready to forget about last year’s gruesome 2-9 record. “We’ve got some guys that are mature — more so than we had last year. And we’re just excited that (the season) is here.”

It is, without much doubt, a pivotal one for Mitchell, who enters the second year of a three-year contract.



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Fan Day celebrates Southern Jaguars

Baton Rouge, LA - For Lucy Minor, hearing the familiar and welcome sounds of the Southern University Marching Band’s drum line as she drove toward Mumford Stadium on Saturday meant only one thing: “It’s football season,” she said. “And we are in the football spirit.”

Minor was among the hundreds of fans who braved the heat Saturday to attend the university’s 2011 Fan Day. Fan Day is a free event aimed at getting Jaguar loyalists geared up for the approaching season with opportunities to meet the players and coaching staff, enjoy tailgating and see performances by the university’s “Human Jukebox.”



This year’s Fan Day was held in conjunction with the Jaguars’ final scrimmage, offering spectators a glimpse of what to expect from this year’s team. Christopher Jones, assistant athletics director for media relations, said the officials aligned the festivities with the scrimmage because there are so few home games this season.

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Search committee for Southern University A.D. named

Baton Rouge, LA - Southern University’s 10-person committee to search for an athletic director will be chaired by Doze Butler, Southern Chancellor James Llorens said Tuesday.

Butler is the interim dean of Southern’s College of Agricultural, Family and Consumer Sciences. He was recently appointed to the NCAA’s Champions/Sports Management Cabinet, which is a group that oversees drug testing and education, NCAA rules and Olympic sports issues.

Southern is beginning a search for a new athletic director at a time when the department is dealing with funding deficits, student-athlete graduation standards and off-the-field issues.

Former Southern Athletic Director Greg LaFleur was fired in April after being arrested in Houston on a misdemeanor prostitution count. LaFleur is currently suing the university for wrongful termination. Women’s basketball coach Sandy Pugh is serving as the interim athletic director.

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Despite dismal 2010, Southern University’s Mitchell undeterred

Baton Rouge, LA - Repeating this week what he’d stated several times already, Stump Mitchell said his first season at Southern University didn’t exactly go as planned.

“I wanted to win every game here last year. I thought we could have done that,” said Mitchell, whose first season as the Jaguars football coach ended with a 2-9 record — the worst in school history. “I thought we could’ve been successful. What I didn’t know was the habits of the players. Some habits, they take a long time to break.”

Mitchell enters the second year of his three-year contract with SU, and Tuesday afternoon, even Mitchell conceded he needs a notable turnaround to prove his program is on the right path. Still, Mitchell said he’s undeterred, and very happy to be at Southern.

“We needed to break some bad habits,” he said. “Most of the guys are beyond that. Most of the guys are beyond making excuses for not getting something done. And they’re starting to get things done.”

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Videographer: Bookman

Keys: Challenges ahead for Southern University, Mitchell

Baton Rouge, LA - Last summer, when Stump Mitchell boldly predicted his Southern football team could go undefeated, he didn’t exactly win over rival coaches. When his team fell disastrously short, finishing 2-9 ... well, he obviously didn’t win over the Jaguar Nation.

Still, as this summer begins and Mitchell prepares for his second year at SU, you have to feel a little sympathy. No, seriously.

Thursday afternoon, Southwestern Athletic Conference presidents and chancellors voted to keep SU and Jackson State from participating in the league’s championship football game, essentially expanding a one-year postseason ban handed down by the NCAA. Now, some three months before the season begins, Mitchell has to find a way to motivate his 18-to-23-year-old players — to give them reasons to keep fighting on every down, in a season that can’t possibly end with a title.

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Southern’s Halls sign pro baseball contracts

Baton Rouge, LA - From the moment they got friendly with a baseball glove, Frazier Hall and Cody Hall worked and waited for their shot at the pros. Now the wait is over, and their lives are speeding up.

The two Southern University seniors, both taken earlier this week in the Major League Baseball draft, have signed pro contracts and will head to rookie camps Sunday.

Frazier Hall, the two-time Southwestern Athletic Conference player of the year, was selected in the 16th round by the Los Angeles Angels. The first baseman is headed to Tempe, Arizona, with the rest of the Angels’ draftees, where they’ll take physicals and work out for a few days. Frazier Hall said after that, he’ll be assigned to Orem, Utah, where he’ll play for the Angels’ short-season Class A team.

“I’m ready to go at it,” he said. “Now that it’s here, it’s crazy.”

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SWAC issues postseason bans for low APR

Presidents Adopt Postseason Ban Policy; SWAC adheres to NCAA ban, effective immediately

Birmingham, Ala. - The SWAC Council of Presidents and Chancellors voted Thursday to adopt a league policy to prohibit any member institution subject to NCAA postseason bans to include SWAC championships and tournaments. The policy is effective immediately.

Currently, the policy prohibits Southern University and A&M College and Jackson State University from being eligible to participate in the 2011 Farmers Insurance SWAC Football Championship, and it prohibits the Southern University and A&M College and Grambling State University men’s basketball teams from participation in the 2012 Farmers Insurance SWAC Basketball Tournament.

The NCAA already hit both schools with a postseason ban because of low APR scores, which were released last month. But the SWAC football championship did not apply because the NCAA considers the game an extension of the regular season. The league does not receive an automatic bid to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

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Southern University's Frazier Hall and Cody Hall get drafted by Major League Baseball

Baton Rouge, LA --When the big day began, Frazier Hall had a few phone conversations with baseball people — scouts, advisors and the like — who gave him encouraging news. They told the Southern first baseman that when the second day of the Major League Baseball draft got under way, he might go as early as the seventh round.

Then the waiting began. And continued. And continued. Frazier Hall was about to leave for an afternoon workout when the 16th round began. He took a few more phone calls, then checked his computer. The wait was over. The Los Angeles Angels took Frazier Hall in the 16th round Tuesday, giving him the shot at pro baseball he’s always dreamed of.


Videographer: MLB, SU's Frazier Hall

Less than an hour later, the San Francisco Giants took his teammate, right-hander Cody Hall, in the 19th round. The celebration began.

Frazier Hall, Cody Hall get a shot at pro ball

Frazier Hall and Cody Hall are both off the board.

Southern’s top two baseball prospects were selected within an hour of each other Tuesday during the Major League Baseball draft — first baseman Frazier Hall going in the 16th round to the Los Angeles Angels; right-hander Cody Hall going in the 19th round to the San Francisco Giants.

Frazier Hall earned his second straight Southwestern Athletic Conference Player of the Year award this season, thanks mostly to his sparkling offensive numbers.

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KEYS: What will new Southern University A.D. need?

Baton Rouge, LA -- The football team posted its worst record in school history.

So did the men’s basketball program.

Both teams face NCAA postseason bans next year, thanks to substandard performance in the classroom.

Revenue streams have dried up. The fan base is fractured and shrinking.

This is what Southern University faces as it searches for a new athletic director. This is, obviously, a tough sell.

And the perfect man (or woman) has not yet emerged.

Interim athletic director Sandy Pugh has said that come July 1, she wants to return to “calling timeouts.” In other words, she wants to return to her full-time job as women’s basketball coach.

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Alcorn wins SWAC title

Shreveport, LA - Before Sunday’s Southwestern Athletic Conference baseball tournament championship game, Alcorn State left-hander Brent Blaum and Braves coach Barret Rey shared ties to Baton Rouge. Afterward, they shared the title of SWAC champions.

Blaum, a former LSU golfer, tossed 5 1-3 effective innings and the relentless Alcorn offense scored in double figures for the third straight tournament game as the Braves defeated Southern University, 12-6, at Fair Grounds Field to claim the tournament championship and an NCAA Regional berth.

“I never got a ring at LSU, so I finally have ...

CONTINUE

Braves Roll to First SWAC Title

Shreveport, La. - For the first time in school history, Alcorn State is celebrating a SWAC baseball championship. The Braves continued their offensive assault on the rest of the teams in the tournament with a 12-6 victory over Southern in Sunday’s championship final at Fair Grounds Field.

Tournament most valuable player, Alcorn designated hitter, Kilby Perdomo, hit his third home run in four games to give Alcorn a 1-0 lead before the Jaguars had even a chance at bat. Cameron McGriff tied the game in the bottom of the second with a solo shot of his own.

Alcorn State, however carded four run innings in the fourth and sixth, and then added two insurance runs in the top of the ninth to keep the Jaguars at arm’s length all day.

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