Thursday, September 2, 2010

NSU is in it to win it against Rutgers

TONIGHT'S GAMES BY COMPUTER ON ESPN 3 (http://espn.go.com/espn3/index)

07:30 PM FOOTBALL NCAAF Norfolk State vs. Rutgers (Exclusive)
07:30 PM FOOTBALL NCAAF Florida A&M vs. #13 Miami (Exclusive)

NORFOLK, VA - It's too bad talking points don't go up on the scoreboard. Norfolk State might have been a favorite tonight. Heading into the team's 7:30 p.m. season opener at Rutgers, the Spartans are talking a good game, expressing belief that they're capable of beating the odds. They might be the only ones thinking that way.

"Even the students don't think we can win," senior offensive lineman Markeece Preston said. "They're buying into the whole I-A, I-AA thing. They think we'll get crushed."

The NSU student body has its reasons. Las Vegas doesn't set point spreads between teams at the different levels because it expects the teams to be so mismatched. When Appalachian State beat top-division Michigan in 2007, it was considered among the most shocking results ever.

"No one thought David would beat Goliath...

Rattlers battle Hurricanes in Sunshine State showdown

TONIGHT'S GAMES BY COMPUTER ON ESPN 3 (http://espn.go.com/espn3/index)

07:30 PM FOOTBALL NCAAF Norfolk State vs. Rutgers (Exclusive)
07:30 PM FOOTBALL NCAAF Florida A&M vs. #13 Miami (Exclusive)

The 13th-ranked Miami-Florida Hurricanes appear to be one of the best teams in the ACC heading into the 2010 season, and they will have a chance to show off their skill in Thursday's opener against the Florida A&M Rattlers.

Florida A&M, which plays its football at the Football Championship Subdivision level, was recently predicted to finish second in the MEAC standings this season behind only defending conference champ South Carolina State. The Rattlers placed five players on the league's Preseason All-Conference First Team and three on the Second Team, so there is significant talent for coach Joe Taylor to work with. Taylor has posted over 200 career victories and is a well-respected member of the coaching fraternity, but his team is a significant underdog entering this opener.



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WSSU ready for rivalry game against NC A&T

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — With just 33 miles separating Winston-Salem State from North Carolina A&T, the two HBCU schools have had a long-standing rivalry for 49 years. To win the fifth annual I-40 Showdown has implications reaching further than just a "W." in the record books. Fifth-year senior linebacker, Juan Corders said that it is all about the bragging rights which brings the entire community into this rivalry.

"Bragging rights... bragging rights living a whole year to the next game. That's what the whole community loves: the rivalry; that's all they remember is the rivalry," said Corders. Winston-Salem State Head Coach Connell Maynor knows all too well about the rivalry. In 1987 as the starting quarterback for the Rams, he won a CIAA championship.




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After a few false starts, Howard's Keith Pough is ready to shine

For many football players, the history of the game stretches only as far back as when they first started playing. Not so for Howard linebacker Keith Pough. Pough studies players who never made a "SportsCenter" highlight, such as Jim Brown, or ones whose careers ended while he was still a toddler, such as Lawrence Taylor.

"I can't say I'm a historian of the game, but I love the game so," Pough said. "I love to watch those that came before me and who have put in so much work. I feel like I'm doing them an injustice playing the game and not being at my full potential."

Nevertheless, circumstances have prevented Pough from realizing the full extent of his talents at Howard. Entering his third season, the 6-foot-3, 225-pound redshirt sophomore has yet to play an entire season.



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Lincoln excited to be an official Division II member

LOWER OXFORD, PA — The milestones keep coming for Lincoln University football. Dormant for 47 seasons, the program was reinstituted in 2008. Last fall, the Lions notched their first shutout since 1957, and it came against Livingstone, a member of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA).

When Lincoln opens the 2010 campaign on Sept. 5 against cross-county rival Cheyney, it will mark it's first as an active NCAA Division II program. And less then two weeks later, head coach O.J. Abanishe's squad will make its return as a full fledged member of the CIAA for the first time since dropping football in 1960.

"Now that we are Division II, we will be able to play for a conference championship and the guys will be able to play for weekly and postseason honors," said Abanishe, who sports a 4-16 mark through two seasons. "Our guys are really pleased about it.


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New FCS head coaches ready for debuts

Mississippi Valley State University Delta Devils' Coach Karl Morgan makes debut in Montgomery at Alabama State University Hornets on Saturday.

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Seventeen of the 19 new head coaches at FCS schools will make their debuts during the first week of games, including two facing off against each other on the first night of action Thursday.

Dale Carlson will make his debut for Valparaiso on Thursday at Western Illinois, where Mark Hendrickson has taken over. Hendrickson was the Leathernecks' offensive coordinator the last 11 seasons and went 5-10 as acting coach over parts of the past two seasons.

Both programs were 1-10 last season and have never met before.

On Saturday, another pair of first-year head coaches will square off. Julius Dixon, the interim coach at Savannah State, will take his squad to Georgia Southern, where former assistant coach Jeff Monken has returned to try to get the six-time national champion Eagles back to prominence.

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Grambling Legends to make major donation to the Eddie G. Robinson Museum

The Grambling Legends will make a donation of $10,000 to the newly opened Eddie G. Robinson Museum, honoring a coach, mentor and man who deeply influenced the group -- and the nation.

"We are very proud of the museum, to have something that represents coach in such a positive manner," said Legends co-founder James "Shack" Harris, who helped Grambling to four straight league championships under Robinson in the late 1960s.

Robinson Museum board chairman John Belton said a news conference with the Grambling Legends was held at 2 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 26, at the facility, housed in the former women's basketball gymnasium on Grambling's campus.

"They never forgot what this man meant to them, and they want others to see that. This will be one of the centerpiece donations," said Wilbert Ellis, chief local fundraiser for the museum.

The Legends group most recently held a gala Friday reception for the 2010 class of its Sports Hall of Fame at the Robinson Museum, bringing together a number of former players and co-workers who hadn't yet visited the newly opened exhibit space.

"Their involvement is tribute to a man who meant so much to so many," said Ellis, who crafted his own American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame career at Grambling. "I'm just thrilled to death about it. They still want the best for a man who deserved the best."



A 1997 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame, Robinson coached at Grambling from 1941-97 -- along the way, passing college football legend Paul "Bear" Bryant for career victories with 408. Plans to build a museum in Robinson's honor, however, had endured a series of setbacks before his death in 2007 at age 88. Within months, the University of Louisiana System agreed to house the museum on the Grambling campus, and the state Legislature approved funding.

"He led a life so extraordinary that it was worthy of a museum," said Richard Lapchick, director of UCF's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport and co-author of Robinson's appropriately named autobiography, "Never Before, Never Again."

"His achievements were unparalleled. When he retired," Lapchick said, "he had more wins than any coach in the history of Division I football, had sent more of his players to the NFL than any other coach, had a team graduation rate of nearly 80 percent in a sport in which it hovered around 50 percent nationally, and never had a player get in trouble with the law until his last and 57th year as head coach of Grambling."

The Eddie G. Robinson museum opened in February of this year, on what would have been Robinson's 91st birthday.

"We want to be part of contributing to something that honors someone who was so important to us," Harris said. "We think that it means a lot to the tradition. It's a great tribute to Eddie Robinson, and done in a first-class way. That enhances Grambling, and shows future generations how he touched the lives of so many people."

ASU lands two on SIAC preseason team as 2010 season opens Saturday

ALBANY, GA — Slow and steady wins the race. No, there aren’t any tortoises on the Albany State men’s and women’s cross country teams this year, but head coach Kenneth Taylor is stressing that saying all the same as his teams heads into its season-opening race against Troy University Saturday.

“Basically, we’re doing a lot of race-pace training,” said Taylor, who coaches both the men’s and women’s teams. “The first race is usually a shorter race, so we’re working on maintaining race pace, which may be slower than other runners’ (paces at other schools), but it’s better than (the possibility of our runners) overextending themselves.”

So despite the SIAC coaches predicting Tuesday that the Rams would finish in fifth (men) and sixth (women) in conference this year, Taylor said they’ll just focus on the track and what they have to do to improve.



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Wednesday, September 1, 2010

FAMU in the right frame of mind



More and more this week Florida A&M football players will hear about how much of an underdog they'll be when the face off with the University of Miami on Thursday night. Offensive lineman Steven Robinson has heard all of the whispering and prognosticating. He refuses to let it sidetrack him or his teammates, though.

"Every day, every other second it runs through my mind," said Robinson, a former Lincoln High School standout, who transferred from UCF. "I always think about what I have to do (because) all that stuff is premeditated. I think about it over and over but when it's in a game situation, it's time to kick butt."

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Rison sees big things for North Carolina Central Eagles

DURHAM, N.C. -- Mose Rison's poker face is pretty good considering the confidence that appears to be brimming inside the fourth-year N.C. Central football coach. Rison held his last press conference on Tuesday before the Eagles take the field for real for the first time in 2010 against Johnson C. Smith (7 p.m., Thursday night at O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium).

The hand Rison is holding looks pretty good for a breakout season for the Eagles, who are in their final year of transition up to NCAA Division I and full membership into the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. NCCU has 17 returning starters, including junior quarterback Michael Johnson and a defense stacked with players like linebacker Donald Laster and defensive lineman Teryl White.

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Quintin Richardson to Transfer from South Carolina to Hampton University

Columbia, SC -- In a prepared statement, former Gamecock offensive lineman Quintin Richardson announced that he was leaving the University of South Carolina to pursue an education at Hampton University. He called his time as a Gamecock, "the most rewarding experience of my life." Richardson said that he would continue to pursue his collegiate football career at Hampton University.

Richardson was suspended from the football team on Aug. 20, 2010, but officials with the team would not say why. Previous Coverage:Quintin Richardson Suspended from USC Football Team

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SU Jaguars casual as season nears

Here they go. When Monday morning came, full-blown game-week preparations began for the Southern football team, and the players and coaches could almost feel the first kickoff coming. They practically tingled with excitement. Right?

That long-awaited season opener in Orlando, Fla., against Delaware State. That first game under new coach Stump Mitchell. No more two-a-days. No more grunt work. The MEAC/SWAC Challenge is close at hand, and the Jaguars and Hornets play at 11 a.m. Sunday — on ESPN, no less.

Emotions ran high. Right?

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Jaguars 'excited' for game

Miles still looking for offense from offensive guru Billy Joe

Miles football coach Billy Joe has the reputation of an offensive mastermind, built mainly during an 11-year stint at Florida A&M when he employed what he dubbed the "Gulf Coast Offense." It is Joe's version of the spread attack and FAMU had great success running it. The Rattlers were one of the highest-scoring teams in the nation in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision during his tenure.

But in Joe's first two years at Miles, his offense has yet to take flight. The Golden Bears averaged only 10.8 points per game in his first season in 2008 and only 16.4 points in 2009. Predictably, Miles suffered through losing seasons, compiling records of 2-8 and 4-7.



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Speedy Lee nabs JSU starting RB job

Jackson State released its two-deep depth chart Monday, with the only surprise being B.J. Lee's placement atop the running back position. Lee, a transfer from SMU and a former Ridgeland High star at tailback, beat out a handful of competitors. So why Lee? "Great vision. Outstanding speed, and he's real tough," coach Rick Comegy said. "Speed kills."

The 5-foot-7, 185-pound sophomore beat Alfred Moreland (listed as No. 2), Tommy Gooden, Jewrad Smith, Luther Edwards and Terrence Davis for the spot. "I worked hard all summer," Lee said after Monday's practice. "We've all been working hard. We've got great backs."

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Freshman emerges as Grambling's starting QB

GRAMBLING, LA — When Greg Dillon was denied a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA earlier this month, the quarterback race at Grambling State University became wide open.

Freshman Anthony Carrothers has emerged. Generously listed at 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds, the Independence High (Charlotte, N.C.) product will make his college debut at Independence Stadium on Saturday against Louisiana Tech in the Port City Classic. "He's just made plays," Grambling head coach Rod Broadway said Monday.

Carrothers threw for 4,028 yards and 36 touchdowns for Independence High (Charlotte, N.C.) last year. He finished high school with 10,775 passing yards, second in Mecklenburg County and state history behind former University of ...

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Legacy Bowl decision off until spring

What looked like a full-speed effort toward holding the Legacy Bowl has apparently slowed down for now.

On Monday, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Commissioner Dennis Thomas said the conference's executive council is still involved in the vetting process on the viability of the joint venture with the Southwestern Athletic Conference. It now appears a final vote on whether to participate in the ESPN-sponsored postseason football game will not take place in the fall as Thomas previously indicated, but instead will be pushed to as late as March 2011.

The news comes six days after a teleconference with council members and a week after Thomas sent a response letter to ....

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TSU to start transfer Jeremy Perry at quarterback

Jeremy Perry, a transfer from Middle Tennessee State, will get his first start at quarterback for Tennessee State in the season opener Saturday against Alabama A&M at LP Field. Perry, a 6-foot-3, 215 pound, junior from Memphis, transferred from MTSU in 2008 and spent last season at TSU backing up Calvin McNairl and Dominic Grooms. He played five games and completed 12 of 36 passes for 142 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions.

"We feel that Jeremy gives us the best chance to win at this point," Coach Rod Reed said. "He has been the most consistent throughout camp, and he deserves the job. He worked for it and earned it."

McNairl, who started eight games and led TSU in passing (628 yards) and rushing (920), moved to wide receiver in the spring. Grooms, a senior from Tampa who transferred from Missouri in 2008, started three games and completed 22 of 66 passes for 279 yards, with no scores and four interceptions.



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TSU safety wants to see more offense

Statement: Delta State at Jackson State

Delta State is considered a dark-horse contender for the NCAA Division II national championship.

The 24th-ranked Statesmen can make a huge statement on Saturday at 4 p.m. against Jackson State at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson. The Statesmen are no strangers to facing Football Championship Subdivision teams. The Statesmen (5-5 last year) shocked the Tigers 27-15 in their last meeting three years ago. Jackson State, however, recovered and eventually won the SWAC championship. Delta State reached the D-II quarterfinals.

“We’re excited and ready to go,” Statesmen coach Ron Roberts said. “Last year left a bad taste in our mouths. We have a good nucleus of guys ready to erase that and compete. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”



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Q&A with Morgan State coach Todd Bozeman

Morgan State coach Todd Bozeman will have a lot of new players to work with during the 2010-11 season. Reggie Holmes, the Bears’ career scoring leader, has exhausted his eligibility, along with versatile wing Troy Smith and reserve big men Buford Foote and John Long.

Point guard Danny Smith, meanwhile, is still in school but not on the roster. And sources say guards Sean Thomas and Joe Davis are also off the team. Thomas and Davis are reportedly facing a situation similar to that of former UNLV forward Matt Shaw. Despite those departures, Bozeman has a talented group of veterans returning in addition to a promising group of newcomers. Morgan State has three scholarship freshmen on its roster...



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No 'lost season' for Savannah State

Skeptics are calling this a "lost season" for Savannah State University's football team. The Tigers will not play any games on campus. Of their 11 games, nine will be on the road because of construction to T.A. Wright Stadium. The two home games will be played at Memorial Stadium, school officials confirmed Tuesday. SSU will not play a full Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference schedule until 2011.

But to the players and coaches who have devoted countless hours preparing for this game they love, there is nothing "lost" about this season.

"There are a lot of folks that have low expectations of us," said Darren Hunter, a senior defensive back from New Orleans. "That's what they did with the Saints as well, and the Saints came out and proved them wrong. We at Savannah State University, we're going to come out there and do the same thing."

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Ricks makes change to help Stillman Tigers defense

TUSCALOOSA, AL - Heading into his senior season with the Stillman College football team, Michael Ricks isn’t sure if he can match his touchdown total from a year ago. His main goal is to prevent touchdowns. Ricks, 6-foot-2 and 193 pounds, will start at free safety for the Tigers, who begin their season on Sunday with a game against Miles College. The Labor Day Golden Classic is set to start at 6 p.m. at Birmingham’s Legion Field.

Ricks was a strong safety last season. He tied for third on the team in scoring with four touchdowns, two on fumble returns and two on interception returns. He also ranked fifth on the team with 42 tackles. “I want to get a championship in the SIAC, and I want to get a whole lot of interceptions to make my team better,” said Ricks, who was named to the preseason All-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference team. "



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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Ammons, Taylor give FAMU Rattlers' fans jolt

If you did not get the opportunity to travel to Charlotte, North Carolina this weekend for the first "Sprite Queen City Battle of Bands," we have the entire FAMU Marching 100 show here for your viewing pleasure. Just my informed opinion, the Marching 100 is in mid-season shape both in their musicality and precision marching. Finally, football season is here again!




Tallahassee, FL - During a two-hour football kickoff, Florida A&M President James Ammons declared Saturday afternoon that the Rattlers will return to their title-winning ways. Ammons proclaimed South Carolina State's dominance of FAMU will end.

"They have been around here all summer, they've performed in the classroom, they are working out and they've done everything coach and his staff have told them to do," Ammons said. "Now it's time to shake, rattle and roll."

Through all of the celebration of another season being here, the crowd took 10 seconds to be silent in memory of former band director William P. Foster, who died earlier in the day.

Rutgers transfer Brooks carries on family tradition at Morgan‎

After three separate recruiting campaigns over the span of nearly five years, Morgan State football coach Donald Hill-Eley finally has his man. Now, running back Jourdan Brooks is out to prove the wait was worth it. Once considered by many to be Ray Rice's heir apparent at Rutgers, the redshirt junior transferred to Morgan during this past offseason in search of a starting job. Hill was happy to oblige.

"He finally came on the third try," said Hill-Eley, who twice recruited Brooks out of Seneca Valley High as a linebacker. Running back, however, is where Brooks made his mark with the Scarlet Knights, racking up nearly 800 yards and 10 touchdowns in his two seasons in the Big East, including three 100-yard games.





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GSU Tigers opens with Port City Classic

Grambling's Rod Broadway seeks consistency from his team


GRAMBLING, LA — Although the Grambling State football team has survived fall practices in decent shape and is now headed into game-week preparations, coach Rod Broadway isn't convinced his team is ready for the 2010 season. "We've done a lot of things good, but not good enough," Broadway said on Saturday. "We need more consistency in the things we're doing. We'll be good for a series and not-so-good for a series."

Not that the veteran coach is worried that his Tigers will be ready to play when they open the season against Louisiana Tech at 6 p.m. on Saturday in Shreveport's Independence Stadium against.

History awaits GSU, Louisiana Tech

Louisiana Tech University is just a Terry Bradshaw Hail Mary pass away from Grambling State University. And it's a good bet if the Grambling Tiger Marching Band tried hard enough it could rattle the walls at Tech's Cottingham Hall with the rhythm of its thunderous bass and vibrant horns.

But in the football world, the 3 miles that separates these campuses might as well have been 3 million. The schools have chosen to stay clear of each other on the gridiron. History will be made Saturday in Shreveport as the Port City Classic at Independence Stadium features the first battle between "good friends and good partners."



WHAT: Port City Classic
WHO: Grambling vs. Louisiana Tech
WHEN: Saturday, 6 p.m.
WHERE: Independence Stadium
TICKETS: $20-$32; $10 (Groups of 20 or more)


In the FCS Huddle: An uplifting return and a season in doubt


Amid the many wins and losses of a season - any season - we're so often reminded that the results take a bad seat to the people playing the game.

That has been demonstrated in the Football Championship Subdivision in recent days. Amid the many announcements of who's in at quarterback and who will or won't be available for the fast-approaching season-opening games came uplifting news from Princeton and sobering reality at Grambling State involving a pair of Tigers.

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Justin Babb to Provide Offensive Spark for Savannah State



Savannah, GA - The Savannah State Tigers will rely on Senior Justin Babb to provide an offensive spark for the offense. Babb is back after leading the team in rushing a year ago. The Tigers open up the season September 4th at Georgia Southern.

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