from THE EDITOR Dwight Floyd: South Carolina State @ FAMU Football Game Four Preseason Pick

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- This will be FAMU’s first home game of 2016 and it will be a good one.

Last year the South Carolina State Bulldogs rushed for over 350 yards and led by 16 points at the half. FAMU could not muster any kind of offense and gave the Bulldogs multiple opportunities to pound the FAMU defense. This year the Bulldogs will face a better prepared Rattler team with more talent on offense.

I give FAMU the advantage in the passing game. Should the Rattlers find a way to slow down the Bulldogs rushing game and force them to pass, don’t be surprised to see a close game or even a FAMU win.

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XULA students, athletes assist in #BRflood cleanup

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana students helped this past weekend with recovery from recent catastrophic flooding in the state.
     
Thirty-one XULA students — including athletes Elex Carter, Seth Jackson, Innocent Kukulu, Lucas Martin-Julien, Wesley Pluviose-Philip and Chris Ward from men's basketball and Clarke Allen, Keairez Coleman, Katelyn McMorris and Darrick Williams from men's and women's track and field/cross country — traveled to Baton Rouge Saturday. They volunteered their time to gut flooded houses or work at a Red Cross shelter.

Photos
     
"It was easy for me to volunteer," said Jackson, a Baton Rouge resident whose house did not flood. "I wanted to help my city."
     
Jackson and teammates spent nearly four hours in a flooded home. Their duties included cutting open walls to a height of four feet and carrying wet furniture to the curb. There was no air conditioning, and the volunteers more masks and gloves to avoid contact with mold.
    
 "It was pretty hot in that house," Jackson said.
     
But Jackson left the house feeling good about his group's efforts. "I wish we could have stayed and helped a little longer," he said.
     
Jackson took advantage of another opportunity Sunday when he helped with cleanup at a cousin's house in Baton Rouge. XULA's fall semester began Monday.
     
According to reports from the Baton Rouge Advocate and NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune, the flooding across the southern part of the state from the second weekend of August has left at least 13 people dead and thousands more displaced. More than 120,000 households have applied for federal recovery assistance through FEMA, and 2,817 people remained in shelters overnight Sunday. FEMA announced Tuesday the approval of approximately $127 million for for flood survivors.

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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S.C. State Releases Strong 2016-17 Men's Basketball Schedule

ORANGEBURG, South Carolina -- The South Carolina State men's basketball team has unveiled its 2016-17 schedule, a slate that includes 10 home games and 13 non-conference opponents.

"This by far is the toughest schedule that we have had in some time," said Bulldog head coach Murray Garvin." We face 12 opponents that participated in postseason play last season, including Syracuse University, which made the Final Four.

"Our non-conference schedule will give our fans a chance to see us compete against some in-state SEC & ACC powers such as South Carolina, Clemson and Southern Conference member Furman University, as well as make trips across the country against some outstanding teams. Garvin stated that last season's success has elevated our program to new heights and in turn the competition level of this schedule is second to none."

The Bulldogs will open the season on Nov.11 against Wichita State in Wichita, Kansas, before hosting St. Andrews University in the home opener Nov. 14 at Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center.

SC State will be on the road for the next four games, starting on Nov. 18 at intrastate South Carolina in Columbia, SC. The Bulldogs then head north to take on ACC foe Syracuse Nov. 22 in Syracuse, NY, before moving to Worcester, MA to take on Holy Cross Nov. 25 and Monmouth University Nov. 26 before returning home on Nov. 30 to face Voorhees College.

The Bulldogs then embark on a six-game road trip, beginning in the sunshine state Dec. 6 at another ACC opponent, the University of Miami in Miami, Fla., before heading southwest to College Station, TX to take on perennial SEC contenders, the Aggies of Texas A&M (Dec.10). Coach Garvin's team then return to the Palmetto State for showdown's with Clemson University (Clemson, SC) on Dec. 13, followed by a matchup at Furman (Greenville, SC) Dec. 16.

Prior to a holiday break, SC State heads west again for a Dec. 22 contest against St. Mary's College in Moraga, CA. Garvin's squad closes out 2016 with a New Year's eve Dec. 31 contest against Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, Fla. in the team's final non-conference appearance.

The Bulldogs open conference play with a three-game road swing at Coppin State in Baltimore, MD on Jan. 4, before heading to Virginia to meet Hampton Jan. 7 and Norfolk State Jan. 9.

A Jan. 14 match-up with Savannah State will kick off a four-game MEAC home stand for SC State, followed by a Jan. 16 encounter against Bethune-Cookman, a Jan 21 clash with Delaware State and Jan. 23 contest against Morgan State.

SC State returns to the road Jan. 28 against Maryland-Eastern Shore in Princess Anne, MD, and Jan. 30 at Howard in Washington, DC, before coming home to Orangeburg to host Norfolk State on Feb. 4 and Hampton on Feb. 6.

February 11 and 13 will see the Bulldogs on the road against North Carolina Central in Durham, NC and rival North Carolina A&T in Greensboro, NC, respectively. SC State closes out its regular-season home schedule Feb. 18 against Coppin State and Feb. 25 against Florida A&M, the home finale, before the regular-season wrap-up on the road Mar. 2 at Savannah State.

"We look at this schedule, not as a great challenge for our
basketball team but more as a great opportunity to showcase our program and South Carolina State University on a National level." Garvin noted. "Of course, MEAC play will be as fierce as it always has been and we look forward to seeing Bulldog fans at the games from around the country."

The 2017 MEAC Basketball Championships will be held March 6-11 at the Norfolk Scope Are
na.

For more information on SC State Athletics visit www.scsuathletics.com or call the Office of Athletic Media Relations at (803) 536-7060.

SOUTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS

S.C. State must survive early challenges to make run at another MEAC title

ORANGEBURG, South Carolina -- South Carolina State coach Buddy Pough joked that he should fire the person responsible for the Bulldogs’ 2016 football schedule.

Of course, that would mean Pough would have to dismiss himself.

The Bulldogs, coming off a 7-4 season and a respectable 6-2 mark in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, should be league contenders this fall.

That is, if they can survive the first month of the season.

With the university and athletic department financially strapped, Pough had to schedule what in the business are known as “money games” to generate revenue for the cash-starved football program.

Not only do the Bulldogs open the season with three straight games against FBS teams, including Clemson, but all three games are on the road.

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from THE EDITOR Dwight Floyd: FAMU vs. Tuskegee University Football Game Three Pre-season Pick

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- I would like to say that Tuskegee playing FAMU is like FAMU competing against Miami, but that is not quite the case.

Tuskegee is ranked in Division II polls and has the potential to beat a Division 1 team. It has happened before!

Tuskegee will not beat FAMU 53without FAMU’s help though. Should FAMU come to the game focused and ready to go all out, they should, that is, they are supposed to win this game.

At halftime Tuskegee will attempt to beat FAMU at their own game. The one thing that the Tuskegee band won’t be able to do is mimic the FAMU sound. No one will leave the stands at halftime and FAMU will take the show.



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'I'm having a blast': Former Spurrier QB coach Mangus likes life with S.C. State program

ORANGEBURG, South Carolina -- For more than a month now, G.A. Mangus has been making the trip from his home in Columbia to Orangeburg for South Carolina State football activities and practices.

The quarterbacks coach for Steve Spurrier at South Carolina for the past seven seasons has yet to get a signed contract with the SCSU program, but Bulldog head coach Buddy Pough says he is sure the contract will be taken care of by the athletic department in the near future.

“I think he’s (Mangus) right on the verge (of being under contract),” Pough said with a smile after a recent workout. “Maybe in the next month or so we will have it all straight; maybe by the time we play game three, we will have it all straight.”

The same goes for former South Carolina and Philadelphia Eagles defensive back Cory Peoples, most recently cornerbacks coach at Charleston Southern. Both Mangus and Peoples were positioned directly behind the backfields of their respective sides of the ball during the entirety of the first scrimmage of the preseason at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium.

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ULM Know A Foe: Southern

MONROE, Louisiana -- The countdown begins today with the Southern Jaguars.

The 2016 season opener marks the first ever meeting between ULM and Southern. ULM is 6-0 all-time against SWAC schools, including a 3-0 records against Southern’s archrival Grambling. The Warhawks last faced a SWAC opponent in 2013 when they beat Grambling 48-10 inside JPS Field at Malone Stadium.

A look at 2016: Coming off last season’s disappointment, Odums returns a relatively talented roster by SWAC standards. Tillery led the conference in rushing with 1,211 yards and 14 touchdowns. The Jaguars return seven total starters on offense including Howard, who finished third in the SWAC in passing with 2,292 and 16 touchdowns to four interceptions. New defensive coordinator Trei Oliver has a capable pass rusher to work with in Tiller, who led the SWAC with 10 sacks. Johnson was an all-conference selection last season at defensive back. Southern was once again prohibited from going through spring practice this offseason due to NCAA sanctions related to poor APR scores.

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Camp is over, but QB competition still alive at JSU

JACKSON, Mississippi -- Training camp is over at Jackson State.

The quarterback competition marches on for another day though.

Tony Hughes declared all five of the Tigers quarterbacks are still in the mix to be named the starter. JSU's season opener at UNLV is just 10 days away.



"We'll make an announcement before the first game (who) that will be," Hughes said. "We'll sit down as a staff and make that decision, but right now we have two weeks to make that (call)."

LaMontiez Ivy, who is is the incumbent at the position and the most experienced option, started throughout the spring and was the first-team quarterback in JSU's first scrimmage.

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Gulfport’s Cleveland Ford finds right fit at Alcorn State

GULFPORT, Mississippi -- Expectations are high at Gulfport — both externally and internally.

With the Admirals projected to be a Class 6A contender again this season, quarterback Cleveland Ford felt it best if he went ahead and ended his recruitment. Sunday, the senior athlete committed to Alcorn State over interest from Texas Tech, Southern Miss, South Alabama, Louisiana-Lafayette, Georgetown and others.

“I just have a lot of things going on and I wanted to get it out of the way so I could focus on football and the season coming up,” Ford said. “I just felt like it was time. I didn’t want to prolong it and have them think I wasn’t as interested as I really am.”

Ford’s athleticism was on display a year ago when he passed for nearly 1,000 yards and seven touchdowns, and rushed for another 231 yards and three touchdowns.

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Howard Women's Basketball Releases Stout 2016-17 Schedule

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Howard University women's basketball team has finalized its schedule for the 2016-17 season, as announced by head coach Ty Grace on Monday. The 28-game slate includes matchups with three teams that made the 2016 NCAA Tournament.

The 2016-17 regular season opens with a seven-game road trip, beginning at Brown on Friday, Nov. 11. The Bison will head to face West Virginia on Nov. 15, who made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Howard will spend the rest of November making stops at Michigan (11/18), Cornell (11/22), Cincinnati (11/26) and St. Francis (N.Y.) (11/30).

After a Dec. 4 game at Robert Morris, the squad will have its 2016-17 home opener on Saturday, Dec. 10 when it welcomes Mount St. Mary's to the Nation's Capital. The Bison travel to NJIT on Dec. 16 before coming back home to face UIC on Dec. 19. The team will have a quick turnaround to play at Fairleigh Dickinson (12/22) then hosts Vermont (12/30) to close out the year and non-conference schedule.

Howard commences Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) action with a showdown against Florida A&M on Jan. 4 in Burr Gymnasium. The Bison will play home-and-home series against Maryland Eastern Shore, North Carolina Central and North Carolina A&T, the 2016 MEAC Champion. The rest of the conference schedule will be single-play matchups.

The Bison will play their final home game on Feb. 27 when it battles UMES before closing out the regular season on the road against Delaware State on Mar. 2.

"I felt we did a good job putting together a diverse schedule," said Ty Grace. "While we are playing some of the best teams in the country in West Virginia and Michigan, we are also giving ourselves an opportunity to be competitive and pick up some wins in our non-conference action. I think our non-conference schedule will definitely help us prepare for the MEAC season, which I know will be tough once again."

The 2017 MEAC Tournament will be played from Mar. 6-11 at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Va. 

       

Full schedule listed below:

HOWARD BISON WOMEN'S BASKETBALL 2016-17 SCHEDULE

DATE	OPPONENT	LOCATION	TIME (ET)
11/11/16	at Brown	Providence, R.I.	TBA
11/15/16	at West Virginia	Morgantown, W. Va.	TBA
11/18/16	at Michigan	Ann Arbor, Mich.	TBA
11/22/16	at Cornell	Ithaca, N.Y.	TBA
11/26/16	at Cincinnati	Cincinnati, Ohio	TBA
11/30/16	at St. Francis (N.Y.)	Brooklyn, N.Y.	TBA
12/4/16	at Robert Morris	Pittsburgh, Pa.	TBA
12/10/16	Mt. St. Mary's	Washington, D.C.	2 p.m.
12/16/16	at NJIT	Newark, N.J.	7 p.m.
12/19/16	UIC	Washington, D.C.	2 p.m.
12/22/16	at Fairleigh Dickinson	Teaneck, N.J.	TBA
12/30/16	Vermont	Washington, D.C.	2 p.m.
1/4/17	FAMU*	Washington, D.C.	TBA
1/14/17	at UMES*	Princess Anne, Md.	TBA
1/16/17	Coppin State*	Washington, D.C.	TBA
1/21/17	at North Carolina A&T*	Greensboro, N.C.	TBA
1/23/17	at North Carolina Central*	Durham, N.C.	TBA
1/28/17	Savannah State*	Washington, D.C.	TBA
1/30/17	S.C. State*	Washington, D.C.	TBA
2/4/17	at FAMU*	Tallahassee, Fla.	TBA
2/6/17	at Bethune-Cookman*	Daytona Beach, Fla.	TBA
2/11/17	at Hampton*	Hampton, Va.	TBA
2/13/17	Morgan State*	Washington, D.C.	TBA
2/18/17	North Carolina A&T*	Washington, D.C.	TBA
2/20/17	North Carolina Central*	Washington, D.C.	TBA
2/25/17	at Norfolk State*	Norfolk, Va.	TBA
2/27/17	UMES*	Washington, D.C.	TBA
3/2/17	at Delaware State*	Dover, Del.	TBA
3/6-11/17	MEAC Tournament	Norfolk, Va.	TBA

Home Games in BOLD

*Denotes MEAC Contest

by Candace Johnson, Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations

HOWARD UNIVERSITY BISON ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS

Here's how Southern's Jose De Leon made himself a prized L.A. Dodgers prospect

OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma — Jose De Leon knew little to no English. He was a little pudgy — baby fat as some called it — and he was in a new world.

A freshman in his first semester at Southern University in 2010, De Leon was wide-eyed and struggling. Baton Rouge was different from Isabela, Puerto Rico, and he missed his family.

“I was lost,” De Leon said.

Then he stepped into the classroom of an aging history professor who possessed a deep Southern accent. Many students dropped the class, citing an inability to understand the professor.



De Leon moved closer to the front of the room.

“I was going to stay there because if I end up understanding him I could understand anybody,” De Leon said. “By the end of the year I was understanding.”

That was the first sign of what De Leon could do if he applied himself.

Four years later, De Leon became a “teacher’s pet” in a baseball classroom, taking the necessary steps to rise from the 24th-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers to a prized pitching prospect currently in Triple-A Oklahoma City.

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from THE EDITOR Dwight Floyd: FAMU at Coastal Carolina, Game 2 Preseason Pick

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- Coastal Carolina is going to score. All of last year there was not a team that seriously slowed their offense. In the three games they lost they scored 21, 25, and 38 points.

The last time FAMU played them in 2014, the Rattlers gave the game away with interceptions and fumbles, but then again causing turnovers is a part of Coastal’s game. This time they will be playing a Carolina team that is ranked 16th in preseason polls.

The biggest advantage that Coastal Carolina will have is a successful offensive scheme they have been using for four years now. They also have solid running backs and big receivers. Coastal will have a new defensive coordinator to try to shore up their defense.



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ASU Up-Tempo Scrimmage Results in Big Plays on Both Sides of Ball

LORMAN, Mississippi -- Junior LENORRIS FOOTMAN threw for two touchdowns and ran for one to highlight the Alcorn State University football Purple vs. Gold preseason scrimmage Saturday in front of a strong turnout at Jack Spinks-Marino Casem Stadium.

The new scoreboard was officially turned on for the first time and operated for the entire scrimmage. Fans got their first look at instant replays in addition to enhanced video and score content.

The scrimmage featured the entire offense wearing gold, playing against the entire defense wearing purple. A total of six touchdowns and two field goals were registered by the gold after two 15-minute halves.

The fast-tempo game also saw the defense record eight sacks, six pass break-ups and three quarterback-hurries.

Footman ended with 158 yards passing. He split time at quarterback with redshirt-freshman NOAH JOHNSON who also threw for 97 yards and two touchdowns.

The scoring began with a 40-yard field goal by freshman COREY MCCULLOUGH. The first touchdown came on a 15-yard pass from Footman to junior NORLANDO VEALS.

Also catching touchdowns on the day were junior JALEN WALKER and sophomore CORBIN JOHNSON.

The biggest play of the scrimmage came on a 40-yard spurt by junior ARRON BAKER who busted through the middle and could not be caught. Baker finished with 80 yards on seven carries.

Defensively, TERRY WHITTINGTON shined with 6.5 tackles including 3.0 sacks. Junior BRADY SMITH was also all over the field with 7.0 tackles and a pair of pass breakups.

Sophomore LASHAUN EALEY got his hands on the lone interception of the contest in the closing minutes.

On special teams, McCullough and fellow freshman VARRICK DYER JR. split duties between kicking and punting. Dyer drilled a 45-yarder on his lone field goal attempt.

Freshman Tavares Johnson broke-off a pair of big kick returns including a 53-yarder and a 47-yarder. Junior CHARLES HUGHES returned punts, with his longest of the day resulting in a 32-yarder.

Alcorn has two more weeks to prepare for its 2016 season opener as it takes on Bethune-Cookman in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Sunday, Sept. 4 at noon (CT) as part of the MEAC/SWAC Challenge on ESPN.

ALCORN STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS