DSU opens new era of high expectations

DOVER -- The Delaware State football team hopes it will be able to begin to erase the stigma of three consecutive losing seasons when it begins a new era under coach Kermit Blount in its season-opener at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va., today.

(L) Coach Kermit Blount and (R) Derek Carter, Athletic Director

Blount, who spent 17 years as the coach of Winston-Salem State, is certainly ready to see if his Hornets are ready to respond to all of the changes in their football program since last winter.

"I'm really, really excited right now, probably a little bit of butterflies, but it's a good thing that [today] is here," Blount said. "We've been tackling each other for the past three-and-a-half weeks and I think it's time now for our guys to actually get on the field and compete against somebody else."

Delaware State and VMI are both coming off 3-8 seasons in 2010, but both have high expectations heading into a new season that kicks off at 1:30 this afternoon at Foster Stadium. This will be the first meeting between the schools.

2011 VMI Football Virtual Guide

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Georgia State hammers Clark Atlanta

Atlanta, GA - Georgia State hoped to see good things from its new quarterback, revamped rushing attack and rebuilt defense in its season opener against Clark Atlanta.

Bo Schlechter threw three touchdown passes in his first start, including two to Albert Wilson, with nary a turnover. Donald Russell led a rushing attack with two touchdowns, and the defense intercepted two passes in a 41-7 victory Friday night at the Georgia Dome.



Russell, a transfer from Kentucky, scored the first two times he touched the ball on runs of 20 and 3 yards to lead the offense. Coach Bill Curry wanted to see improvement in the area because the Panthers averaged a meager 123.3 yards per game last season.

"Donald makes a difference when he carries the ball," Curry said of Russell, who had 56 of the team's 146 rushing yards. And that difference? "I believe it's downhill running," Russell said. "Ive been taught at my previous school to get the yards I can get, that's good enough."

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Attendance: 26,273 @Georgia Dome

Chicago Classic is homecoming of sorts for AAMU's Jackson

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - Tony Jackson thought his football career was over. After Alabama A&M completed spring practice, Jackson, who has longed for a career in acting, received a call about becoming an extra in "Good Deeds," one of Tyler Perry's upcoming movies also starring Gabrielle Union.

"I jumped all over it and decided I was done with football," he said. "I was going to pursue an acting career."

After completing the project in late July, Jackson, who graduated in May with a degree in exercise science, got a chance to talk with Perry. He encouraged him to finish his football career.

"He told me if I had a year left to play, I should go ahead and play," Jackson said. "He told me acting would always be there."

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CMU opens season with a victory over South Carolina State

Mount Pleasant, MI - There are plenty of labels or mottos that can be used to describe the 2011 season opener for the Central Michigan football team. But, really, all of that is just sugarcoating what can be labeled an ugly win.

Still, for a team looking to separate itself from its 3-9 record in 2010, the Chippewas will take a win any way they can. On Thursday, it came in the form of a 21-6 win over Football Championship Subdivision opponent, South Carolina State, at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

“It was a win,” CMU coach Dan Enos said. “We didn’t play that well at times but we did what we had to do to win.” Coming into the season, Enos was hopeful to see the Chippewas (1-0) improve on their rushing offense and turnover margin.

Neither of those made a drastic step forward as CMU amassed just 88 rushing yards and lost the turnover battle 2-0, on a pair of Ryan Radcliff interceptions.The game lacked many big plays, as 20 punts were kicked in the contest and 15 possessions lasted just three plays or less.

Things started quickly for CMU, as the Chippewas scored on the opening possession, just four plays into the game. Radcliff used a play action fake and then hit junior Cody Wilson on a 45-yard touchdown pass that put CMU up 7-0 less than two minutes into the game.

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Four XU runners in top 10 at Mississippi College Opener

 Matt Pieri 

CLINTON, Miss. -- Xavier University of Louisiana got top-10 finishes from Matt Pieri and Kwame Jackson in the men's race and Zahri Jackson and Catherine Fakler in the women's race Thursday at the Mississippi College Opener cross country meet.

Zahri Jackson and Fakler, in their collegiate debut, became the first XU females to run 4,000 meters in less than 17 minutes.

Yazmin Ramirez set the previous 4K mark of 17 minutes in 2010.

Xavier edged Loyola by two points for third place out of 11 men's teams.
The Jacksons are freshman siblings.

Pieri, in his 12th top-10 finish for the Gold Rush, ran 5,000 meters in a career-best 16:55.71 to place eighth. Kwame Jackson was ninth in 16:56.61.

Grambling's Darwin Price won the men's race in 15:48.61, but West Florida had the next four finishers and won the team title with 21 points, 72 fewer than runner-up Mississippi College. Xavier scored 114 points and finished ahead of four teams from the NCAA Division I Southwestern Athletic Conference.

Results:  Men    Women  

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS

New coach Henry Frazier likes the fact his Eagles never quit in 48-0 loss to Rutgers

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Henry Frazier felt that coming to Rutgers to take on a BCS opponent would give him a good idea about the players he would be coaching in his first season at North Carolina Central.

While the 48-0 loss wasn’t what he was looking for, Frazier was more than happy with what his Eagles showed. They never quit. They played hard and the mistakes they made can be corrected in plenty of time for next week’s game against Central State in Cleveland.



“My boys played hard, they played with class and they didn’t quit,” Frazier said after the Eagles’ first game as a Football Championship Subdivision team. “From a defensive standpoint I thought we did very well. Rutgers earned every point on our defense. On offense we can’t giveaway points like we did.”

Rutgers got two first-half touchdown runs from highly touted freshman halfback Savon Huggins and the Scarlet Knights defense broke the game open with two touchdowns in a 45-second span in spoiling Frazier’s debut on Thursday night.

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Taylor warns FAMU Rattlers to keep focus against Fort Valley

Tallahassee, FL - Twenty points is all Fort Valley State managed to score in nine previous games against Florida A&M. And the scouting report the Rattlers received earlier this week doesn't indicate FVSU is a major threat turn the tables.

But the things that aren't normally in scouting reports that are major concerns for FAMU as it goes through its final days of preparation to open the season against the Wildcats. Coach Joe Taylor has been reminding his players that sloppy play would only benefit FVSU, a Division II team that will come into Bragg Stadium with Division I transfer Antonio Henton at quarterback.

Nothing would please Taylor more than to see his team score a shutout, and do it with as few mistakes as possible.

"We always tell these guys that before you can learn how to win you've got to learn how not to lose," Taylor said during the team's first weekly news conference Tuesday."

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