Hornets' Love line: ASU freshman makes a quick impact on offensive front

MONTGOMERY, Alabama - Reggie Barlow figured that Damian Love would see action as a true freshman.

The Alabama State football coach couldn’t exactly pinpoint how much time or where on the offensive line the former Stanhope Elmore star would contribute.
But just a few weeks into summer training camp, the speculation halted, when Love walked on to the field at Hornet Stadium with the first-team unit at right guard during ASU’s first scrimmage last week.

“When we recruited him we knew we were going to get a good one, if he came,” Barlow said. “We felt like if he came here that he could start or play for us right away as a freshman. The kid is athletic, he’s strong, he’s smart and he loves to complete.”



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Lincoln (Pa.) Hoping To Break Through In 2012

Lincoln University senior defensive end Tim Green #51,(Fanwood, N.J./Scotch Plains-
Fanwood HS) continued to add to his list of honors as he was named to the
 USA College Football NCAA Division II Preseason All-American Team.

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania – After going 2-8 in 2011, the Division II Lincoln University football team has high hopes for significant improvement here in 2012.

The Lions, out of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, were in just about every game last year with four of their losses coming by 12 points or fewer. And they have some experience as seventeen starters are back from 2011, but they were picked to finish 11th in the 12 team CIAA.

The headlines for this team come from the defense, specifically from their wonderful senior defensive end Tim Green.

A 6’1″, 215-pound native of Fanwood, New Jersey, Green led all of Division II last season by averaging 1.50 sacks a game and that helped him become Lincoln’s first-ever Division II All-American. He also has been named to several preseason All-American teams this summer. Lincoln head coach O.J. Abanishe says Green’s dominance on the edge helps open things up for the rest of their defense.

Listen to Matt Leon’s interview with O.J. Abanishe: CLICK HERE

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Former South Carolina standout joins XU Gold Nuggets' staff

ASSISTANT COACH HANNAH LAWING
GOLD NUGGETS VOLLEYBALL

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana has hired former University of South Carolina standout Hannah Lawing as an assistant women's volleyball coach. She worked her first practice Tuesday as the Gold Nuggets prepare for their season opener next week.

This is the first collegiate coaching job for Lawing, 23, who was a varsity assistant at Heathwood Hall Episcopal High School in Columbia, S.C., in 2011 and co-head coach of the South Carolina Midlands 18s Elite club team this year.

Lawing graduated from South Carolina in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in psychology. She played four seasons of volleyball for the Gamecocks and as a senior set a school record for digs per set with 4.89.

"We're excited to have Hannah join the Xavier volleyball family," XU head coach Christabell Hamilton said. "She has collegiate experience and brings energy to our program. She fights right in with our team."

Lawing was an outside hitter and defensive specialist with the Gamecocks. She was SEC Defensive Player of the Week twice as a senior and once as a freshman. She excelled in the classroom as a two-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member and made the dean's list.

"We are very fortunate to hire Hannah to be part of our staff," XU athletics director Dennis Cousin said.

Lawing is third all-time at South Carolina with 1,334 digs and fifth with 3.35 digs per set. As a senior she posted the second-most digs in program history and the most in the rally-scoring era with 523. That year she also recorded a USC match-record 38 digs against Mississippi State. Lawing had 23 career double-doubles, including a career-high 28 kills and 14 digs in a four-set victory against Harvard in 2009.

Lawing is a Winston-Salem, N.C., native and lived there 10 years before moving to the Atlanta area. She is a 2007 graduate of Lassiter High School in Marietta, Ga.

Lawing replaces Darrilyn Broussard, who split time with volleyball and women's basketball coaching a year ago. Broussard, the associate head coach of XU women's basketball, returns for her 12th season with that program.

Xavier was 23-7 in 2011 — the Gold Nuggets' first winning season — and didn't lose a match en route to the program's first Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament championships and first appearance in the NAIA National Championship. The Nuggets will open their season Aug. 24 with matches against 20th-ranked Lindsey Wilson and third-ranked Lee in the Lee Invitational at Cleveland, Tenn. The home opener will start at 7 p.m. Sept. 4 against city rival Loyola.

Xavier is one of 38 U.S. colleges listed as a "Best Buy School" in the 2013 edition of the Fiske Guide to Colleges.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director

VISIT: XULAATHLETICS

VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA

JSU Welcomes Olympian Anaso Jobodwana Back Home

JACKSON, Mississippi - Jackson State University welcomed back JSU sophomore and 2012 Olympian Anaso Jobodwana during a congratulatory celebration on Aug. 15 in the Lee E. Williams Athletics and Assembly Center.

The event featured the Sonic Boom of the South marching band, greetings from Athletics Director Dr. Vivian L. Fuller, men's track coach Mark Thorne and David Hoard, vice president for Institutional Advancement.

A native of Eastern Cape, South Africa, Jobodwana ran for his home country during the 2012 Summer Olympics. He had the honor of qualifying for the men's 200-meter Olympic final. During the race, which included Jamaican world record holder Usain Bolt, Jobodwana finished eighth. The 20-year-old ran a personal best of 20.27 seconds.

The 2012 Olympics was the first race for Jobodwana on the world stage, but certainly not the last. He's expected to continue as one of the world's top contenders in the 200 meter and is also expected to dominate national competitions as well.



COURTESY JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

TIGER TV, JSU GET READY 2012

JSU Freshmen Move In Day 2012

Hall to coach WSSU women's basketball

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina - A.G. Hall, a veteran college assistant who played basketball at N.C. Central, is the new women's basketball coach at Winston-Salem State.

Hall, who spent the past two seasons as an assistant at Bethune-Cookman, replaces Steve Joyner Jr., who left WSSU after two seasons to coach at his alma mater, Johnson C. Smith.

"I'm extremely excited," Hall, 37, said by phone Thursday afternoon. "I've been waiting for this chance to be a head coach, and I'm really looking forward to the challenge."

Athletics director Bill Hayes said that WSSU's board of trustees approved Hall's hiring Thursday morning. "A.G. is a great young coach, and we're thrilled to have him," Hayes said.

Hall also spent two seasons as an assistant women's coach at Clemson and six season's as an assistant at Providence. He played for N.C. Central in the 1990s, graduating in 1998, and started his coaching career there as a graduate assistant.

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Former Florida High star making splash for Florida A&M Rattlers

TALLAHASSEE, Florida - Going back to his days at Florida High, DeWayne Harvey had quite a reputation for making good on all of his opportunities on the football field.

When he was brought on as a back-up quarterback, he demonstrated such consistency that Florida High coach Jarrod Hickman didn’t think twice about making him a starting quarterback in his last two seasons as a Seminole.

Then in his freshman season last fall at Florida A&M, he was so effective in the few chances he got to touch the ball as a converted wide receiver that Joe Taylor and his coaching staff began to take a hard look.

Harvey gave them confirmation he could be a player of the future with a touchdown catch during a last-ditch effort to rally against Bethune-Cookman.

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