Football Gameplan's FCS Kickoff 2016 MEAC Season Preview

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Simmons has Prairie View A&M on rise

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Better sooner than later.

Willie Simmons didn’t put a time frame when he’d turn Prairie View A&M into a serious SWAC contender, but did so in his first season as head coach as he led the Panthers to an 8-2 record.

“The thing I told the team in our first-team meeting was that we’ll be successful when everyone buys in,” Simmons said Friday at SWAC media day. “I said, ‘I don’t know when that will be. It might this year. It might be next year. It might be five years down the road,’ but I said when everyone in this room buys in to what we’re trying to build here, we’ll be successful. They bought in last year.”

Now the former Clemson quarterback looks to lead Prairie View to its first conference title since 2009. Riding a six-game winning streak that includes a win over two-time defending SWAC champion Alcorn State, the Panthers have been picked to win the SWAC West this season.

Prairie View was picked to finish fourth last year, but went 8-1 in conference play with loss coming to SWAC West champion Grambling. The Panthers haven’t lost since under the 35-year old Simmons.

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SWAC coaches, players call for change after recent shootings

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Brian Jenkins didn’t hesitate to say how his players have been affected by the recent fatal shootings involving black men and police in Louisiana, Minnesota and Dallas.

“You’d be surprised how many of our young people are actually scared,” the second-year Alabama State coach said at SWAC Media Day last week. “They’re actually scared. No one should have to live in fear.”

Jenkins is one of many in the Southwestern Athletic Conference who expressed concern about the recent events that have provided a serious reality check about what has always been an issue in America.

“To have to drive around and immediately become frightened if you see blue lights, that’s a hard way to live, but that’s happening in this day and time,” Jenkins said. “Why is it happening? We don’t know. How do we stop it should be our main thing.”

Grambling senior safety Guy Stallworth’s outlook on the situation is simple, yet heartfelt and poignant.

“First the world needs to understand no matter what color you are, you’re still a human,” he said. “White, black or blue. Everyone is still a human.”

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WTXL Road Trip: Florida A&M Is Lifting Big Weights And Hoping For Big Results

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- Milton Overton, Jr's accomplished quite a bit in first year as Athletic Director at Florida A&M University. The men's basketball team's postseason ban was lifted, and football can participate in spring practice starting in 2017.

Overton also brought several ideas from where he came from- the University of Alabama. One of those ideas? Parker Brooks, the new Director of Strength and Conditioning for the Rattlers, and Brooks has big goals when it comes to lifting big weights.

"I don't have to wear a suit," laughed Brooks as to the biggest perk to his job. "I can wear sweatpants and a gym shirt. I get to work out with the strongest dudes in Tallahassee. It doesn't get much better than that!"



Coming from where Brooks has been, that's saying a lot. He arrived in January from Alabama, where he spent six seasons grooming the Crimson Tide, and he's taken that elite level of play and brought it to Tallahassee.

"Speed is king," he said. "We do a lot of Olympic lifting, so we're running the same program and the strength and conditioning that Alabama does. They trust in the process because they've seen the results."

The Rattlers are hoping those results, transfer to the football field. FAMU's coming off a 1-10 2015 campaign, one they're ready to avenge, and it all starts in the weightroom.

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Lincoln’s Legends & Legacy: Lincoln product Henry Lawrence (FAMU), Manatee County’s most successful NFL player

Through the Tunnel: Henry Lawrence earned All-America status as a junior at Lincoln Memorial High but was benched as a senior at Manatee High School because of Race.

PALMETTO, Florida -- Henry Lawrence’s life depicts the plight of the Lincoln High football program and how the players used camaraderie to overcome adversity.

A NFL first-round draft pick and three-time Super Bowl winner with the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders, Lawrence is the most successful professional football player Manatee County ever produced.

First, he had to conquer the effects of racism that almost derailed his career in high school and cost him significant money as a professional.

The offensive lineman played on the last Lincoln High football team in 1968. That year as a junior, he earned first-team All-American honors as a two-way lineman who played defensive end, tackle and tight end.

Integration came the following year and nearly the entire Lincoln team came to Manatee High to play the 1969 season. Most wound up on the bench and many quit. The coaching staff at Manatee was not prepared for the new era and treated the Lincoln players as second-class citizens not good enough to warrant playing time.

Lawrence was a standout defensive end who could terrorize quarterbacks and a person who believed in standing up for his rights regardless of the personal consequences.

After three games, he went to head coach Jack Mackie and explained his concerns about how the black players were being treated. The response: He was benched for the rest of the season. At 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, Lawrence was replaced by an 155-pound white player at defensive end.

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Tennessee State Ebo Ogundeko Named Media Preseason Player of the Year, Tigers Picked Sixth

NASHVILLE. Tennessee - The Tennessee State football team was picked to finish sixth in the Preseason Media Poll for the Ohio Valley Conference, while redshirt-junior defensive end, Ebo Ogundeko was selected as the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.

The Tigers received 60 total points, behind Jacksonville State (135), Eastern Kentucky (111), Eastern Illinois (105), UT Martin (93) and Southeast Missouri (63). TSU is picked to finish ahead of Murray State (52), Tennessee Tech (37) and Austin Peay (19).

Tennessee State is coming off their first non-winning season since 2011 after finishing 4-6, 1-6 in the OVC. Head coach Rod Reed enters his seventh season and will rely on 65 returners from last year's team, including six offensive and eight defensive starters.

Ogundeko collected 52 tackles in his first season with the Tigers after transferring from Clemson. The redshirt-junior registered 10 tackles-for-loss and five sacks, while forcing a fumble and picking up three quarterback hurry’s. The Brooklyn, N.Y. native was the lone Tiger to earn First Team All-OVC honors for in 2015.

The Tigers will report for fall camp on Aug. 4 in preparation for the John Merritt Classic on Sept. 3.

2016 Media OVC Preseason Football Predicted Order of Finish
1. Jacksonville State (15 first-place votes) - 135 points
2. Eastern Kentucky - 111
3. Eastern Illinois - 105
4. UT Martin - 93
5. Southeast Missouri - 63
6. Tennessee State - 60
7. Murray State - 52
8. Tennessee Tech – 37
9. Austin Peay - 19

Preseason Offensive Player of the Year: Eli Jenkins (QB), Jacksonville State
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: Ebenezer Ogundeko (DE), Tennessee State

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Baltimore's Keron DeShields (TSU) to Begin Pro Career in Italy

NASHVILLE, Tennessee -- Former Tennessee State men's basketball star Keron DeShields (Baltimore, Md.) signed his first professional contract to play the upcoming season with Latina Basket in Italy.

The guard, who is a native of Baltimore, Maryland, led TSU with 16.5 points per game during the 2015-16 season. A prolific scorer, DeShields poured in 1,110 career points during his collegiate career that included three seasons at the University of Montana before transferring to Tennessee State. He sat out the 2014-15 season at TSU per NCAA transfer rules and played his final season with TSU in 2015-16.

“Thank you to my TSU family for helping me along the way these past two years: my teammates, assistant coaches, teachers, administration, compliance and the media personnel for pushing me to be the best I can be and allowing me to be myself,” DeShields said. “I want to thank Dana Ford for letting me play my game and teaching me the importance of defense and AD Teresa Phillips and Associate AD Valencia Jordan for giving me a chance to be part of their athletic department and wear the TSU uniform with pride and dignity.”

For the Tigers, DeShields scored in double figures 27 times and had seven games with 20 or more points.

For his efforts at TSU, DeShields earned First Team All-Ohio Valley Conference honors and a place on the OVC All-Newcomer Team. He was also named NABC First Team All-District 19, BOXTOROW First Team All-America and TSU Male Athlete of the Year.

DeShields is set to begin preseason camp with his teammates in Italy on August 22 to get ready for the start of the season on Oct. 2.

“This first professional contract means a lot to me because I can now take care of my son’s wants and needs,” DeShields said. “It shows true resiliency on my end because the odds were stacked up against me my whole life coming from a city like Baltimore, but with my family, friends and mentors, I'm now a role model to our community. I can be a voice for the kid that comes from the bottom and works his way to the top and I'm not done yet.”



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