Rodgers-Cromartie’s success harkens back to Tennessee State Tigers glory days

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie has become one of the nation’s best cornerbacks and on Saturday, is expected to become the first Tennessee State University player taken in the first round of the NFL Draft since Ed “Too Tall” Jones and Waymond Bryant were selected 34 years ago.

“I always thought I was capable of playing in the NFL,” said Rodgers-
Cromartie. “That didn’t just come about this past year or the year before. I thought I could play on that level ever since I got to TSU and it's something I've looked forward to, like everybody does.”

Rodgers-Cromartie made big splashes at the Senior Bowl, the NFL Combine, and during individual workouts for pro scouts. The 6-2, 184 pound Bradenton, Fla., native’s last workout came Tuesday at TSU’s Hale Stadium for the New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints. The Patriots have the seventh pick and are in the market for a cornerback after losing Asante Samuel to free agency.

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TSU Express Interests In Playing Football Games at New Stadium

Dynamo Stadium Efforts Land a New Ally

The Houston Dynamo's efforts to partner with the City of Houston on a downtown soccer stadium received a boost Wednesday when Texas Southern University expressed interest in playing its home games in the proposed facility.

Photo: Texas Southern University athletic director Charles McClelland hits the ground running to improve the Tigers facilities.

"Although I officially start on May 1 at Texas Southern University and I haven't had an opportunity to look at all of the data involving the proposed stadium, TSU athletics and its football program would be excited to be able to participate and partner with all entities involved in the project to ensure Texas Southern has a state of the art football facility," said Charles McClelland, the schools' new athletics director in an interview with FOX 26 Sports.

The Dynamo and the City of Houston are in the midst of intense negotiations on the project that would be built near Minute Maid Park with an estimated cost of $110 million.

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SCSU to take on Bethune-Cookman in Lowcountry Classic

Visits to the Port City have generally gone well for the South Carolina State football team under head coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough.

On Sept. 13, SCSU will get another shot at the Bethune Cookman University Wildcats in Johnson Hagood Stadium on the campus of The Citadel. SCSU Board Chairman Maurice Washington made the announcement Thursday of the game moving from Orangeburg to Charleston as part of the fourth Lowcountry Classic.

Photo: SCSU Cleve McCoy scores over Bethune Cookman's Cedric Mason in the 2007 game at Daytona Beach, FL.

SCSU is 2-1 in the Classic, including last year’s 51-7 trouncing of North Carolina A&T. The lone loss, however, was a 45-21 pouncing by Bethune-Cookman in which SCSU jumped out to an early 14-0 lead before allowing 45 unanswered points and giving up 493 passing yards before an estimated 16,000 fans.

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Who the hell will they draft 2008: Howard DE Rudolph Hardie

While it is possible that the Colts will draft Georgia DE Marcus Howard or Purdue's Cliff Avril in rounds 2 or 3, that does not mean pass rushers in later rounds will get ignored. A player like Hardie is intriguing here, especially when you consider Indy's success with drafting late round defensive talent. First and foremost, Hardie played college ball at Howard, an African American college that does not play premiere talent. But I'm not one to put a ton of stock in the big school mentality. As I've said before, Laurence Phillips played a lot of college ball against top tier talent, and still sucked at the pro level. Vince Young and Reggie Bush played top tier college talent, and both are fading fast in the pros. Hardie's college, Howard University, runs a Tampa 2-style defense and it produced Colts starting safety (and Pro Bowler) Antoine Bethea.

Photo: #99 Howard University's Rudolph Hardie vs. Hampton University in the Real HU Game 2007. Will the Indianapolis Colts draft Hardie is the question?

The system Howard runs is a system very similar to Indy's. So, naturally, Indy's scouts take an interest when a player from Howard starts to make waves. Hardie was not present at the NFL Combine, but his production at Howard (in particular his knack for destroying QBs) and his university work out on March 11 impressed scouts. With Hardie, it is not his timed speed that wows scouts but rather his quick first step and non-stop motor. Hardie is also very stout against the run, as NFL Draft Scout notes, able to take on guards and tackles.

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Pitchers coming through for FAMU

Photo: Cirilo Manego, 5-9/165 Pitcher/IF, senior, New Orleans, LA De La Salle HS.

FAMU baseball coach Robert Lucas has done some tinkering in his bullpen that is paying big dividends as the Rattlers have reeled off four victories in their last five games.

Lucas seems to have found the perfect pitching rotation with Miguel Parga, Anthony Espin and Cirilo Manego. The trio is pitching with more consistency than they did earlier in the season to give FAMU a late-season surge in the MEAC standings.

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Norfolk State signs Casey Pomeroy to NLI

Norfolk State University has signed to a national letter of intent a star softball pitcher and second baseman in Casey Pomeroy, Fallon High School, Fallon, Nevada.

Pomeroy has been a pitcher and second baseman for the Greenwave softball for the last four years. She plans to major in kinesiotherapy at Norfolk State. She's the fourth Greenwave softball player to sign with a Division I school in the last four years. "I'm excited," Pomeroy said. "I'll pitch and play outfield and fill in wherever they need me."

There were several colleges interested in Pomeroy, including the College of Idaho and Boise State.

Video: Casey Pomeroy


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Alcorn's Steve McNair left lasting impression

Where do I start in talking about former Alcorn State quarterback Steve McNair, who announced his retirement from the Baltimore Ravens last week? The many last-second wins at Henderson Stadium and then Jack Spinks Stadium where a concert-like crowd was treated to another rock-star type performance?

Steve McNair NFL Retirement Speech


The guy who went from saying maybe four sentences a game following a game his freshman year to a go who talked with ease with the country smile when he was a senior? The guy who played through so much pain and through so many injuries that bandage companies probably lost revenue after he left town?

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FAMU signs Atlanta's Shauib Winters

The FAMU track team signed Atlanta distance standout Shauib Winters to a national letter-of-intent, the Rattlers announced Wednesday.

He won distance titles in the Southern Indoor Nationals in 2006 and 2007 while taking eighth and the AAU Junior Olympics. He also won the men's 5,000 meters at the Morehouse College Relays and took third in the men's 3,000 at the Ed Temple Indoor Track Classic at Tennessee State.

His best times are 4:30 in the 1,600, 9:14 in the 3,000, 9:47 in the 3,200 and 15:43 in the 5,000.

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HU's Langford an NFL mid-rounder

HAMPTON - — A Hampton University football player has been selected in 12 of the past 16 NFL Drafts. Barring the unexpected, defensive end Kendall Langford will add to the list. Pro Football Weekly personnel analyst Nolan Nawrocki wrote on Tuesday: "Hampton DE Kendall Langford may be available in the fourth (round), but his value could be too great for 3-4 fronts to make it that far into the draft."

Photo: NFL draft prospect Kendall Langford, #98, Hampton University.

Langford said on Thursday that he is hearing that he'll go in the fourth round or earlier. Langford, a 6-foot-6, 290-pound senior, started four seasons at Hampton and was selected to two All-American teams for his play in 2007.

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Pine Bluff’s Torii Hunter at home in L.A., continues to be a force on, off the field

Photo: Los Angeles Angels superstar Torii Hunter has provided UAPB with $500,000 in seed money to build an on campus baseball only stadium. The facility will be named in honor of Hunter, who never attended college.

Torii Hunter has won seven Gold Glove awards. He’s been named an American League All-Star twice. And the new contract he recently signed with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim makes him one of the wealthiest professional athletes in the world today.

The day the Pine Bluff native was taken 20th overall in the 1993 amateur baseball draft by the Minnesota Twins, he could’ve left his hometown and never looked back, like many athletes tend to do. But that’s not Hunter.

“I just like to help people,” Hunter said modestly. “And I’m in the position to do it.”

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Prairie View A&M selects interim AD

PRAIRIE VIEW — Prairie View A&M named Fred Washington as its interim athletic director Wednesday, effective May 1.

Washington has served as the school's vice president of administration and auxiliary services and will oversee the Panthers' athletic program in the wake of Charles McClelland's departure to Texas Southern last week.

"Mr. Washington is the right person for the job; as a part of the university's Athletic Council, he is knowledgeable about the current projects and all the program's activities," said Prairie View president George C. Wright.

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UAPB's Ivory Signs Five in First Recruiting Class

Photo: UAPB Golden Lion head basketball coach George Ivory.

PINE BLUFF - George Ivory, recently hired as University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff men's basketball coach, announced a signing class of five athletes following the start of the spring national signing period on April 16. The Golden Lions signed three high school and two junior college transfers to NCAA national letters of intent.

"We're very excited about these players," Ivory, a former UAPB assistant coach who spent the past season on the staff at Southwestern Athletic Conference champion Mississippi Valley State. "I believe we've addressed some much-needed areas in our program with these five signees."

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Hampton's Marcus Dixon prepares for 2008 NFL Draft, Looks to Escape Past

Photo: Marcus Dixon, #94 (left) intercepts pass from defensive end position against Morgan State.

Marcus Dixon, a defensive end from Hampton University, is hoping to get selected in the 2008 NFL Draft on Saturday despite his troubled past. While in high school, Dixon, then a student at Pepperell H.S. in Lindale, Georgia, had a controversial record of incidents.

Two alleged incidents got him suspended from school for a total of 10 days. In March of his sophomore year, Dixon exposed himself in a classroom, and a year later he allegedly touched a 14-year-old girl inappropriately after track practice. Neither situation was reported to the Floyd County police despite his suspension.

According to an ESPN report, the first incident was a "stupid prank", while the second incident was of Dixon and the girl "making out".

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Morgan State's Coly decides to go pro

Photo: NBA draft prospect Boubacar Coly.

Boubacar Coly, Morgan State's 6-foot-9 defensive enforcer, will forgo his last year of NCAA eligibility to pursue a pro basketball career, Bears coach Todd Bozeman said this week. Coly, who played this season as a 24-year-old graduate student, leaves as reigning Defensive Player of the Year in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. He led the MEAC in rebounds (10.9 per game) and blocked shots (84).

A native of Senegal, Coly transferred from Xavier University, where he played in only a handful of games while undergoing two knee surgeries. He earned a degree in mass communication there, and that enabled him to play his first season at Morgan in 2006-07.

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Howard U., Georgetown Agree to Four-Game Series in Football

The Georgetown and Howard football teams have agreed to a four-game series that will begin on Sept. 6 at Howard. The division I-AA schools have not met in football previously. "I have seen both schools play over the years and as a Washingtonian, I always wondered why we were not playing each other," Howard Athletic Director Dwight Datcher said.

The schools will take turns hosting the game through 2011. Georgetown, a member of the Patriot League, went 1-10 last season. Howard, a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, went 4-7.

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Morgan State Announces 2008 Football Schedule

MSU Sports Information

BALTIMORE, Md. - The 2008 Morgan State Bears prepare for another challenging schedule under 7th year head coach Donald Hill-Eley. The Bears’ season will include 7 road games and 5 games at Hughes Stadium. (Some game times have yet to be announced.)

Morgan State will open the 2008 season on the road and finish the year off with two games at home. The Bears will start the season by playing against two of their three non-conference foes of 2008. "We are excited about the challenge of 12 consecutive games in a row, said Hill, " and the opportunity to play a BCS Bowl Championship team (Rutgers)."

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Date Opponent Location Time/Result
9/6/2008 Towson Towson, Md. TBA
9/13/2008 North Carolina Central (Prince Hall Day) Hughes Stadium 4:00 p.m.
9/20/2008 * Winston-Salem State Winston-Salem, N.C. TBA
9/27/2008 Rutgers New Brunswick, NJ TBA
10/4/2008 * Bethune-Cookman (Varsity "M" Letterman's Day/Fullwood Youth Day) Hughes Stadium 4:00 p.m.
10/11/2008 * North Carolina A&T Greensboro, N.C. TBA
10/18/2008 * Howard Washington, D.C. TBA
10/25/2008 * Delaware State (Homecoming) Hughes Stadium 1:00 p.m.
11/1/2008 * Florida A&M Tallahassee, Fla. TBA
11/8/2008 * Norfolk State Norfolk, Va. 1:00 p.m.
11/15/2008 * South Carolina State Hughes Stadium 4:00 p.m.
11/22/2008 * Hampton Hughes Stadium 1:00 p.m.

Morgan State University Marching Band 2007 "Torture"

Jackson State women win SWAC Track and Field Title

NEW ORLEANS — When Pauline Banks got hired away from her alma mater, Mississippi Valley State, to take over the Jackson State’s women program, she promised progress in five years. True to her word, Jackson State won the Southwestern Athletic Conference women’s track and field outdoors championship by holding off Grambling, 182.5 points to 180, Monday at Tad Gormley Stadium, and Banks will make five years in September.

Leadrianna White, the outstanding field performer, contributed 20 points by winning the hammer throw and the shot put. “We knew it was going to be a dogfight,” Banks said. “We just kept putting numbers where we needed to be.”

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Southern University women's basketball signs 3 prospects

The Southern women’s basketball team has landed a big one in 6-foot-4 center Sabrina Scott. The heir apparent to 6-4 Fredrieka Lewis was a recruiting must and one of a trio of players signing Tuesday and Wednesday.

Duncanville (Texas) High guard Carneta Henderson and forward Chardennae McGowan of Houston also have signed with SU. That brings the current signing class to four. We’re just ecstatic. … I think we sold her the first time she tasted the crawfish,” Pugh said of Scott, from Mount Tahoma in Tacoma, Washington. “There’s nothing like a little Louisiana food to entice the average person.”

A week earlier, Southern signed 6-0 forward Kim Griffin of Southwest Mississippi Community College.

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New Jacksonville State basketball coach aims to build program with good citizens

JACKSONVILLE, AL - New Jacksonville State University men's basketball coach James Green promised to develop good players and good citizens as he was introduced to supporters and media on Wednesday. Green's contract at JSU will be for five years and is expected to pay approximately the same as the $106,000 paid LaPlante.

Video: http://www.annistonstar.com/PDF/video/042408jsu.htm

Green, who also coached eight years at Southern Mississippi, becomes the first black head coach in a major sport at JSU and just the second in any sport there. He will also be the second black men's head coach in the Ohio Valley Conference, joining Cy Alexander of historically black Tennessee State University.

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ASU basketball player dies in pickup game

Grief counselors were at Alabama State University's Joe L. Reed Acadome hours after 19-year-old Deshean Porchea died Wednesday during a pickup basketball game on campus. They will have their work cut out for them.

This is just a heartbreaking loss for us," said ASU head basketball coach Lewis Jackson about the death of Porchea, a player on the team that won the regular season SWAC championship just a month ago. "I don't think we've comprehended it all just yet." Wednesday there were many mourners, but few answers.

Porchea, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound sophomore from Rochester, N.Y., was playing basketball with a large group of students in ASU's Lockhart Gymnasium when he collapsed. He never regained consciousness.

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MEAC/SWAC Sports Main Street creates Division II site

Today, we launched a mirror site of MEAC/SWAC Sports Main Street to cover Division II HBCU sports for both the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) and Division II HBCU Independent programs.

Our objectives are to maximize exposure for these 23 member institutions and to develop a repository of current HBCU sports information on Division II athletic programs.

You may visit the new site, "CIAA/SIAC Sports Main Street" at: http://ciaasiacsports.blogspot.com/

For the 38,658 regular visitors to "MEAC/SWAC Sports Main Street," we hope you equally enjoy the CIAA/SIAC site and continue to share the information with others around the world. The MEAC/SWAC site has regular visitors from 104 countries and territories--which indicates that HBCU sports are important and have a global marketplace.

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FAMU athletics certified by NCAA

Florida A&M's athletic program, which has struggled with academic problems in recent years, received good news from the NCAA on Wednesday. The Rattlers' program received a designation of certified from the NCAA Division I Committee on Athletics Certification.

FAMU, which underwent an athletic peer review session in October, was one of 35 institutions designated as certified. Two other schools were certified with conditions. All 326 active Division I members participate in the certification process.

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The following 35 institutions were certified, including MEAC members FAMU, Morgan State and Hampton University (with conditions):

• University of Arizona
• Austin Peay State University
• University of California, Irvine
• Chicago State University
• The Citadel
• University of Connecticut
• Duquesne University
• Florida A&M University
• Georgia Institute of Technology
• Georgia State University
• University of Houston
• McNeese State University
• Morgan State University
• University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV)
• Nicholls State University
• Pennsylvania State University
• Pepperdine University
• Purdue University
• Robert Morris University
• Sacred Heart University
• St. Peter’s College
• University of South Florida
• Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
• University of Oklahoma
• University of Texas at Arlington
• University of Texas at Austin
• University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP)
• University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA)
• University of Toledo
• Utah State University
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University
• Western Michigan University
• University of Wisconsin, Green Bay
• Wofford College
• Xavier University

In addition, two Division I institutions have been certified with conditions:
• Hampton University
• New Mexico State University

This classification means that the institution is considered to be operating its athletics program in substantial conformity with operating principles adopted by the NCAA’s Division I membership. However, problems identified during the course of the institution’s self-study and the peer-review team’s evaluation were considered serious enough by the Committee on Athletics Certification to cause it to withhold full certification until those problems have been corrected. The NCAA does not divulge specific information related to an institution’s self-study or peer-review visit or specific information concerning the conditions set forth for certification.

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Green introduced as new Gamecock hoops coach

Photo: Former Mississippi Valley State University head basketball coach James Green was introduced as the new head coach at Jacksonville State University.

Jacksonville State University formally introduced James Green as the Gamecocks' new men's basketball head coach at a Wednesday afternoon press conference. Green becomes the 10th head coach of the JSU men's basketball team, taking over for eight-year coach Mike LaPlante, whose contract was not renewed at the end of the 2007-08 season.

Building teams around defense and rebounding, Green served the last three seasons as head coach at Mississippi Valley State in Itta Bena, Miss., where he guided the Delta Devils to the SWAC Tournament title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament, where they lost to top-seeded UCLA in the first round.

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FAMU's Roosevelt Kiser, Hampton's Princeton Shepherd sign with CFL Roughriders

Photo: FAMU's former WR/KR, Roosevelt Kiser runs for 72 yard TD against Virginia Union in 2004. The Fort Lauderdale, FL native was cut by the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars.

Saskatchewan Roughriders have signed import receivers Roosevelt Kiser, Princeton Shepherd and DaVon Fowlkes to one-year plus an option contracts. Financial details of the signings were not released.

“These three young men will be competing as wide receivers in training camp,” stated Roughriders’ general manager Eric Tillman. “Princeton is a former quarterback, but his height, athletic skill set and understanding of defenses will certainly help him in the attempted transition. DaVon and Roosevelt are both smaller receivers with excellence quickness, and they will also be given strong consideration for our special teams opening. Each can make things happen in the open field, and establishing a quality return game will be one of our highest priorities in training camp.”

Photo: Columbia, S.C. native Princeton Shepard is attempting to make the Roughriders roster as a WR. The former quarterback played at Hampton University during the 2004-2006 seasons with career totals of 43 games, 48 touchdowns and over 5, 494 in total offense.

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This will not be a cakewalk for the former MEAC players making the final roster with the 2007 Grey Cup Champions Roughriders. As import players, they will have to beat out other import players for a roster spot.

Here is how the CFL Import Player rule works...

The roster size for a CFL team is 40 players. 3 of the 40 are Quarterbacks and can be either imports or non-imports no restrictions. Of the remaining 37 players, no more than 18 may be imports. Therefore the maximum amount of imports allowed per team is 21.

View Roster: http://www.saskriders.com/

Jacksonville State-Alabama State football 'Spygate' escalates; sanctions possible

JACKSONVILLE, AL — The Spygate controversy that added spice to the weeks leading to last season's Jacksonville State-Alabama State football opener has turned into possible NCAA sanctions for the Gamecocks.

JSU president Bill Meehan is scheduled to meet with NCAA officials at an undisclosed location next week to discuss the case, which began as a self-reported secondary violation and has escalated, according to a university source who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

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