Justin Higgins ready to continue quarterbacking dominance at Grambling

Any football fan that saw Justin Higgins in a Rayville uniform over the past three years knows he is a playmaker. Whether Higgins was throwing the ball downfield to the Hornets’ prized receivers or taking the ball and barreling through the line, the three and a half-year high school starter could change the momentum of any game.

Grambling — where Higgins signed a national letter of intent in February — has no doubt Higgins can continue that dominance on the field. There is just one gray area hanging overhead. Higgins finished his immaculate high school career with a torn ACL in the second round playoff loss to E.D. White last November.

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Southern University adds RV site near stadium

NEW ORLEANS — In addition to the ongoing expansion of A.W. Mumford Stadium, Southern University President Ralph Slaughter said Thursday, construction also has begun for a new recreational vehicle parking area.

The lot would add 62 RV spots to more than make up for the loss of some parking from the stadium expansion, Slaughter said. The new lot will be across the street from Mumford near the school of nursing.

“We have to have that lot ready before football season starts,” Slaughter said, when asked why parking construction began before notifying the Southern Board of Supervisors on Thursday.

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Less uncertainty at Southern University now

A year has made plenty of difference for Southern football program. At this time a year ago, there was so much to feel uneasy about:

• The project to enclose the north end zone and give the program direly-needed facilities had yet to begin. …
• The team had suffered back-to-back losing seasons for the first time under Pete Richardson. …
• Richardson, in turn, was entering the final year of his contract and the pressure was on to get the program back on track. …
• And a rash of academically ineligible players, particularly to the offensive line, made the prospect of a turnaround even harder.
  
  
  
  

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Hardin-Simmons basketball coach named MVSU assistant

ABILENE, TEXAS — Hardin-Simmons basketball coach Dylan Howard has resigned to become an assistant coach at Mississippi Valley State. Howard had a 78-103 record in seven seasons at Hardin-Simmons. The Cowboys had winning seasons each of the past four years and went to the American Southwest Conference tournament three of the past four years, reaching the finals in 2007.

The move was announced Monday.

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Black schools winning more Fulbright awards

Parents who want to send a child to a black college know they have to look south, but if they prefer one that will also offer a good opportunity for international exposure, the right school may not be as far away as they might think.

The black college that has produced the most students who win a Fulbright fellowship, the prestige program of international exchanges, is not Howard, or Hampton University in Virginia, or Morehouse College or Spelman College in Atlanta, or any other private school.

The top producer is Morgan State University, a state school in Baltimore. Since the Fulbright program began in 1946, 120 Morgan students have won awards to conduct research or teach English in 30 different countries from Jamaica to New Zealand.

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Leon's Patterson, Miami native Joseph seek second chances at FAMU

They use summer workouts to angle for spot on Rattlers

Anytime during the upcoming football season that coach Joe Taylor decides to show living examples of perseverance, he might just call Darrius Patterson and Marcus Joseph to the head of the line.

Like the other walk-ons who have been toiling through the offseason, they've got their stories. Patterson had to shed the demon of academic ineligibility. Joseph just refused to take no for an answer in pursuit of his dream to play college football.

Their journey had similar beginnings. Patterson played well enough to earn a starting role at linebacker on Leon High School team, and Joseph was a better-than-average cornerback at Miami Columbus. Neither drew interest from major college scouts.

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Robbery charges against NSU's Monroe are dropped

Charges of armed robbery against Norfolk State University basketball player Brandon Monroe were withdrawn Wednesday, a little over two months after his arrest following an incident on Old Dominion University's campus.

Monroe's attorney, Michael Fasanaro, described the case against his client as simple mistaken identity. "The description by witnesses was of a guy being about 6-foot-2," Fasanaro said. "We're talking about a basketball player who is 6-7 or 6-8."

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Former WSSU Wedlock comes clean about DVD

I have been talking with former WSSU football player Jonathan Wedlock via e-mail and myspace for about two months now. I’ve been looking forward to doing an interview with him because I knew quite a few people wanted to hear about from him.

I ran a story (by Steven Gaither) about his professional football career taking off in the American Indoor Football Association and quite a few readers hit me up about that piece. Some wanted to know if his “So Hard To Be A Ram” DVD was still available. Yes, it’s still available. And he’s still willing to give out a copy or two.

I wanted to ask him about that infamous Youtube classic, as well as his football career. Wedlock is one of the leading running backs for the Florence (South Carolina) Phantoms. We also discussed a number of other things like Division I, differences in arena leagues, homecoming and late night partying.

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FAMU Taylor will lean on Lee at backup QB

Rattlers' coach likes freshman athleticism

A second look was all it took for Tobias Lee to return to playing quarterback for Florida A&M. After all of the film-watching and performance evaluations from spring practice, coach Joe Taylor was impressed with Lee's athleticism.

Taylor was even more impressed with the 3.5 GPA Lee maintained while carrying 18 hours in the classroom during the spring. "He has not only got it physically, but he has it mentally," Taylor said Monday. "That's the kind of kid you want at quarterback because he's very intelligent." So Lee will go into the fall practice as the primary backup to Eddie Battle. The move reverses Taylor's decision after spring practice to shift Lee, a redshirt freshman, to tight end.

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Throwbacks: Grambling 80 list honored best football players over program's first eight decades

The News-Star selected the top 80 players from Grambling as the storied program celebrated eight decades of football in 2006.

GRAMBLING — Grambling resident Ray Higgins' grandfather, Milton "Twenty" Douglas, was on the local college's first football team, organized 80 years ago. No, Eddie Robinson wasn't Grambling's first head football coach — a common mistake, Higgins notes, chuckling. It might seem that way since Robinson coached nearly 60 of those years.

Higgins is celebrating that long history of football at Grambling — both by highlighting its storied accomplishments and adjusting a few misconceptions — on a fan-operated Web site called http://www.gramblingstateuniversity.com/. There, he's informally polling fans across the nation to assemble a list of the program's Top 80 all-time players. "The great thing has been talking with people from different eras about Grambling's history," said Higgins, a booster who graduated from Grambling Lab and then GSU.

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Howard Bison Oliver blazes to 110 hurdles crown

David Oliver ran the fastest time in every round on the way to his first U.S. outdoor championship

When he found her on his victory lap, the former Denver East athlete and newly crowned Olympic trials champion gripped his mother in a long, tight hug. "I'm just glad to be able to share this moment with her," said Oliver, who blazed to the finish line Sunday in 12.95 seconds to win the 110-meter hurdles at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials. "She's my inspiration. Without her guidance, especially when I was younger, I wouldn't be able to do the things I'm doing now."

David Oliver's 12.95 wind-aided Olympic Trials Final race in the 110 meter hurdles.


Oliver's mother, Brenda Chambers, was an All-American at Colorado in 1981 in the 400 hurdles. She competed in the 1980 Olympic trials at the same stadium as Oliver but never had a chance to compete in those Olympics because of an American boycott. Her son only recently emerged as a track star. He played football and ran track at Howard University but wasn't a standout until after college. He was the lowest seed in the 110 hurdles in the 2004 Olympic trials but now has the second-fastest time in the world.

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Nicole C. Mullen - Music of My Heart

Printers and Hamilton Ticats have claws after all

Video Highlights: http://watch.tsn.ca/cfl-news-and-highlights/clip64416#clip64416

Excerpt from article:

Led by Jesse Lumsden's 189-yard, two-touchdown rushing night and Casey Printers' smooth-and-patient quarterbacking, the sadsack Ticats looked like a different kind of team: a suddenly dangerous one. The Argos, in contrast, who drew 30,822 for the biggest home-opener head count since 1992, were stunningly ineffective for much of the night. Kerry Joseph, the starting quarterback coming off a championship season in Saskatchewan in which he ran for about 43 yards a game, looked only slightly more mobile than Michael Bishop, the backup QB, and Bishop spent the entire evening standing on the sideline.
















Photo: Former Florida A&M University quarterback Casey Printers lead the Tiger-Cats to a 32-13 victory over the Toronto Argonauts on the road (photo courtesy JOHN SOKOLOWSKI).

The Ticats, meanwhile, attacked with an efficient use of both ground and air, Printers making good on 16 of 23 for 171 yards passing. And it made one wonder how a team that looked positively disorganized a week before – turning it over three times in ceding Montreal the early momentum – could look so estimable. Printers and Lumsden ran zone-read fakes with convincing precision. Lumsden, held to 36 yards on nine carries in the opening-week loss, rushed for 86 yards in last night's first half alone, and the Ticats – who got 75 rushing yards from Tre Smith – tallied 313 yards on the run all told. Lumsden leant two hands on another key play, helping to push Printers into the end zone after Printers – in a quarterback sneak not far from the goal line – hit the wall and needed a little more oomph on his second-effort thrust for six points.

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Payton Award to be presented prior to MEAC/SWAC Challenge Football Game

The Game: MEAC/SWAC Challenge, Jackson State University vs. Hampton University.

Former Jackson State and NFL star Walter Payton will have another award presented in his honor when JSU and Hampton play in the fourth annual MEAC/SWAC Challenge in Orlando, Florida, on Aug. 31. The two teams kick off at 1 p.m. inside the Citrus Bowl. The challenge will present the Walter Payton Achievement Award for the first time this year to players who stand out in the classroom and on the playing field.

JSU linebacker Marcus Smith and Hampton wide out Kevin Teel have been selected to receive the award at a kickoff banquet Aug. 29. Payton's son, Jarrett, a former University of Miami and current Montreal Alouettes running back, will present the award and former Grambling and Super Bowl-winning quarterback Doug Williams will serve as the keynote speaker.

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Walter Payton Documentary


Read: Never Die Easy: The Autobiography of Walter Payton by Walter Payton and Don Yaeger

JSU prized three-star QB reports to campus

Prized football recruit Dominick Britt has been on campus for two weeks and is enrolled in two summer classes. He took a short break this weekend to go home for the holiday. Some rumors had swirled whether the 6-foot-4, 175-pound three-star quarterback from Trotwood-Madison (Ohio) HS would make it down due to academic concerns.

Since arriving in Jackson, Britt said he has been working out with strength and conditioning coach Derek Scott at 5 a.m., taking music and history classes, studying the playbook and watching Hampton film in preparation for the season opener.

Dominick Britt is #2 in White


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Coleman Preaches Success at UAPB

Photo: UAPB Golden Lions first year head coach Monte Coleman.

(Click here to see UAPB's two-deep depth chart.)

Changes are in the mix for the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Golden Lions. The Golden Lions' successful recruiting class and eight returning starters will be the beginnings for new head coach Monte Coleman. Coleman is the same retired Washington Redskin linebacker who won three Super Bowl rings and played in the National Football League for 16 seasons.

Upon retirement, Coleman said he was denying himself of his true calling. As legendary as he's become in the sport that he now coaches, Coleman is also a prominent minister in the Assemblies of God denomination. "I was actually coming back to Pine Bluff to be a minister, then an opportunity here became available and I came on board," Coleman said.

"My first hope is for winning football games. I'm not used to losing. I especially want to win when I'm on the football field, but it takes players being disciplined. As a football team, if we put discipline in every thing we do, we can have some major accomplishments."

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Grambling's Resurgence Like Old Times for SWAC

Excerpt from article:

Jackson State again should be favored to win the East Division, but the talent in the league is well-dispersed among five other teams, any of which could find their way to Birmingham in December. Grambling will have to fight off Southern, which was up-and-down last year, in the West. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, with Monte Coleman taking over as head coach, has the running game and the defense to contend.

Brandon Landers returns at quarterback for Grambling. Landers improved his passing completion rate from 51 percent in 2006 to 56 percent in 2007, throwing for 23 touchdowns. But his interceptions also jumped from 11 to 18. Landers' top four receivers from 2007 have used up their eligibility, leaving senior Nick Lewis as the most experienced threat...

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DSU's Thompson calls it a career in Arena Football

He hoped to play for one season, but hung around for 13. He had never touched the ball on offense in his life, but finished as one of the leading rushers in league history. And he made his mark off the field, too.

"Not bad for a guy from little old Delaware State," Leroy Thompson said. "I never expected things to work out the way they did, and I never expected to have the career that I had. And now I'm ready for new challenges."

Thompson, an All-Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference player for the Hornets in the early 1990s, recently retired after 13 seasons in the Arena Football League. He spent the first nine seasons with the Albany (later Indiana) Firebirds, one season with the New Orleans VooDoo and the last three with the Columbus Destroyers.

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Q&A: Alabama State OC Noonan brings spread to Hornets

When Reggie Barlow hired Ben Noonan last January, most Alabama State fans had the same response: Who?

It was a reasonable reaction. After all, Noonan, 25, is a young guy who has coached only at West Texas A&M, a Division II school, and Baylor, where he was serving as grad assistant when Barlow came calling. He's called plays just once in his life and has absolutely no connections to ASU or any other historically black college football program.

He was as much of a mystery to fans as he could possibly be. And for the most part, he's remained one. The majority of ASU fans still have no idea who Noonan is, why he was hired and what his plans are.

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UMES Track Athlete Fothergill Heading To Beijing Olympics

KINGSTON, JAMAICA--Allodin Fothergill has had a stellar sophomore year for the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). From the start of an early indoor season he has garnered All-MEAC honors, earning two gold medals in the conference championship (200, 400-meter dashes). He then placed 10th in the 400 meter-dash in the NCAA Division I 2008 Indoor Championships (47.24). His performances during the Outdoor season improved as he qualified for the NCAA East Regional track meet. On the big stage he ran 46.40 to advance to the Outdoor National Championship. For personal reasons he would not make the trip to Iowa. But his season wasn't over.

Taking this time off proved successful for the Jamaican native as he returned home to reunite with family and compete in Jamaica's Olympic Trials in Kingston. To say Fothergill represented UMES well would be an understatement. In the 400-meter semifinals he placed third in his heat to advance to the finals. In the final round Fothergill scorched the track to a 4th place finish and an amazing time of 45.97. With his performance Fothergill was named to the Jamaican Olympic team for this year's 2008 Beijing China Olympic Games.

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