S.C. State Bulldogs picked to win MEAC Football Crown

NORFOLK, VA – For the second consecutive year, South Carolina State (7-4, 6-2 MEAC) has been picked to win the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football championship, edging out defending champion Delaware State (10-0, 8-0 MEAC) in an announcement made at the league’s annual Football Press Luncheon.

Coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough's Bulldogs have the conference championship target on their backs again in 2008 (Mark's Digital Photography).

Also, the Bulldogs (7-4, 6-2 MEAC) placed 10 players on the preseason All-MEAC squad, among them junior running back Will Ford, tabbed as preseason Offensive Player of the Year, and one of five S.C. State players earning first-team honors.

In being named as the team to beat in the MEAC again, Coach Buddy Pough’s team, which has finished tied for runner-up in the league the last two seasons, received 272 points to 252 for Coach Al Lavan and the 2007 champion Hornets.

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SCSU Bulldogs 2008 Football Schedule

Date Opponent Location Time/Result
8/30/2008 UCF Orlando, FL 6 PM
9/6/2008 BENEDICT$ Orangeburg, SC 6 PM
9/13/2008 BETHUNE-COOKMAN Charleston, SC 4 PM
9/20/2008 Clemson Clemson, SC 1 PM
9/27/2008 Winston-Salem State Winston-Salem, NC 6:00 PM
10/4/2008 * Florida A&M Tallahassee, FL 6 PM
10/11/2008 * NORFOLK STATE ! Orangeburg, SC 1:30 PM
10/18/2008 Open TBA
10/25/2008 * HAMPTON Orangeburg, SC 2:00 PM
11/1/2008 * Delaware State Dover, DE TBA
11/6/2008 * HOWARD Orangeburg, SC 7:30 PM
11/15/2008 * Morgan State Baltimore, MD 4:00 PM
11/22/2008 * North Carolina A&T TBA 1:30 PM

Home Games are in bold
Neutral Site Games are in italics
* Denotes a conference game.

!-Denotes Homecoming
$-Denotes Hall of Fame Game

Head Coach: Oliver "Buddy" Pough (Sixth Season)
Asst. Head Coach/Def. Line/Def. Ends: David Blanchard
Asst. Coaches: Demetrius Davis (Off. Line/Tightends); Joe Blackwell (Off. Coordinator/Off. Line); Gerald Harrison (Def. Line/Tackles); Mike Adams( Def. Coordinator/Linebackers); Maurice Drayton (Secondary); Kevin Magouirk (Quarterbacks); Howard Feggins (Receivers); Daniel Lewis (Running Backs/Recruiting Coordinator); Joel Taylor (Defensive Assistant ); Rawn Miro (Videographer).

Car Crash Kills Alcorn State Athlete; Two Other Alcorn Student Athletes Injured

FAYETTE, Miss. -- Alcorn State University officials said that a car crash has claimed the life of freshman football player Ladarrius Adams. The wreck, which occurred on Highway 61 south near Fayette early Friday morning, also injured D'Angelo Buckner and Isaac Williams. The university said that Buckner and Williams are also incoming freshmen and members of the football team.

Adams was a native of Fort Meyers, Florida and was recruited as a running back to Alcorn State. Buckner and Williams are natives of Clinton, Mississippi and were recruited as corner back and offensive lineman, respectively.

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Minnesota Vikings quarterback Tarvaris Jackson not offended by Brett Favre speculation

Former Alabama State University Hornets quarterback Tarvaris Jackson handles Favre speculation with maturity.

MANKATO — Tarvaris Jackson said the Brett Favre speculation would never have come up if Jackson were an established, proven quarterback. But he's not. The Vikings reportedly are considered Favre's ideal destination if he were to work his way out of Green Bay, with which he remains under contract. Jackson has heard all the speculation regarding Favre, and he's taking it in stride. He said he's not offended by the talk.

"I know I've got to get better to the point where if it happens again with any other guy, it wouldn't be a question," Jackson said today after the first practice of training camp at Minnesota State Mankato. "I've still got some improving to do, and I know that. It's only speculation. I know it was going to happen because the type of quarterback he is, and I haven't proved myself yet."

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MEAC expresses academic concerns

Photo: Florida A&M University director of athletics, William "Bill" Hayes

NORFOLK, Va. — There's no middle ground when it comes to meeting the NCAA-mandated Academic Progress Report standards. That was the message FAMU athletic director Bill Hayes and other MEAC officials heard for more than 90 minutes Thursday.

Hayes came away from the all-day meeting, promising to make FAMU a flagship school for graduating student-athletes. FAMU will use money from a grant it recently received to hire a full-time monitor to gauge athletes' classroom performance, Hayes said.

"We're going to put more teeth into it," he said. "We've got to have better supervision. It can't be lax. It's got to be matter-of-fact. Once we do that you will see an improvement." FAMU's APR rating wasn't immediately available, but in a recent report it hovered close to 50 percent.

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A long, happy journey for SSU's Jessie Kenlaw

Savannah State University graduate now interim head coach for WNBA team, Washington Mystics

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Jessie Kenlaw, while at Savannah State in the 1970s, was among a group of students who petitioned the office of the president to begin a women's basketball program. Their efforts paid off after a few years as Kenlaw played in her only season as a senior, 1976-77, when she was named the team's most valuable player. The Guyton native said the school did not offer basketball scholarships for women at the time.

"We knew there was a lot of talented players there through AAU, travel teams and intramurals," said Kenlaw, who graduated from Savannah State with a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1977. "We had to fight but we ended up getting it." Some 30 years later it was a person in authority - general manager Linda Hargrove of the WNBA's Washington Mystics - who recently came to Kenlaw with a proposal. Hargrove asked Kenlaw to take over as the interim head coach of the Mystics.

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MVSU Delta Devils seek fresh start

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Last year, Steven Fulbright experienced the nightmare of any senior player who sweated through an entire offseason of work: He was injured, lost for the season with a ligament tear in his knee, on the first play of Mississippi Valley State's first game. So how did the defensive back deal with this crushing disappointment?

"Every game, I was in the press box writing down the plays," he said. "I learned more about the game and I just learned a lot being in the press box with the coaches, and learning the game from a higher point of view."

If anything gives Valley coach Willie Totten reason to believe his team can shake off its 3-8 season from a year ago and return to winning ways, it's players like Fulbright. He'll return, the recipient of a medical redshirt, with added knowledge about the game and a bunch of optimism, too.

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Alcorn Braves planning to aim high

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Anyone paying attention to the Alcorn State football program can tell there's a stark difference between the lively new coach Ernest Jones and his stoic predecessor Johnny Thomas. But as the saying goes, "Talk is cheap." Jones can say all the right things, but if players don't buy what he's selling none of it will matter for a team picked to finish dead last in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Eastern Division.

But when Emmanuel Arceneaux drops the phrase, "It's a new day," in a casual conversation at the Southwestern Athletic Conference Media Day in Birmingham, you get the feeling he's been paying attention to the new face of Alcorn football. "It did need to change," said Arceneaux, the team's top returning receiver. "The mindset is the pride and tradition that he's trying to bring back to Alcorn. No disrespect to the former coaches, but they came in and gave a boost of energy. Everything is just fired up."

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