AAMU Hudson has perfect start to preseason

A&M running back nets top score in team's conditioning test

Eric Hudson has a new name. Just call him Mr. Perfect. Hudson, a reserve running back at Alabama A&M, earned a perfect score in the Bulldogs' strength and conditioning test on Thursday. The 6-0, 190-pound redshirt junior finished with a team-high 50 points. He earned 10 points in each of the test's five parts - bench press, vertical jump, sit-ups, dips and running.

"I've taken care of business in the weight room, but I want to get on the field," said Hudson, who is stuck behind All-SWAC selection Ulysses Banks and redshirt sophomore Anthony Green. "That's my goal. I want to get on the field and help this team win some games." Hudson has struggled in his attempt to earn playing time.

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2008-09 NSU schedule kicks off with Bahamas trip

Michael Deloach, 6-0/175 guard, senior, Rocky Mount, N.C., Bonner Academy (Mark's Digital Photography).

Norfolk State's men's basketball team has lined up a 2008-09 schedule that includes its typical long December road trip to help fill the athletic department's coffers with guarantee money. But fans willing to do a little traveling can catch the Spartans in-state to begin the season. NSU kicks off the slate with games at Longwood (Nov. 16) and William and Mary (Nov. 19).

The Spartans are also going to take advantage of the NCAA's allotment of an overseas trip once every four years and will travel to the Bahamas in a few weeks for a two-game set against club teams in the Nassau area. NCAA rules allow for 10 days of practice before such trips.

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2008-2009 Men's Basketball Schedule

Date Opponent Location Time/Result Details
11/16/2008 Longwood Farmville, Va. 7 p.m. Details
11/19/2008 William & Mary Williamsburg, Va. 7 p.m. Details
11/25/2008 Michigan Ann Arbor, Mich. 8 p.m. Details
11/30/2008 Air Force Colorado Springs, Colo. 4 p.m. Details
12/2/2008 Jacksonville State Norfolk, Va. 7 p.m. Details
12/6/2008 * North Carolina A&T Greensboro, N.C. TBA Details
12/17/2008 Wright State Cleveland, Ohio TBA Details

Basketball Travelers Tip-Off Tournament
12/20/2008 TBA Springfield, Mo. TBA Details
12/21/2008 TBA Springfield, Mo. TBA Details

Montana State Classic
12/28/2008 Texas-Pan American Bozeman, Mont. TBA Details
12/29/2008 Consolation/Championship Bozeman, Mont. TBA Details

1/10/2009 * Coppin State Baltimore, Md. TBA Details
1/12/2009 * Morgan State Baltimore, Md. 7:30 p.m. Details
1/17/2009 * Delaware State Norfolk, Va. 6 p.m. Details
1/19/2009 * Maryland Eastern Shore Norfolk, Va. 8 p.m. Details
1/24/2009 * South Carolina State Orangeburg, S.C. 4 p.m. Details
1/26/2009 Winston-Salem State Winston-Salem, N.C. 7:30 p.m. Details
1/31/2009 * Hampton Hampton, Va. 6 p.m. Details
2/2/2009 * Howard Washington, D.C. 8 p.m. Details
2/7/2009 * Bethune-Cookman Norfolk, Va. 6 p.m. Details
2/9/2009 * Florida A&M Norfolk, Va. 8 p.m. Details
2/14/2009 * Delaware State Dover, Del. 4 p.m. Details
2/16/2009 * Maryland Eastern Shore Princess Anne, Md. 7:30 p.m. Details
2/21/2009 * South Carolina State Norfolk, Va. 6 p.m. Details
2/23/2009 Winston-Salem State Norfolk, Va. 8 p.m. Details
2/28/2009 * Hampton Norfolk, Va. 6 p.m. Details
3/2/2009 * Howard Norfolk, Va. 8 p.m. Details
3/5/2009 * North Carolina A&T Norfolk, Va. 8 p.m. Details

2009 MEAC Basketball Tournament
3/10/2009 TBA Winston-Salem, N.C. TBA Details
3/11/2009 TBA Winston-Salem, N.C. TBA Details
3/12/2009 TBA Winston-Salem, N.C. TBA Details
3/13/2009 TBA Winston-Salem, N.C. TBA Details
3/13/2009 TBA Winston-Salem, N.C. TBA Details
3/14/2009 TBA Winston-Salem, N.C. TBA Details

Where does Marcus Smith fit in for Jackson State Tigers?

Marcus Smith, Senior 6-1/200 DB Miami, FL , American Senior H.S.(courtesy JSU Athletics)

Marcus Smith could just about taste that sweet flavor called success. The Jackson State outside linebacker/safety put on a show in 2006 with 50 tackles (fourth on the team) and a 55-yard interception return for a touchdown against Grambling. He was penciled in as a starter on a 2007 defense that became one of the best in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, on a team that went 8-4 and won the school's first SWAC championship since 1996.

Everything looked good until one snap during the 2007 spring workouts - the snap of Smith's ankle. Good-bye season."You think you're going to be the man, then you get hurt," Smith said. "This year I'm keeping myself pretty calm. This year I'm really pretty humble. "I don't want to take anything for granted because I did last year."

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Final narrative for Grambling’s Landers hasn’t been written

Brandon Landers’ time at Grambling, as impressive as it is statistically, will always be one of lost promise. But his narrative is far from finished.

Landers initially signed as a prep quarterback with Doug Williams, only to see his would-be mentor leave for an NFL job. Then he was pushed too early, and with too little instruction, into the starting position as a true freshman in 2004 when Bruce Eugene went down. Then pushed back into a redshirt, and largely ignored, a season later when Eugene returned. Then pushed around as a redshirt sophomore in 2006, having belatedly retaken the starting position without ever having been properly prepared for it.

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NSU Tickets Available for Kentucky, William & Mary Road Football Games

Norfolk State University head football Coach Pete Adrian (Mark's Digital Photography)

By Matt Michalec, SID

NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State University Department of Athletics has received a limited number of tickets to sell for the Spartans’ road football games at Kentucky (Sept. 6) and William & Mary (Sept. 20).

Kentucky Ticket Information
• Tickets are $35 each. A $3 processing fee will apply to all mail orders.
• The designated NSU sections are 113, 114, 115 and/or 116. If handicap seating is needed, please notify the NSU Ticket Center Representative when placing your order.
• Orders will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis. Therefore, tickets will be sold until the allotment has been depleted. Full payment must be remitted when the order is placed.
• Sales will begin immediately. The last day to purchase tickets will be Friday, Aug. 22.
• Tickets can be mailed or picked up at the NSU Ticket Office.
• Begin Mail Date: Monday, Aug. 4.
• Will Call Deadline: Monday, Sept. 1.

William & Mary Ticket Information
• The tickets are $25 for sideline seats and $19 for end zone seats. A $3 processing fee will apply to all mail orders.
• If handicap seating is needed, please notify the NSU Ticket Center Representative when placing your order.
• Orders will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis. Therefore, tickets will be sold until the allotment has been depleted. Full payment must be remitted when the order is placed.
• Sales will begin immediately. The last day to purchase tickets will be Friday, Sept. 5.
• Tickets can be mailed or picked up at the NSU Ticket Office.
• Begin Mail Date: Friday, Aug.8.
• Will Call Deadline: Wednesday, Sept. 17.

The NSU Ticket Office is open Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For more information, call (757) 823-9009.

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ASU's Barlow welcomes the largest Hornets' squad in four years

ASU Coach Reggie Barlow incoming class has 30 freshmen, transfers and walk-ons signed in.

As university workers methodically marked the practice field and got the necessary equipment in place, a steady stream of players marched in and out of the Alabama State football offices Thursday. The players, some of them accompanied by their parents or other family members, filed in one by one, filled out the required paperwork, gathered their boxes of supplies and set off to find their assigned dorm rooms.

It was reporting day for the Hornets. Head coach Reggie Barlow welcomed in 89 players -- the largest number in at least four years at ASU -- and, to his delight, had no surprise no-shows. "It's in the air," said junior wide receiver Ronald Davis. "As more guys come in and we all start getting ready, the excitement just sort of builds. You can feel it around here right now. Everybody knows it's about time to go."

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"More than ever": Pough excited as SCSU reports, prepares for practice

Oliver “Buddy” Pough won’t be having a fun-filled Friday. Instead, Pough will spend the day checking 85 to 90 South Carolina State football players in, running through a little orientation and then comes the paperwork. “It’s a necessary evil,” Pough said Thursday evening. “Our compliance people have to get them to sign all types of paperwork. Our equipment people have to do all types of stuff. There is plenty to do. We have a full day ahead of us.”

The bright side? Get Friday’s paperwork and Saturday’s early-morning physical tests out the way, and around 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon the Bulldogs can hit the field for their first fall practice of the 2008 season. Excited?

SCSU Bulldogs vs. Norfolk State University Spartans in 2007 (Mark's Digital Photography)

“More than ever,” Pough said without pause. “This is a new team, new kinds of faces. We have people moving around different places ... experiments to see how they will work. Marshall (McFadden) is moving up, Terrence (Smith) is moving over (from wide receiver to defensive back), and our quarterbacks ... I want to see how they are going to react to being the guys.

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