A&M preps for spring game

There will be plenty of work to do when Alabama A&M reports for fall camp in August, but the Bulldogs will try to have some fun today as they wrap up spring practice with the annual Maroon and White Game at Louis Crews Stadium.

Kickoff is 2 p.m. and admission is free.

"Hopefully, we can go out and light it up," said quarterback Kevin Atkins. "We don't have all of our guys, but we've got some weapons and we're going to go out and try to have some fun." The Bulldogs are without three potential starters along the line and receiver Rashad Johnson is out after breaking his arm. Despite that, receivers Thomas Harris and Nate Baxter and running backs Ulysses Banks and Tony Green have been impressive. "Banks has had a good spring," running backs coach Errol Jones said. "He looks like he did two years ago when he was first-team All-SWAC."

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Howard Announces 2009 Football Schedule

by HU Sports Information

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Howard University kicks off the 2009 season with Rutgers from the Big East and will follow with games at Florida A&M and cross town against Georgetown before its home season opener against Winston-Salem State on October 3.

The Bison, who play five of their first six games at away from home, will then return to the road for conference games at Hampton and at Morgan State before hosting North Carolina A&T for homecoming on October 24. A road game at Norfolk State follows and then there are back-to-back home contests against South Carolina State and Bethune-Cookman. Howard will close out the regular season with a road game at Delaware State on November 21.

The Bison are playing Rutgers and Georgetown for the second time. Howard played Rutgers in 2006 and they played the Hoyas last season at Greene Stadium.

Date Opponent Location Time

Sept. 12 Rutgers Piscataway, N.J. TBA
Sept. 19 Florida A&M Tallahassee, Fla. TBA
Sept. 26 Georgetown (Multi-Sport Field)% Washington, D.C. TBA
Oct. 3 WINSTON-SALEM STATE WASHINGTON, D.C. 1 p.m.
Oct. 10 Hampton Hampton, Va. 1 p.m.
Oct. 17 Morgan State Baltimore, Md. TBA
Oct. 24 NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE* WASHINGTON, D.C. 1 p.m.
Oct. 31 Norfolk State Norfolk, Va. TBA
Nov. 7 SOUTH CAROLINA STATE WASHINGTON, D.C. 1 p.m.
Nov. 14 BETHUNE-COOKMAN! WASHINGTON, D.C. 1 p.m.
Nov. 21 Delaware State Dover, Del. TBA

Home games in CAPS
MEAC games in bold
All Times are EST and subject to change

% - D.C. Cup
* - Homecoming
! - Senior Day

Auburn assistant picked to coach TSU men's team

After having a positive impact on one group of Tigers this season, John Cooper hopes to carry that over. The longtime Auburn men's basketball assistant was announced Friday as the new head coach at Tennessee State. Cooper, 40, replaces Cy Alexander — who was fired in February after five-plus seasons at the TSU helm — and Mark Pittman, who guided the Ohio Valley Conference program on an interim basis following Alexander's departure.

"First of all, it is a lifelong dream and a lifelong journey," Cooper said in a statement. As associate head coach under Jeff Lebo, the Kansas City, Mo., native helped Auburn to an NIT quarterfinals berth and a 24-12 record, tying for the second-most single-season victories in the program's history.

"I am really enthusiastic and excited about the opportunity," he said. "My goal is to obviously be successful, but also to put a product on the court that Tennessee State University is proud of, and one that is successful both on and off the court. In the future, we want to be able to say that we competed for championships in the OVC and hopefully say that we have won championships." Prior to his arrival at Auburn in 2004, Cooper served as an assistant at Oregon, South Carolina and Fayetteville (N.C.) State. Cooper inherits a program that has not posted a winning season since the 1996-97 team was 15-13.

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Taylor seeking reliable tight end for FAMU

Photo Gallery: FAMU football practice

As a tight end, the role might call for blocking on one play and making a catch on another. FAMU football coach Joe Taylor just wants to find the right player who could execute both roles well enough. If that player steps up during spring, he could very well end up with a significant role in the Rattlers' offensive scheme. Taj Jenkines proved himself to be the right fit in his final season last year, but it's a wide-open position with at least three candidates making a push.

"It takes a special kind of guy to get down there and do that three-point stance," Taylor said Thursday, following the third day of spring practice in soggy conditions. Max Purcell and Tobias Lee are the two leading candidates, but freshman Brandon Hepburn might make a case if he could mature fast enough. Fullback Mykel Benson could also be considered, Taylor said.

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Grambling's Greg Dillon enjoying solid spring after remarkable year

Photo Gallery: Grambling season wrap-up

At first, as Dillon and a retooled line gelled, he let his athleticism guide the offense. There were, for a while, as many eye-popping broken-play dashes by this gifted runner as there were forehead-slapping miscues. But Grambling kept winning, as Dillon matured. “Greg made everybody better on offense,” Broadway said. “When you have that double threat like that, it makes everybody look good.” He grew in confidence with every week, peaking along with his superlative defenders, as the campaign concluded.

Grambling earned its first three victories, before the quarterback question was settled, by an average of 10 points. The Tigers closed out the season whipping opponents by an average of three touchdowns. “Knowing I didn’t have to do it all helped me, knowing that people had my back — on offense and defense,” said Dillon, projecting a cool confidence. “Toward the end of the year, we were able to go out there and just play."

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Three-man battle could be highlight of spring

DOVER -- It is just the type of spring football camp that Delaware State University coach Al Lavan looks forward to most -- one with a bevy of competition for starting positions. The Hornets began this year's camp at Alumni Stadium on Wednesday night, ready to put in the kind of work they hope will lead them back to the top of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference this fall.
Delaware State returns 12 starters and 41 letter winners from last year's team, which finished 5-6 overall and 5-3 in the MEAC. "This camp is quite different than most of the other ones that we've had here at DSU, in that there is competition for a couple of positions that we haven't had before," said Lavan, who started his sixth spring camp at DSU. "We have a variety of experience and inexperience. Since I've been here, we've not quite had this type of team that needed to be developed."

Nowhere are those questions more evident than at quarterback. Four-year starter Vashon Winton is gone, along with his 33-14 record. There promises to be a three-man race to fill the void.

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HU Pirates, coach again adjusting

This week, the Daily Press takes a look at a few spring questions facing local and state football programs. Today, Hampton University.

1Will new coach Donovan Rose improve on predecessor Jerry Holmes' 6-5 record?

On paper, it's possible. The Pirates have plenty of experience back on both sides of the ball and get 2008 MEAC champion South Carolina State at home. But HU got off to a quick 5-1 start in Holmes' only season as head coach before losing four of its last five games in a head-scratching implosion.

2How is Rose adjusting to his new job?

Rose, the Pirates' defensive coordinator last season after 17 years as their secondary coach, ascended abruptly to the top job when Holmes and Hampton parted ways in January. A week into spring practice, he's focusing on more details than ever before, monitoring players' on- and off-field actions. "You put in a lot of time and you want to make sure that everything is right," Rose said. "When you're in this position and you see it — I don't think, as a whole, coaches get enough credit, because they're the ones that do all the work."

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