Lane College Announces 2010 Football Schedule

Lane College announced its 2010 football schedule Tuesday, and it will play five of its 10 games at Rothrock Stadium. The Dragons start their season in front of their home crowd Aug. 28 against Clark Atlanta in what will be coach Derrick Burroughs first game. Burroughs takes over for former coach Trent Boykin, who now coaches the West Tennessee War Eagles, a semipro football team in Jackson. Nine games are within the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with its lone non-conference game at Ohio Valley Conference member Tennessee Tech. The Dragons haven't won since late 2008 after going 0-10 in 2009.

The Dragons won't have defensive back Isaiah Scott when the season starts after Scott transferred to NCAA Division III Mount Union, a 10-time national champion. The 5-foot-9 defensive back was second on the team with 45 tackles as a freshman this past season. Scott had three interceptions, a forced fumble and a blocked kick.

Lane College Dragons Marching Band.









Lane College 2010 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Date Opponent Location Time
August
28 Clark Atlanta* Jackson, TN 6:00pm
September

4 Kentucky State Univ.*(Thoroughbred Classic) Louisville,KY 3:00pm
11 Morehouse College* Atlanta,GA 7:00pm
16 Tennessee Tech Cookeville,TN 7:00pm
25 OPEN
October

2 Albany State Univ.* Albany,GA 7:00pm
9 Benedict College* Jackson,TN 2:00pm
16 Miles College (Homecoming) Jackson,TN 2:00pm
23 Stillman College* Jackson,TN 2:00pm
30 FortValley State University* Jackson,TN 2:00pm
November

6 Tuskegee University Tuskegee,AL 1:00pm

*Indicates Conference Game Home Games in BOLD
Derrick Burroughs-Head Coach/Athletic Director
Dr.Wesley Cornelious McClure, President
Roger Ogden-Sports Information Director

Frank Walker Annual Tuskegee Football Camp June 29-30

The Annual Frank B. Walker Football Camp will be held on Tuesday, June 29, from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and Wednesday, June 30 from 8 a.m.-noon. The camp will be at the Tuskegee University football field, Abbott Memorial Stadium. Registration will begin at 7:30 a.m. The camp and lunch is free to all participants. Sponsored by Love Life Foundation.

Walker, a graduate of Booker T. Washington High School in Tuskegee (Alabama) and Tuskegee University, plays corner back for the Baltimore Ravens of the National  Football League. Walker previously played for the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers. The 5-11/200 athlete was originally drafted by the New York Giants in the sixth round of the 2003 NFL Draft. He signed with the Ravens on March 13, 2008, and will be playing his 9th season in the NFL in 2010/11.

Walker plays in the third corner spot behind Pro Bowl starters Chris McAlister and Samari Rolle.

Smaller schools face economic challenges

TUSCALOOSA, AL -- While the University of Alabama’s athletic program is able to fund itself at a multi-million dollar level, that’s not the case with most schools. And Division II schools and junior colleges with athletic departments at the lower end of the economic spectrum face their own challenges. Stillman College, a private school just down the road from the University of Alabama, moved up to NCAA Division II in 2005 after playing at the non-scholarship Division III level for a few years after reviving its football program in 1999 after a 49-year hiatus.

Stillman College 2007, 2008, 2009 SIAC CHAMPIONS.

The school doesn’t fund the maximum scholarships allowed for every sport, but stacks up well among its peers in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. “We’re not at that level yet,” said Athletics Director Curtis Campbell. “We make increases each year. Somewhere down the road, we’ll be close (to 100 percent scholarship-funded). “If you look at the conference we compete in, we’re at about the middle of the conference or a little bit above in terms of what we give in athletic aid as opposed to what others give. We’ve got 13 schools in the conference and we’re probably fifth or sixth. Of course we’d love to be No. 1.”

Campbell is confident that Stillman sports programs have the facilities and support needed to be successful. “Each of our programs have everything that they need, the resources to get done what they need to get done,” he said. “Coaches always want more. They have wants, but their needs are met.”

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Ashton Johnson signs with Stillman College

FAIRHOPE, AL – Fairhope High School Pirates right-hander Ashton Johnson signed with Stillman College Monday in the Fairhope library. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound pitcher, who also swings the bat well, helped the Pirates reach the semi-finals in the 6A division this past spring. Now he's looking forward to the college experience with the Stillman Tigers in Tuscaloosa.

"I am just really excited to go play," Johnson said. "My family needs this and it is going to help out a lot. I am just really excited to know where I am going and I am glad that it is a nice school like Stillman. They are a very strong team and I think I will be a good fit for the program. It is a very good academic school and it will fit me perfectly. That is why I like Stillman." Johnson plans to major in psychology.

As a All-County senior right-hander, he went 5-2 with 62 strikeouts in 49-2/3 innings for the No. 2-ranked Pirates. "He was one of our most affable kids in the program in the last four years," said Fairhope head coach Stu Fuller. "He got along with everybody and just pulled for his teammates so hard. If you ask me what I am going to remember about Ashton, it is going to be that." Combined, Johnson finished his 2009 and 2010 seasons on the mound with a 9-5 record, 131 strikeouts, 79 walks and an earned run average of 4.51. The Pirates finished 35-9 overall.

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Howard Bison signs Talented Twin Towers--Leary and Boyomo

Howard University signee Alphonso Leary, Maury H.S. (#13) dunks over Kecoughtan's Buster Tucker (32) and Dimitri Batten (4) in the fourth quarter, Feb. 27, 2010, during an Eastern Region semifinal at The Scope in Norfolk. Maury won 66-62.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – It did not take Coach Kevin Nickelberry long to show that he is on a mission to take the Howard University men’s basketball program to the next level. Nickelberry, who has been on the job less that than two months, addressed one of the team’s biggest needs by announcing the signing of Alphonso Leary to a national letter of intent and Theodore Boyomo to a written offer of financial aid.

Leary is a 6-10, 200-pound center from Maury High School in Norfolk, VA who will help fill the void left by three Bison frontcourt players who graduated this past May. Leary averaged 11.8 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks while leading his team to a 22-8 record and the Eastern District Tournament championship. He recorded a career-high 24 points against Lake Taylor and was an All-Eastern District first team selection.

“I have been recruiting Alphonso for the past three years and he has grown and gotten better each time I have seen him,” said Nickelberry. “We are excited about his potential and what he brings to the program.”

A native of Yaounde, Cameroon, "Theo" Boyomo (#13) arrived at Kent in the fall of 2007 as a 16-year-old sophomore and quickly made his mark as not just an outstanding athlete but a superb citizen and student as well. With a 7’2” wingspan and tremendous athleticism, he has been widely recognized as the top defensive player in the region and was heavily recruited by high-profile Division I basketball programs, but also by Ivy League schools as well.

Boyomo is a 6-9, 225-pound senior from the Kent School in Kent, Ct. He was heavily recruited but Nickelberry was able to win out over such competitors as Canisius, Siena, Rutgers, Texas A&M, Colorado and Washington. Boyomo established himself as one of the premier defensive big men in the New England region and helped the Kent School to new heights, culminating with a Western New England championship this past March.

Boyomo was named to the New England All Defensive 1st Team as a center/forward. The big man is as college ready of a defensive anchor as there is in New England. He does it all on this end of the floor with the size and strength to guard opposing low post scorers without help on the block, the mobility and timing to erase teammate’s mistakes with his help-side shot blocking, and nose for the ball to finish plays by cleaning up the glass. On offense, he consistently makes the elbow jumper and has a reliable jump hook and up-and-under counter move in his arsenal with his back to the basket. Theo has a great NBA type frame, which should blow up with a serious weight lifting program at Howard. He led Kent to a 20-5 record his senior season and the Western New England championship.

An outstanding student, Boyomo finished as an honor roll student for six straight academic terms, despite having to learn English upon his arrival at the Kent School, Connecticut.

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Education and ministry focus of leadership for Rattlers' Blue

Former FAMU Rattlers defensive back Dr. Tyrone A. Blue is currently the principal of Grand Park Education Center in Jacksonville, FL and senior pastor at First Missionary Baptist Church of Gainesville, Florida. The West Nassau High School alumnus earned all-county honors as a Warrior student-athlete and was the first player in Nassau County to play in the North/South All-Star Game, competing in 1984.

As a former Warrior standout, Tyrone A. Blue took opposing teams to school. Now that he's an educator, he helps lead students and athletes down the path for success. Blue has served for four years as the principal of Grand Park Education Center in Jacksonville, which houses a wide gamut of students who have been forced out of the mainstream education system.

"This in itself is a ministry," he said. "Part of my ministry every day is to give them hope that they can be successful, but it's dependant on them to make good choices."

Education wasn't exactly the ideal career path for Blue, who had high ambition for the NFL as a defensive back for Florida A&M University. Two days prior to an NFL camp in the summer of his junior year, Blue suffered a broken neck from a car accident that permanently sidelined his career on the field. Being forced to rethink his path, Blue soon found the answer that would change his life.

"Through the experience, God spoke intimately," he said. "He told me, 'You saw yourself in the NFL, but I see you doing other work: my work.' That wasn't easy for me to take."

Before his career in education, Blue was a superior student athlete for West Nassau and FAMU. In 1984, he was the first player in Nassau County history to play in the North/South All-Star game in Winter Park. Despite losing a close game to the South team, Blue was blown away at the opportunity to be selected.

Winston-Salem State Rams to bring back baseball‎

Winston-Salem State University is bringing back baseball, a sport it last offered in the early 1970s. The team will start play in the spring of 2011, a condition of the school's readmission to the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA).

Leon Kerry, the CIAA commissioner, said: "We have a rule that was voted in by the CIAA Board of Directors that any school that comes into the conference had to have a baseball program. This was part of the deal with Winston coming back." Chancellor Donald Reaves of WSSU confirmed yesterday that plans to add baseball are in the works but said all details have yet to be worked out. Kerry said that WSSU is on the CIAA schedule for next season.

"I'm really excited about baseball coming to Winston-Salem State," Reaves said. "I think this will help raise the profile of athletics, and it's also great for the profile of the university.

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