S.C. State, Pirates' Sanchez cited in improving MEAC

NORFOLK, VA - South Carolina State is the clear favorite to repeat as Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football champ, but league coaches say that if the Bulldogs win the title they will have earned it. The word "parity" was heard quite often Friday at the MEAC's football media shindig, where league coaches voted S.C. State quarterback Malcolm Long and Hampton linebacker Julio Sanchez preseason players of the year.

"I'd say this is the best it's ever been," said Norfolk State's Pete Adrian, who is in his 13th year in the conference as a head coach and assistant. "There might have been better teams, … but out of the original members that are here, every one of them can beat you. You have to be ready to play."



Florida A&M was picked to finish second. Adrian's Spartans, on paper he said the best returning team he's had, were voted third. Hampton University was picked fourth.

"That's what the coaches around the league think, but that's not something we use as a measuring stick," said Pirates coach Donovan Rose, who overhauled his staff after a 5-6 record and uncharacteristic sixth-place finish in the conference.

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New FAMU AD comes from Ole Miss

FAMU's president James Ammons confirmed Friday that Horne has accepted the job as the Rattlers' athletic director, under a three year contract.

TALLAHASSEE, FLA. — Derek Horne, an associate athletic director at Ole Miss, has been hired as the athletic director at Florida A&M, FAMU president James Ammons confirmed tonight.

“I think Derek has a wide-range of experiences at the University of Mississippi and in the SEC, a conference that is a football powerhouse,” Ammons said. Ammons touted Horne’s leadership abilities, saying that he has “the potential to help us usher in a new era in Rattlers sports.”

According to an offer letter sent by the school to Horne and obtained by the Democrat, Horne will receive a three-year contract at $200,000 annually. “This offer is conditioned upon your written acceptance, and successful completion and review of a criminal background check,” Ammons wrote in his offer letter to Horne.

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NSU receiver Hayden ruled ineligible this season

Coach Pete Adrian has stated that Norfolk State's recently-released Academic Progress Rate (for 2008-09) was tops in the MEAC and among all HBCUs.

Norfolk, VA -- Norfolk State wide receiver P.J. Hayden, the second leading receiver on last year's team, will redshirt this season after being ruled academically ineligible. His loss means Norfolk State will be trying to replace more than two-thirds of its receiving yardage, more than half its receptions and all but one touchdown. In addition to Hayden, the Spartans lost quarterback Dennis Brown to graduation and receiver Chris Bell, who left a year early to attempt to go pro.

Coach Pete Adrian said the academic issue was not grade-point-average related, but occurred because Hayden repeated a class and didn't meet the NCAA's credit-hour requirement. He will remain in school and participate with the scout team. Running back DeAngelo Branche becomes the team's leader among returning players in receiving yards with 250, and the top pass-catcher due in camp will be wideout Jeremy Wicker. He caught 25 passes for 191 yards.

"We have four guys who played regularly," Adrian said. "We had three freshmen redshirt - they have speed - and we brought in a JUCO (Montel Gamble). We've also got some running backs who are hybrids and can catch the ball and run with it."

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Albany State Rams: 'Get it done'

ALBANY, GA — Every college football season begins with uncertainty. Players come and go, strategies change and teams that don’t win a championship the year before look for areas to improve the next season. Albany State is no exception, coming off a season where it started 7-0, only to lose three out of its last four and finish the season at 8-3, leaving area fans scratching their heads.

The team was back at the drawing board this summer, but as far as head coach Mike White is concerned, there is no doubt the Rams can add another Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship to their stash this season. “We think we’re going to be a very good football team in 2010,” said White, who has led ASU to four championships as he enters his 10th season as the Rams’ head coach. “We have to constantly improve. Each year, the goal is the same, to improve on what we did (the last year) and find those things we have to work on and get ready for the season.”

As if ASU didn’t have enough incentive, the SIAC’s preseason predictions — released Wednesday — picked nine Rams for the first team, but surprisingly picked the team to finish second behind Tuskegee. Those rankings don’t matter to White, though, who said his team’s play on the field does all the talking. “That’s the difference in being at Albany State,” White said. “You just gotta get it done.”

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SC State Leads MEAC 2010 Preseason Poll

NORFOLK, VA – Two-time defending champion South Carolina State has been picked to win the 2010 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title by a poll of league coaches and sports Information directors, the league announced Friday at its annual press luncheon at the downtown Marriott. SC State head football coach emeritus Willie Jeffries served as Em Cee for the event.

Friday's predictions marked the fourth consecutive time Coach Buddy Pough's team has been picked to win the coveted crown which the Bulldogs have captured each of the last two seasons. The only season SC State did not live up to its previous preseason billing was the 2008 campaign when Pough's team finished second.

S.C. State Coach Oliver "Buddy Pough Bulldogs are once again the MEAC favorite to three-peat as conference champions.

Pough, who has to find replacements for 10 starters -- including All-America running back Will Ford, who ended his career as the all-time leading rusher in SC State and MEAC history – said the selection of his team as this year's preseason favorite, demonstrates the respect the conference has for the Bulldog program.

"It's a tremendous tribute to our program to be selected to win our league again," Pough said. "It shows the respect the coaches and SIDs around the league has for our program, our players, and our staff and also for what we have managed to do the last two years.

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When the halftime show is better than the game

Tokyo, Japan -- University marching bands can be seen taking the field at halftime shows throughout the United States during football season. The hundreds-strong groups consist of brass, a huge drum section and woodwinds, and keep the football-hungry fans entertained before the second half. Unless you are in the South, that is. There, the football game is just the lead-up; the bands are the show.

"There are two battles going on: There's the football game and the bands," says Brian Snell, drum major and casting director for Drumline Live, a touring show highlighting the musical traditions of the United States' Historically Black Colleges and Universities. "The team makes a great play and you hear the crowd, then the band is great and you hear the crowd: There's so much more going on to keep you entertained."

In the 2002 sleeper hit movie Drumline, Nick Cannon plays a particularly talented snare drummer who joins one of the country's most respected marching bands. As in real life, the musicians find themselves in serious rivalries with other schools, with the high-precision bands interrupting each other midperformance, and the fans as rabid about the high-energy music and dancing as they are about the football.

"There are situations where we're going into a hostile territory, and it's like, 'Hey, you're not our band. What are you doing here? Get out of here!'" he says.



With a cast consisting of nearly 40 top musicians from throughout the South, the rivalry is the first thing the cast of Drumline Live had to overcome, Snell--an alumni of top drumline school Florida A&M--says. "At the end of the day, we do respect each other's organizations, we respect our rivals, we all represent the same band. We love our craft and we want to promote it.

"But, when it comes to Saturday night, if you are cross that stadium, you're not my friend!"

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RELATED LINK: http://www.drumlinelive.com/

Playoff or pay-off? MEAC decision a 'win-win'

Norfolk, VA - There's a difficult decision ahead for Mid- Eastern Athletic Conference football, and there may not be a right or wrong answer considering both of the given options have merit.

"A win-win situation," according to Norfolk State football coach Pete Adrian.

Just as the FCS is expanding its playoff format from 16 to 20 teams this season, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference schools are weighing in on the idea of giving up the automatic bid afforded its champion, beginning in 2011, to return to a bowl game against the champion of the nation's other Historically Black Colleges and Universities league, the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

Talk of the potential Legacy Bowl has gone on for some time. Decision day is nearing.

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Norfolk State University "Hot Ice" vs. North Carolina A&T State University "Golden Delight"