Q&A with Coppin State coach Fang Mitchell

Baltimore, MD - It's been an unusual recruiting cycle for Coppin State men's basketball coach Fang Mitchell.

Mitchell guided the Eagles to a 16-14 record last season, but his team lost four scholarships -- three this year and one next season -- because of Coppin's Academic Progress Rate. With 10 scholarship players coming back for another season, Mitchell had no scholarships to give for the 2011 class.

Mitchell also had to deal with questions about his future at Coppin thanks to his expiring contract. In May, after months of uncertainty, the university gave the 63-year-old coach a three-year extension.

While there were no new recruits to talk about this year, Mitchell spoke to Recruiting Report last week about his 2011-12 Eagles squad:

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FAMU Football Anxious to Start Season

Tallahassee, Fla -- The Rattlers have waited nine months to get a chance to get after someone besides themselves, and Saturday the wait finally ends.

"I feel like a gladiator before a fight," says defensive tackle Padric Scott. "I'm ready for the cage to go up so I can run into the ring and show everything I've been training for."

"I'm kind of relieved," adds quarterback Austin Trainor. "All of this hard work that we've put in for the past six months, going to spring workouts, summer workouts, camps and everything, all the seven on sevens. Really we just get to go out and showcase it this week."

The Rattlers don't have to wait till week five for their home opener, in the first week of the season.



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Prairie View A&M hopes to regain championship form

Prairie View, Texas - Henry Frazier III was the face of the Prairie View A&M program for the last seven years before resigning as coach in December to become head coach at North Carolina Central. That left the task of carrying on the program's success to former defensive coordinator Heishma Northern.

Frazier led the Panthers to winning seasons in each of his final four years, winning the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship in 2009. Northern played a huge role in that success, orchestrating a defense that was second in the Football Championship Subdivision in scoring defense in 2007 and third in 2008. The pressure will be on Northern to build on Frazier's numbers. Anything less than a strong season in 2011 would constitute a setback for the program.

The Panthers return only 10 starters and plan to go with a two-quarterback system in the ...



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XU Nuggets' Reuther is GCAC Player of the Week

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana freshman Taylor Reuther is the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Week in women's volleyball for Aug. 22-28, the conference announced Monday.

Reuther — a 5-foot-7 outside hitter from Metairie, La., and a graduate of St. Mary's Dominican High School in New Orleans — earned the award after recording 16 kills and 17 digs Friday in Xavier's 25-19, 25-17, 18-25, 24-26, 15-12 season-opening loss at
Belhaven. Reuther did something no Gold Nugget did in 2010 — reach 15 kills and 15 digs in the same match. Xavier had only three individual kill-dig double-doubles in 37 matches last season.

Xavier (1-1) will play city rival Loyola in its next match at 6 p.m. Sunday at Loyola's home facility, The Den. Xavier's next home opponent will be Judson (Ala.) on Sept. 8.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS

Grambling, Alcorn State favored to meet for SWAC title

About the SWAC

Player to watch
Casey Therriault, Jackson State

The quarterback took the SWAC by storm last season with 3,436 yards and 31 touchdowns - with just eight interceptions - and he'll likely be a sore spot for SWAC defensive coordinators again in 2011.

Overview
The SWAC saw an unusual amount of head-coaching turnover in its programs during the offseason. On top of that, SWAC member presidents voted to uphold the NCAA's postseason ban on Jackson State and Southern. Grambling State is the favorite in the Western Division and will be aiming for its first SWAC title since 2008. Jackson State is the favorite to win the East, but because the Tigers are ineligible to appear in the SWAC championship game, Alcorn State will be the next in line to represent that division.

Toughest schedule
Prairie View A&M



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Rutgers Football vs. NCCU Eagles: Know Your Opponent

Piscataway, NJ - Welcome to the first installment of a new feature – Know Your Opponent (KYO). Each Tuesday we will conduct a question and answer session with a representative from the Scarlet Knights opponent during that week. This week we hooked up with Chris Hooks, the Assistant Sports Information Director for North Carolina Central University and Play-by-Play man for the NCCU Sports Network.

If you have a moment, make sure to check out the Durham based NCCU athletics website and twitter feed. I do have to admit I was very impressed with the Eagles media campaign, which includes You Tube interviews. The program appears to have a growing following and they are excited about having this opportunity to play at Rutgers. Enjoy:



As this is your first season being fully integrated into FCS football what are your expectations for the 2011 season?

This will be my fourth football season as the radio play-by-play voice at NCCU and I can say this and get no odd looks from the Eagle faithful. The anticipation for this year, the excitement of a new coaching staff who has already proven to be a winner in their previous stops has this fan base ready to explode. The last few years have been a real struggle for the fans and for this program only because the transition to Division I is not easy, but we’ve made it and that’s why expectations this year are such. Our fans are ready to have that hope for a championship like every other FCS school in the nation.

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NSU: Boyce starting at WR, special teams a strength

Norfolk, VA - When Norfolk State wide receiver Xavier Boyce isn’t sure of his route, or his role, in a certain play he’ll look to his wide receivers coach or offensive coordinator, shrug his shoulders and hold out his hands.

Fortunately for the Spartans, that’s happening less and less often.

“I pretty much have most of it,” Boyce said. “There’s still little kinks that I have to work on. The more I practice, the more I work on it, the more it’s going to come.”



So infrequently, in fact, that NSU bumped Boyce into its most important wide receiver position, the starter at the “X” position, which traditionally leads a Joe Blackwell offense in catches.

“He and Reggie are out there right now,” Adrian said. “I think as it develops you’ll see ...

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