Miles College sign Nine Basketball Players

FAIRFIELD, Alabama - Miles College head women's basketball coach Phillip Wallace has announced the signing of nine basketball players for the 2012-13 season. Included in this class is eight freshman and one junior college player. “I am extremely excited about this signing class. The young ladies are not just basketball players, but tremendous student-athletes,” said head coach Phillip Wallace.

Wallace signed the following players:

Aleasa Allen (6'2, FR, Center) from LoveJoy, GA (LoveJoy High School)
Allen scored 15 points per game and 10 rebounds

Darlicia Bond (5'7, FR, Guard) from Riverdale, GA (Mundy Mill High School)
Bond averaged 14 points per game and grabbed 5 rebounds

Ashley Curry (5'7, FR, Point Guard) from Birmingham, AL (Minor High School)

Rone Francis (5'8, FR, Guard) from Ozark, AL (Ozark High School)

Bianna Jones (5'10, FR, Forward) from Fairfield, AL (Fairfield High School)

De'Oshia Long (6'0, FR, Forward) from Adamsville, AL (Dora High School)

Ebony Mcneill (5'8, JR, Guard) from Fairburn, GA (Chattahoochee Valley Community College)

Shonkerria Nelson (5'6, FR, Point Guard) from Sandersville, GA (Washington County High School)
Nelson dished out 9 assist and scored 10 points per game

Imani Simmons (5'8, FR, Guard) from Sandersville, GA (Washington County High School)
Nelson scored 11 points per game

COURTESY MILES COLLEGE SPORTS INFORMATION

Renewed zeal: S.C. State Bulldogs want the MEAC title back

ORANGEBURG, South Carolina - The rigors of training camp have not gotten old for South Carolina State head football coach Buddy Pough. If anything, coming up short for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title last season has reenergized Pough’s focus entering his 11th season at the helm.

The same is apparently true for returning players like senior running back Asheton Jordan of Charleston, who’s hungry to retaste the championship success from the previous three seasons.

“It’s just the fact that we’re not on top,” Jordan said. “We lost the MEAC last year and that hasn’t happened at (S.C.) State in a while and everybody’s attitude is to win the MEAC championship and that’s what we’re working to. There’s no exceptions. We want to win the MEAC championship and advance in the (Football Championship Subdivision) playoffs.”

The serious tone was evident at Friday’s opening preseason practice at ...

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Delaware State Hornets Gear Up for Preseason Camp

DOVER, Delaware - The 2012 Delaware State University football team begins preseason camp next week. Hornet second-year head coach Kermit Blount expects about 85 players, including more than 50 returning letter winners, to report for camp.

Blount is eagerly anticipating his second preseason camp in Dover. Joining the Hornets just days before the beginning of the 2011 recruit signing period and weeks before the start of spring camp, DSU managed just three wins (3-8 overall; 1-7 MEAC) in his first season with the team.

Despite the record, the Hornets showed noticeable improvement on the field last season. DSU closed out the 2011 campaign with a 39-36 win over Howard, which featured one of the nation's stingiest defenses entering the contest. The Hornets racked up 412 total yards, including 324 passing during the game. The Bison were third among all FCS schools in pass defense (141.3 ypg) and fourth in total defense (288.5 ypg) prior to the contest.

Delaware State was also the most ...

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A&T Aggies haven’t lost hope despite NCAA sanctions

GREENSBORO, North Carolina — All the progress, all the momentum built from N.C. A&T’s four-game improvement in Rod Broadway’s first season as head football coach last year has gone for naught.

The Aggies welcome back almost all of their core, including back-to-back 1,000-yard rusher Mike Mayhew and three preseason first-team All-MEAC performers on defense, but their 2012 season is over before it has even started because of a one-year postseason ban levied by the NCAA as a result of poor Academic Progress Rate showings.



At least, that’s one way to look at it. Broadway and his players are choosing to approach the setback from another direction. They’re building something.

“We knew some of the situation when we accepted the job. To be honest, I didn’t know it was as bad as it is,” Broadway said. “We’re not going to complain about it. We’re just going to try to go to work and build a football team.”

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ASU Rams report to camp, amped to start 2012 season

ALBANY, Georgia — Justin Blash stepped on campus Thursday morning ready to push himself, ready to prove he and his teammates are better than they looked the last time they stepped off the field.

Albany State’s senior defensive lineman and the rest of his teammates reported to campus for the first time this season, and Blash said they all came together with one thing on their minds: hard work.

So when he ran into teammates Travis Walker and Darvel Nelson minutes after arriving, his first question was pretty simple.

“I said, ‘Y’all ready to get it?’ ” Blash said to the pair of offensive linemen, who will be going head-to-head against one another once practices start next week. “Darvel laughed at me and told me he is down to 328 (pounds), and Travis just gave me a little head nod. So I think we are ready to go.”



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Grambling starts fall practice

GRAMBLING, Louisiana — "First" couldn't come soon enough for the Grambling football team. The defending SWAC champions were eager to return to the field Thursday for their first fall practice, marking the earliest start by any local Division-I college and one that couldn't come quickly enough.

Several Tigers were outside by 5 p.m., more than two hours before a practice that didn't end until dark.

"It's pretty exciting, man," senior punter Fabian Carter said. "The team has got a lot of young, humble guys, and it's good as a senior and a leader, kinda workin' with 'em. We haven't even seen that first ring yet, but we're workin' on getting another one already. We're very excited."

Coach Doug Williams talked beforehand about how much he and his assistants looked forward to finally seeing several newcomers in action. He was pleased with attendance in summer ...

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Hampton Uniuversity Athletics Announces New Staff Appointments

HAMPTON, Virginia - Rodney D. Smith, administrative vice president at Hampton University has announced the appointment of Novelle Dickenson as the new athletics director, Alexiss Robinson as assistant athletics director and senior woman administrator and Kristen Drummond as compliance coordinator.

A university committee, made up of faculty, staff and administrators reviewed the credentials of thirty candidates over the past four months and conducted on-campus interviews with eight candidates for the position of director of athletics. The university was looking for an individual who was experienced in athletics and academics with a clear understanding of the need for balance between the two. In the end, the University assembled a team that would maximize skills and expertise for optimum athletics administrative leadership with a clear understanding of the role that academics play with student athletics.

“I believe Mr. Dickenson’s background in academics as well as athletics is a perfect fit for the athletic director position here at Hampton University,” said Hampton University President Dr. William R. Harvey. “He is passionate about Hampton athletics and is a staunch educator with more than 30 years of experience in the classroom and academic administration.”

Dickenson assumes duties today, August 2, replacing Interim Athletic Director Malcolm Avery, who held the position for the past four months. Dickenson is no stranger to Hampton or the athletic department having served as the faculty athletic representative for the past 12 years. Over the past three decades, Dickenson has also served as chair of the Hampton Department of Political Science and History, interim chair of the Department of Sociology, interim chair of the Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, pre-law advisor, faculty representative to the Hampton University Board of Trustees, member of the Tenure and Promotions Committee in the School of Liberal Arts.

Dickenson has served as President of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), and is a former member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Academic/Eligibility and Compliance Cabinet, including the Continuing Eligibility sub-committee. Dickenson received his undergraduate degree in political science from Hampton University, a master’s degree in political science from Howard University, as well as completed further post-graduate studies at Howard University.

Robinson joins the staff as the assistant athletic director/SWA with direct oversight of academic support and compliance. She will also have joint oversight with the athletic director over athletic performance and trainers. She is a 2003 graduate of Hampton University and holds a Master of Science degree in kinesiology-athletic administration from Indiana University. She comes to Hampton after serving as director of student-athlete support services at Howard, assistant director of compliance and student services at Temple University and compliance coordinator at Norfolk State University.

Drummond, who has been named compliance coordinator, spent the last year at Hampton as a coordinator of athletic academic support. She was responsible for monitoring athletic eligibility and degree advancement, while also advising student-athletes of course selection, career planning and working with at-risk student-athletes. Drummond has served as athletic academic graduate intern at the University of Iowa and athletic Academic program specialist at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Drummond earned both a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

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