NSU Spartans may be forced to opt for Plan B QB

NORFOLK, Virginia  --  Norfolk State quarterback Tyler Clark's hamstring isn't getting better as quickly as the Spartans would like, and time is running out before coach Pete Adrian has to decide whether to look elsewhere for his starter in the season opener.

Clark, a 6-foot-4, 230-pound junior from Chesapeake who started six games last season, took his first live reps Wednesday since fall camp opened on Aug. 4. Named the starter after spring ball, he pulled his hamstring during summer workouts and strained it on the first day of fall practice.

"It just hasn't responded," Adrian said, adding that he'll name a starter for the Aug. 30 season opener at Maine after the Spartans' scrimmage Saturday. "He gets treatment every day. I mean, I wish I could touch it and say, 'Heal,' but it doesn't work that way." 

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PVAMU Panther Football Scrimmage Highlights

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas -- The Prairie View A&M Panther football team had a brief scrimmage on Saturday which focused mainly on passing situations.  Michael Prince discussed the scrimmage with head coach Heishma Northern in addition to turning his attention towards Texas Southern.

The Labor Day Classic will be played on Sunday, Aug. 31 at 4 p.m. in NRG Stadium in Houston. Log on to www.LABORDAYCLASSIC.com for more information.



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Tuskegee ranked 25th in AFCA Division II Top 25 poll

TUSKEGEE, Alabama  -- Tuskegee enters the 2014 season ranked 25th in the American Football Coaches Association NCAA Division II preseason poll released Monday.

The Golden Tigers finished last season 8-3 as they made their first D-II playoff appearance ever.

Tuskegee lost 30-27 at North Alabama in the opening round. North Alabama is ranked fifth in the AFCA poll behind defending national champion and top-ranked Northwest Missouri State, Grand Valley State (Mich.), Minnesota-Duluth and Colorado State-Pueblo.

Tuskegee also landed on the Sporting News (21st) and Lindy's (25th) preseason polls.

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XU announces walk-on tryouts for 2014-15 teams

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana announced Tuesday walk-on tryout dates and times for the majority of its 2014-15 intercollegiate athletics teams and the cheerleading squad. 

Tryouts are open to XU students enrolled in a minimum 12 hours for the fall 2014 semester. Prospects must have medical insurance and be prepared to sign an assumption of risk waiver form.

The details:

•  Men's and women's cross country — Wednesday (Aug. 20) through Aug. 27, 4 p.m. daily at the Convocation Center. Information: Coach Joseph Moses, 504-520-5007 or jmoses@xula.edu

•  Women's volleyball — Saturday (Aug. 23) from 4-5:30 p.m. at the Convocation Center. Tryout will follow the Gold Nuggets' season opener against Faulkner. Arrive at 3:45 p.m. for paper work. Information: Coach Hilary Lobenstein, 504-520-5344 or hlobenst@xula.edu.
    
•  Women's basketball — Aug. 25 and 27 at the Convocation Center, 6 to 8 p.m. both days. Information: Coach Darrilyn Broussard, 504-520-7513 or dbrouss1@xula.edu.
    
•  Men's basketball — Sept. 6 at 10:30 a.m. at the Convocation Center. Information: Coach Alfred Williams, 504-520-6778 or awilli39@xula.edu.
    
•  Men's and women's tennis — Sept. 11 at 3:30 p.m. at XU Tennis Center. Information: Coach Alan Green, 504-520-5008 or amgreen@xula.edu.
    
•  Cheerleaders (women and men) — Interest meeting Aug. 25 at 6 p.m., clinic Aug. 27-28 from 5:30-7:30 p.m., final auditions Aug. 29 at 6 p.m. All activities will be conducted in room 215 (second floor) of the Convocation Center Annex. Information: Coach Orion Prater, 504-952-3161.
    
Men's and women's track and field will conduct tryouts during the spring semester.

 

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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ASU Defense Still Strong; Offense Better in Second Scrimmage

MONTGOMERY, Alabama  -- The Alabama State University football team held its' second scrimmage of preseason camp and once again the defense showed how strong it was in controlling most of the scrimmage.  The difference was in today's scrimmage the Hornets' offense did show some marked improvement by scoring three touchdowns and kicking two field goals. 

"Of course last week I was a little disappointed, but this one here was a little better," Head Coach Reggie Barlow said.  "Offensively we started out a little slowly but the guys fought back.  Obviously we know our defense is playing with a lot of confidence right now and doing some good things, but I was encouraged to see our offense fight back."

In the 60-play scrimmage the Hornets offense managed 230 yards on 53 offensive plays, with three of those plays culminating in touchdown passes; two from Quinterius Toppings and one from true freshman Cardelral Cook.

ASU's rushing game managed 96 yards on 29 carries and while the quarterbacks were rushed and harassed most of the scrimmage they did manage to complete 11 of their 23 pass attempts for 134 yards and the three scores.

Daniel Duhart actually led the rushing offense with 30 yards on two carries while freshman walkon Brandon Watkins finished with 20 yards on four carries.  The Hornets top running backs Malcolm Cyrus and Khalid Thomas were held out of action.



Photos from today's scrimmage

"When you're missing Khalid and of course Malcolm it's tough and we have Bates (Offensive tackle Matthew) out," Barlow said.  "We have a lot of players not practice; Barnes our other real good tight end, so we had to adjust a little bit without changing a whole bunch of what we do, but the guys that were there found a way to fight through it and I was encouraged by that, but it makes it awfully tough on the offense when 80 percent of your offense is standing on the sideline."

Toppings led the quarterbacks completing seven of his 12 attempts for the two scores and 98 yards.  He threw a 40 yard scoring pass to freshman Joe Williams and a 39 yarder to another freshman Brenten Lindsey.

Cook only attempted two passes but completed one of those from 20 yards out to Shawan Parks for the third scoring toss of the scrimmage.

ASU starter Daniel Duhart only played a few series and completed four of his 10 attempts for 16 yards.

"There were a ton of big plays made today," Barlow said.  "QT (Toppings) made some great throws as did Cook and some of the freshmen guys stepped up with big catches."

On defense, Kourtney Berry and Deontrelle Silmon led the way with six stops each.  Silmon had two stops behind the line of scrimmage and Berry added another.

Like last week, the defense was in the offensive backfield a lot of the scrimmage with 10 stops behind the line of scrimmage (-47 yards) and had six sacks which cost the offense 36 yards.

Kadeem Murray had two of the sacks while Antonio Humphrey, Robert Brown, Edward Mosley and Derrick Billups added sacks.

The defense added a defensive score, just as they did in last week's scrimmage, although this time it was by a fumble return.  Humphrey forced a fumble midway through the scrimmage and Selwyn Torbert scooped up the loose ball and made his way down the field for 56 yards for the score.

ASU is breaking in two freshmen kickers and spent a lot of time on the kicking games over the past week of practice and it seemed to show as both kickers showed some improvement.

Adam Shepherd hit his two field goal attempts, one from 42 yards out and another from 45.  He hit two of his three extra point attempts and averaged 32 yards per punt on his two punts without any return yardage.

Preston Clark missed two field goals, but made up for by hitting all three of his extra points and boomed a 49 yard punt in his only punt attempt.

"Our kickers, I love those guys," Barlow said.  "Adam Shepherd and Preston Clark today had an opportunity to do some stuff in some special teams work early on.  I wanted to see those guys kick here in the stadium and I though Adam's leg was really alive today.  He had some good kickoffs and really did well on field goals."

"Preston, I think he missed a field goal, but he still did a good job for us and hit a really good punt, so we're encouraged by that.  Our thing is these guys are untested, fresh out of high school, and we have to keep working with them.  Like I mentioned to them it's about them gaining their confidence."

ASU will be off on Sunday, but will be back on the practice field at 3 p.m. Monday afternoon to begin their third week of preseason camp.

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Countdown to Kickoff: Day Three - Lincoln University Coach Jones Previews Fall Camp (VIDEO)

JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri  -- The following is part of www.LUBlueTigers.com's Countdown to Kickoff series. Each day, from August 15 (when players report to campus) to September 6 (when Lincoln opens the season against Langston in The Missouri Classic in Kansas City), www.LUBlueTigers.com will offer a different feature in anticipation of the upcoming Lincoln football season. Check back daily for more updates on your Blue Tigers!



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Southern running back depth shows

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana  -- Southern plans to run the ball more frequently and more effectively this season than it did last season.

The Jaguars demonstrated why during a scrimmage Saturday morning in A.W. Mumford Stadium.

The depth shone through as Lenard Tillery, the incumbent starter, didn’t enter the scrimmage until late, and Tyre Bracken, a talented transfer who arrived just a week ago, was held out because of a minor injury.

So Malcolm Crockett, Jamarcus Jarvis and John West all were in the spotlight and they showed that Southern has at least a handful of starting-quality running backs. Herb Edwards, who has impressed during preseason camp, also rested a minor injury.

“I’m pleased with that whole room,” coach Dawson Odums said after the final workout of camp. “As talented as that room is, don’t go down. Whatever you do, don’t get on the injury list because that’s giving somebody else more reps.”

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