Wilson Central's Ray Coggins commits to TSU

LEBANON, Tennessee -- Wilson Central senior defensive back Ray Coggins has committed to play football at Tennessee State University.

Coggins announced his decision via Twitter on Wednesday morning, posting from his account, “It’s been a long and tough journey but I finally found a place to call home at Tennessee State University.”

Coggins, who had previously committed to Eastern Kentucky in early July, is a three-star prospect and the state’s 48th-ranked prospect according to 247Sports.

The 5-foot-11, 185-pound Coggins tallied 22 tackles and an interception as a senior last season, helping lead the Wildcats to an 8-3 record — their best regular-season finish since 2011.

CONTINUE READING

XU Wednesday doubleheader with William Carey canceled

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana and William Carey University have mutally agreed to cancel their Wednesday (Feb. 1) basketball doubleheader.

William Carey's campus in Hattiesburg, Miss., was struck this past Saturday (Jan. 21) by an EF3 tornado (wind speeds between 136 to 165 mph). Campus damages included Carey's basketball facility, Clinton Gym.

"We are keeping William Carey and the Hattiesburg community in our thoughts and prayers as they repair and rebuild," XULA Director of Athletics & Recreation Jason Horn said. "At this point we have not decided if we will replace Carey with other opponents."

XULA's next games will be Saturday in the Crosstown Classic against Dillard at the Convocation Center. The women's game will tip off at 3 p.m., with the men to start at 5.



Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
twitter.com/xulagold
www.facebook.com/xulagold 

6 student-athletes join XULA tennis for spring 2017

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana has added six more student-athletes to the tennis teams for the 2017 spring semester.

Coach Alan Green announced the signing of five men and one woman:

     •  Pierre Andrieu, a sophomore from Tours, France, and a business major at XULA.
     •  Catalin Fifea, a junior from Bucharest, Romania. He's a sociology major.
     •  Moses Micheal, a freshman from Kaduna, Nigeria, and a business major.
     •  Oran Reznick, a freshman from Ashkelon, Israel. Reznick is majoring in business.
     •  Antoine Richard, a freshman from Laval, Quebec, and a finance major.
     •  Yi Chen Pao, a freshman from Taichung City, Taiwan. Pao is undecided on her major.
     
The XULA men, the NAIA national runner-up last season, will open their season Saturday with a pair of dual matches at NCAA Division I Louisiana-Lafayette. Times will be 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. At noon Sunday, the Gold Rush and Gold Nuggets will play city rival Loyola at XULA Tennis Center. Admission is free to all XULA home matches.
     
"We lost three All-Americans from a team that reached the national championship match last year," Green said. "We brought in some guys that we feel good about that can hopefully elevate our team to contend for another shot at the final match again. We will have some early tests in our schedule that will give us a good indication if we can get back there."
     
Of Pao, Green said, "She is going to add good depth to the Gold Nuggets."
     
Fifea is a transfer from NCAA Division I member VCU, where he was first-team All-Atlantic 10 Conference this past season. The other men have considerable experience in junior tennis; all combined they've won nearly 30 tournament championships at that level.
     
Pao is one of four Gold Nuggets in their first year in the program. The others — freshmen Lacee Ancar of Harvey, La., and Lyndsey Clark of Jacksonville, Fla., and seniorEmma Kranendonk of Heemskerk, The Netherlands — competed for XULA during the fall semester.
     
XULA's men were No. 2, and the women were No. 19 in the NAIA coaches polls announced Tuesday.

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
twitter.com/xulagold
www.facebook.com/xulagold 

Huss defensive end Devin Harrell commits to North Carolina A&T

GASTONIA, North Carolina – After setting the school record for sacks and helping the Huss football team to one of its best seasons in decades, Devin Harrell will be moving on to play football at the next level.

Harrell verbally committed to play Division I football at North Carolina A&T next season. He went on an official visit to Greensboro on Friday, Jan. 13 and shortly after made his choice to play for the Aggies. Harrell will sign his National Letter of Intent to make the decision official on Wednesday after school at the Hunter Huss High School library.

DEVIN HARRELL HIGHLIGHTS

“I loved it man,” Harrell said of his impressions after the visit. “It’s a nice school, nice environment. They have a good coaching staff there that can make me a better player and person.”

As a senior this fall, Harrell finished the year with 21 sacks on his way to being named Big South Conference defensive player of the year. He and fellow senior defensive end Amari Torrence (15 sacks) dubbed themselves the “Bash Brothers” and terrorized opposing quarterbacks in the backfield all season.

That defensive line was a key piece of a historic season for the Huskies. Huss went undefeated in the Big South and the Huskies won their first conference championship since 1996. The Huskiees went on to beat Parkwood and R-S Central in the first two rounds of the playoffs before falling to eventual state champion Shelby on the road in the third round.

CONTINUE READING

Tennessee Tiger Football Announces 2017 Schedule

Tentative 2017 Schedule

NASHVILLE, Tennessee -- Tennessee State University released its 2017 football schedule on Wednesday. The Tigers’ slate is highlighted with a game at FBS Georgia State and matchups with two longtime HBCU rivals.

TSU will travel to Atlanta to face Sun Belt member Georgia State to open the season. The game is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 31. The Tigers will then travel to Memphis for its annual game with Jackson State in the Southern Heritage Classic on Sept. 9.

The following week (Sept. 16) will pit the Big Blue against Florida A&M at a location to be announced at a later date.

“We feel this contest is a terrific financial and recruiting opportunity for both our universities,” said Director of Athletics Teresa Phillips. “We have a great rivalry with Florida A&M and are excited about the prospect of continuing this series.”

TSU is also in negotiations with an opponent for the John Merritt Classic. The game will take place on either Oct. 21 or Nov. 4. Full details will be announced at a later date.



Tennessee State will begin Ohio Valley Conference play with a trip on Sept. 23 to take on UT Martin. The conference schedule will bring Eastern Illinois, Austin Peay and Southeast Missouri to Nashville, while the Tigers will take to the road for games at Eastern Kentucky, Tennessee Tech and a Thursday night battle on Nov. 16 at Jacksonville State.

Austin Peay will provide opposition to the Tigers in this year’s homecoming contest. The game is scheduled for Oct. 14 at Nissan Stadium.

TSU is coming off a 7-4 finish and a 4-3 record in the OVC. The Tigers closed out the season with a 32-31 victory at Southeast Missouri.

Tentative 2017 Schedule

TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS

WSSU Rams Announce 2017 Football Schedule

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina -- The Winston-Salem State Department of Athletics is happy to announce the 2017 football schedule.

The two-time defending CIAA Champion Rams will play five home games this season at Bowman Gray Stadium, including the Winston-Salem Football Classic.

WSSU will open the season on the road at UNC Pembroke on August 31st.

The Rams will host Catawba in the 2017 Winston-Salem Football Classic, on September 9th, and then will visit the state of Virginia, for two consecutive weeks. The Rams will travel to Richmond to take on Virginia Union University on September 16th, and will return to Petersburg the following week to take on Virginia State University on September 23rd. Winston-Salem State will wrap up September hosting Lincoln University on September 30th.

2017 WSSU football schedule

Aug. 31 WSSU at UNC Pembroke
Sept. 9 Catawba at WSSU
Sept. 16 WSSU at Va. Union*
Sept. 23 WSSU at Va. State
Sept. 30 Lincoln (Pa.) at WSSU
Oct. 7 J.C. Smith at WSSU
Oct. 14 WSSU at St. Augustine’s
Oct. 21 WSSU at Livingstone
Oct. 28 Shaw at WSSU
Nov. 4 Fayetteville St. at WSSU
*nonconference game

Winston-Salem State will host Johnson C. Smith at Bowman Gray Stadium on October 7th, before taking the show on the road for two straight weeks. On October 14th, WSSU will travel to Raleigh to face the St. Augustine's University Falcons. The following week, WSSU travels to Salisbury, to face the Blue Bears of Livingstone College. The Rams will wrap up October with a home game versus Shaw, for Homecoming 2017.

The month of November will find the Rams at home for Senior Day on the 4th, as WSSU will host the Broncos of Fayetteville State.

The CIAA Championship will be played on November 11th. The site has yet to be announced.

All game times and any television games will be released at a later date.

WINSTON-SALEM STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS

Rush, Nuggets return to court for duals this weekend

NEW ORLEANS — It's another star-studded, power-packed spring-semester schedule for the men's and women's tennis teams at Xavier University of Louisiana.

The Gold Rush and Gold Nuggets will play this weekend the first four of a combined 36 regular-season dual matches in 2017. Saturday the XULA men will visit NCAA Division I's Louisiana-Lafayette for duals at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday the Rush and Nuggets will play city rival Loyola at noon at XULA Tennis Center.

Alan Green, in his 14th season as coach of the XULA men and women, announced the schedule Thursday. The competition will be XULA's first since the Big Easy Classic Oct. 28-29.

The Gold Rush — the NAIA national runner-up in 2016 and No. 2 in the preseason coaches poll announced Tuesday — will play five duals against NCAA Division I (UL Lafayette twice, Nicholls State, Florida Atlantic, Jackson State), two against top-10 NCAA Division II opponents (No. 6 Columbus State, No. 9 West Florida), one against a top-10 NCAA Division III opponent (No. 2 Emory) and six against ranked NAIA teams (No. 1 Georgia Gwinnett, No. 4 Keiser twice, No. 7 William Carey twice, No. 12 Cumberlands).

The Gold Nuggets — ranked No. 1 a combined five times in 2012 and 2013 and No. 19 in the 2017 preseason — will play seven duals against NCAA Division I (Tulane, South Alabama, Southern Miss, Nicholls State, Florida Atlantic, Jackson State, Southern), two against top-10 NCAA Division II opponents (No. 7 West Florida, No. 8 Columbus State) and nine against ranked NAIA teams (No. 1 Georgia Gwinnett, No. 4 Brenau, No. 7 Indiana Wesleyan, No. 11 Keiser twice, No. 12 William Carey twice, No. 14 LSU-Alexandria, No. 24 Cumberlands).

There also will be road exhibitions against two-year ASA Miami, whose men are No. 2 and women No. 3 in NJCAA Division I. ASA Miami will be the first of three Rush and Nuggets duals in south Florida in mid-March.

The NAIA National Championships will be played at Mobile, Ala., for the 14th consecutive season. The Gold Rush will attempt to qualify for nationals for the ninth consecutive year and the ninth time overall; the Gold Nuggets will try to qualify for the sixth consecutive year, the ninth time in 10 years and the 11th time overall.

2017 XULA Tennis Schedule
Team(s) Date(s) Opponent Site Time(s)

Men Jan. 28 (Sat.) at Louisiana-Lafayette (DH) Lafayette, La. 10 and 2 p.m.
Both Jan. 29 (Sun.) LOYOLA (N.O.) XU TENNIS CENTER Noon
Women Feb. 4 (Sat.) at South Alabama Mobile, Ala. 11 a.m.
Women Feb. 7 (Tue.) at Southern Miss Hattiesburg, Miss. 2:30 p.m.
Both Feb. 14 (Tue.) NICHOLLS STATE XU TENNIS CENTER 2 p.m.
Both Feb. 17 (Fri.) Keiser Lawrenceville, Ga. (1) 11 a.m. EST
Both Feb. 17 (Fri.) Cumberlands Lawrenceville, Ga. (1) 5 p.m. EST
Women Feb. 18 (Sat.) Indiana Wesleyan Lawrenceville, Ga. (1) 5 p.m. EST
Men Feb. 18 (Sat.) Emory Lawrenceville, Ga. (1) 6 p.m. EST
Both Feb. 19 (Sun.) at Georgia Gwinnett Lawrenceville, Ga. (1) 10 a.m. EST
Women Feb. 27 (Mon.) Brenau Mobile, Ala. 4 p.m.
Both March 3 (Fri.) WILLIAM CAREY XU TENNIS CENTER 3 p.m.
Both March 16 (Thu.) at ASA Miami (exhibition) North Miami Beach, Fla. TBA
Both March 17 (Fri.) at Keiser West Palm Beach, Fla. TBA
Both March 18 (Sat.) at Florida Atlantic Boca Raton, Fla. TBA
Women April 1 (Sat.) at LSU-Alexandria Alexandria, La. 1 p.m.
Women April 5 (Wed.) at Southern Baton Rouge, La. 3 p.m.
Both April 8 (Sat.) at Jackson State Jackson, Miss. Noon
Women April 9 (Sun.) at Tulane New Orleans, La. 3 p.m.
Both April 13 (Thu.) at West Florida Pensacola, Fla. 1 p.m.
Both April 14 (Fri.) Columbus State Pensacola, Fla. 10 a.m.
Both April 15 (Sat.) at William Carey Hattiesburg, Miss. 11 a.m.
Both TBA NAIA Unaffiliated Group
Tournament TBA TBA
Both May 16 (Tue.) -
May 20 (Sat.) NAIA National Championships Mobile, Ala. TBA

# Gulf Coast Athletic Conference dual match
(DH) doubleheader
(1) Georgia Gwinnett Grizzly Invitational
Home matches (in bold and CAPITAL LETTERS) are played at XULA Tennis Center (capacity 200), Xavier University campus, New Orleans
TBA — to be announced
All times are Central, except where noted
Schedule is subject to change

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
twitter.com/xulagold
www.facebook.com/xulagold