North Carolina Central Picked To Defend MEAC Championship

NORFOLK, Virginia -- North Carolina Central was picked to defend its MEAC Football Championship as the Eagles topped the league's annual preseason poll. Voting for the poll is conducted by the MEAC's 11 head coaches and football sports information directors.

The Eagles received 13 first-place votes to narrowly finish ahead of rival North Carolina A&T State, who finished with 10 first-place votes. South Carolina State was picked to finish third while Bethune-Cookman was picked fourth. Hampton was tabbed to finish fifth followed by Florida A&M, Norfolk State, Morgan State, Howard, Savannah State and Delaware State.

1. North Carolina Central (13)
2. North Carolina A&T State (5)
3. South Carolina State
4. Bethune-Cookman
5. Hampton (1)
6. Florida A&M
7. Norfolk State
8. Morgan State
9. Howard
10. Savnnah State
11. Delaware State (1)

COURTESY MEAC MEDIA RELATIONS

Stafford-Odom settles in at NCCU

DURHAM, North Carolina -- Doing your job virtually might work in some professions, but it’s not ideal for a basketball coach.

That’s exactly what new N.C. Central women’s basketball coach Trisha Stafford-Odom had to do for a while. Stafford-Odom was hired in May to replace former coach Vanessa Taylor. At the time, Stafford-Odom was living in California, where she served as the head coach at Concordia. She made a quick trip east last month, the first time she got a chance to sit down with her new players as their head coach.

But then she was back to the west coast, where she did most of her work over the phone or, thanks to modern technology, a Skype session with her team. After she was hired, Stafford-Odom hit the ground running. Her first order of business was putting together her staff. Already having potential staff members in mind, Stafford-Odom made a quick splash, hiring former N.C. State standout Tynesha Lewis first, then adding NCCU alum, and former coach, A.G. Hall. Stafford-Odom proved she was good at multi-tasking, hunting down recruits while finalizing her staff, all of this from California.

CONTINUE READING

One proud papa: Dawson Odums looking forward to first Southern season with all of his own recruits

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- Nothing about the Southern football team reporting for preseason camp is new to Dawson Odums.

About to start his fifth full season running the show for the Jaguars, the coach knows exactly what to expect.

Players report to the on-campus dorm, and the next day they start practice. At first, it’ll be mostly without pads, and workouts will get the players acclimated to being back on the field in the intense summer heat of Baton Rouge.

That's the plan when the Jaguars report at 11 a.m. Friday and start practice Saturday. No need to deviate from a plan that resulted in an 8-1 SWAC record the year before.

But this year is different — for Odums, at least.

This is the first season in which ...

CONTINUE READING

Former Tech player enrolls at Grambling State

GRAMBLING, Louisiana -- With experience on defense an issue as the coaches look to add depth this preseason, Grambling State may have picked up a late, and local, addition that could factor into the linebacker unit.

Donald Freeman, a redshirt sophomore linebacker, transferred out of Louisiana Tech early this summer and was accepted to GSU Thursday.

The Baton Rouge native signed with Tech out of Scotlandville High School in 2015 after tearing his ACL during the second week of his senior season, and redshirted his freshman season in Ruston. Freeman played special teams in two games last year and recorded just three tackles for the Bulldogs.

Freeman, who was granted release from Louisiana Tech June 6, will be eligible to play this season.

CONTINUE READING 

Five burning questions for Southern, starting with the obvious: How does it replace Tillery and Quinn?

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- This is the biggest question facing Southern this season. It must find a way to replace production from its all-time leading rusher, Lenard Tillery, and its all-time leading receiver, Willie Quinn. Those two were a massive part of Southern’s success last season, accounting for nearly 3,000 yards and 26 touchdowns from scrimmage. That is a lot of game changing ability to replace in one year, and there's simply no clear answer yet. But, looking back on it, who would’ve thought a former walk on and a 5-foot-5 receiver would’ve made such a big impression when they first walked on to campus?

2: Can the defense carry the load?

The Jaguars’ explosive offense often overshadowed their big-play defense last season. Southern intercepted 19 passes — led by Danny Johnson’s SWAC-best seven interceptions — and also recovered 13 fumbles. A strong finish by defensive end Aaron Tiller (nine sacks) helped Southern rack up 24 sacks as a team, as well. And, unlike the offense, all of the big-name players are returning for 2017. This may be the year when Southern’s hopes are pinned largely to how well its defense performs, especially in momentum-swinging categories it scored well in last season like turnovers and sacks.

CONTINUE READING

JSU, Hughes excited about adding Deion Pope to already strong defense

JACKSON, Mississippi -- Jackson State is the latest Mississippi university to hit the practice field and open fall camp. The Tigers held their first of 29 preseason practices on Thursday.

Tony Hughes enters his second season with a strong defense that includes the intriguing addition of transfer defensive lineman Deion Pope. Coming out of Co-Lin, Pope was the top junior college defensive tackle in the country when he committed to Mississippi State.



After going through the Bulldogs offseason program, the Collins native decided to transfer to JSU. Hughes says his addition to an already impressive front four could take the Tigers defense to another level.

"Deion (Pope) is excited to be out here," Hughes said. "and we expect to see hopefully a dominant player that can transform our team from an average team to a great team. If it plays out, we got potential to be possibly one of the best defenses in the country."

CONTINUE READING 

5 takeaways from JSU's first fall practice

JACKSON, Mississippi -- The first practice of Jackson State's fall camp is in the books.

The Tigers took to the practice field in shorts and put in an energetic hour and 45 minutes of work despite temperatures that reached into the mid-90s.

"I thought we had a tremendous day," JSU coach Tony Hughes said. "The kids came out with a tremendous amount of energy and excitement, they executed well and they played hard. It was a great day to be out here coaching football."

Here are five takeaways from the first day of camp:

New year, new team

It's easy to see this is a different Tiger team. Guys were smiling, dancing and picking each other up throughout practice while music blared over the loudspeakers at the practice field.

CONTINUE READING