Alabama NewsCenter 2017 football preview: Alabama A&M University Bulldogs

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Alabama A&M plays the villain in the feel-good story of the football season when the Bulldogs kick off on Sept. 2 against UAB at Legion Field.

And coach James Spady relishes that role.

“I hope we get billed as the bad guy,” he said. “We’re going to do everything we can to spoil their return. That’s our motivation. We understand what the big deal is. And it is a big deal. It’s a great story for college football. For a team to disband or stop playing and then turn around and rise again, I think that’s a heck of a story for college football.

“But we want to put a damper on their rise to prominence,” Spady continued. “That’s our goal. One of the things that motivates us is to spoil this whole thing for them. We’re doing everything we can to get to that point.”

Kickoff for the 2017 college football season is fast approaching. Alabama NewsCenter is talking with coaches across the state about the upcoming campaign. Next up is Spady, the A&M coach whose team was 4-7 in 2016.

Alabama NewsCenter: What is the outlook for this season?

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Tennessee State Tigers Hold Mock Game in Hale Stadium

NASHVILLE, Tennessee -- Head coach Rod Reed used his Thursday practice as a mock run-through for Tennessee State's season opener at Georgia State on Aug. 31. The Tigers were not the only unit going through a gameday situation as the Aristocrat of Bands (AOB) marched down 33rd avenue onto John A Merritt boulevard and into Hale Stadium.

With the AOB in its section, the Tigers ran over 70 plays against the scout team. The defense took the field first, holding the scout team down throughout the series, as well as added situations. Before the offense could take the field, freshman kicker Coby Weiss converted on a 50-yard field goal for the scout team.

The top offensive squad for the Tigers moved down the field against the defensive scout team. Treon Harris capped off the first drive with a touchdown pass to DeVon Johnson.



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The offense continued to put the pressure on as they scored on the next two possessions. Seth Rowland punched one in from two yards out, while Harris combined with Patrick Smith for the final score.

The mock game continued with the second units getting an opportunity against the scout team. The scouts offense put together a solid drive just before halftime with the big play coming on a 35 yard run by freshman Jordan Bell. The second team defense stood tall as safety Vincent Sellers intercepted Josh Trueheart inside the 10 yard line.

TSU will celebrate the 11 seniors on Friday afternoon at the annual Senior Kickoff Luncheon. The Tigers will take time out of their practice schedule for Fan Day on Saturday.



Head Coach Rod Reed
- On the importance of the mock game
“It was an opportunity to get out here and clean some things up. We wanted to see the game operation and how we would handle things next Thursday night. We had the band out here, we had the clock going, we had the officials out here. We wanted to see what our substitution patterns were going to be, and we probably simulated about a half of football.”

- On what he wants to see in the next week from his team
“We’ve just got to correct the little things. We made some containment errors tonight. Those are things that can be corrected. That’s why we put these kind of things on tape. We tried to simulate what we think we might get from Georgia State to the best of our ability. We’ve just got to go back and clean those things up.”

- On looking forward to a game week
“It’s going to be great to go into a game week. It’s been a long camp, and I think our guys are chomping at the bit to get at somebody else. We’re going to clean some things up. We’re going to have a couple of good practices this week, and we’re going to go down to Georgia on Wednesday and Thursday night, we’re going to turn it loose.”



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Hampton University hopes coaching changes leads to winning season

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HAMPTON, Virginia -- THE COACH, CONNELL MAYNOR

Eighth year (59-26, 14-20 in three seasons with HU).

The Pirates finished 5-3 in the conference for the second consecutive year, but overall it was a losing season that included a third straight defeat to Norfolk State. Maynor's coaching staff will look very different with five new assistants, including Maynor's first offensive coordinator — Duane Taylor. Job one will be finding a starting quarterback.

THE STANDOUTS

Yahkee Johnson, Sr. | 5-7 | 160 | RB

He makes up for an obvious lack of size with shiftiness and elusiveness. He led the Pirates with 763 yards on only 135 carries, an average of 5.7 per. He rushed for a career-high 121 yards and a touchdown against Delaware State.

Brendan Cole , Sr. | 6-3 | 215 | Rover

A former Bethel Bruin, Cole was the Pirates' third-leading tackler last season with 54 stops. He had a season-high 11 tackles in a win over South Carolina State. He intercepted a pass and led the Pirates with three fumble recoveries (along with two forced).

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Mississippi Valley State tries to find missing link to having winning season

ITTA BENA, Mississippi -- What can you say? It’s been a long three years in Itta Bena – the Delta Devils have only won one football game in the last 1,000 days and change.

But all that could change in 2017, thanks to a defense that may be better than you think and an offense that has matured over the off-season.

Coach Rick Comegy’s squad underwent a youth movement last season, with 26 sophomores and 29 freshmen. Those players are a year older and ready to change the culture at Valley.

The Delta Devils return a capable quarterback in Austin Bray, and Comegy hopes to kick start the running game behind the blocking of second-team All-SWAC offensive lineman Alvin Solomon. All-SWAC defensive back Everett Nicholas is the lone bright spot on a defense that gave up more than 45 points a game last season.

The schedule is brutal early, but features four winnable games against Pine Bluff, Alabama A&M, Virginia-Lynchburg and Jackson State in the middle of the schedule, with the last two at home.

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A look inside Jackson State's 2017 football schedule

JACKSON, Mississippi -- At TCU, Sept. 2

The Tigers would love to get a win, but this game is more about bringing home the bacon for an athletic program facing budget cuts across the board. It should give Tony Hughes a chance to see which quarterback will respond well under pressure, at least.

Tennessee State (Memphis), Sept. 9

This is one the Tigers feel like they should have won last year. They had TSU on the ropes, up by a touchdown in the third quarter of last year’s Southern Heritage Classic. This is a game they’d like to flip, and getting revenge could indicate they are on the right track for a winning season.

At Grambling, Sept. 16

Just how good is that Jackson State defense? We’ll find out in Week 3 when the Tigers travel just west of Ruston, Louisiana for a matchup with the reigning SWAC champs in both teams’ conference opener. Grambling quarterback Devante Kincade lit the Tigers up last year in a 35-16 win in Jackson.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Sept. 23

After a grueling first three games, the Tigers return home for a winnable game against a conference foe that won just one game last year and has shown little signs of improvement. This game should give JSU a chance to get a conference win in front of its home crowd for the first time in 2017.

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2017 SWAC Football television schedule announced

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- The Southwestern Athletic Conference released its 2017 football television schedule on Thursday which includes 28 contests that will spread across 10 different networks.

All 10 of the member institutions will be featured on either the ESPN family of networks, ABC, Fox Sports Network, AT&T Sports Net, Peachtree TV, Stadium TV, beIN, the local CBS affiliate WHNT in Huntsville, or the NBC Sports Network. All games are available in standard high-definition.

Among some of the highlighted contests, Texas Southern will kick off the college football season by playing in the first game of the Division I college football slate on Saturday, August 26 against Florida A&M in Tallahassee at 11 a.m. CT. on ESPNU.

Southern University will open their season on Sunday, Sept. 3 in the 13th annual MEAC/SWAC Challenge when the Jaguars host South Carolina State at Ace W. Mumford Stadium. The opener will be known as the Battle on the Bluff in Baton Rouge, La. Kickoff will air live at 1:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2.

Four days following at 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPNU, Prairie View A&M will be featured on the first Thursday night football match up on Sept. 7 when it hosts STATS FCS No. 3 ranked Sam Houston State of the Southland Conference for a 6:30 p.m. kick.

In week three, Jackson State travels to take on the defending SWAC Champions and No. 21 Grambling State on the newly installed artificial turf at Eddie G. Robinson Memorial Stadium Sept. 16 on ESPN3 at 6 p.m.

Alabama State third-year head coach Brian Jenkins hosts defending SWAC Eastern Division Champion Alcorn State for a Thursday night showdown on Oct. 5 on ESPNU at 6:30 p.m. CT. The 76th Magic City Classic between Alabama A&M and Alabama State will take place in Birmingham, Ala. on Oct. 28 on ESPN3 with a time to be determined. The game will be tape delayed for a broadcast on ESPNU as well. Alabama A&M defeated Alabama State in a one-point overtime thriller in last year’s edition of the game.

SWAC Western Division rivals clash when Grambling State and Southern square off in New Orleans, La. for the Bayou Classic on the NBC Sports Network at 4 p.m. on November 25. The teams finished No. 1 and No. 2 in the SWAC West Division standings a year ago with the division title being decided in this game last season.

The postseason starts with the final edition of the SWAC Football Championship in Houston, Texas on Saturday, Dec. 2 at NRG Stadium. The SWAC Championship game began in 1999 and will forgo the game starting in 2018. The Final Judgement will pit the traditional East and West Division Champions against one another and will be available to also watch on ESPNU. Kickoff time is set for 3:30 p.m.

The TV line up concludes with the Celebration Bowl Saturday, December 16, at the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. The multi-purpose retractable roof stadium serves as the home of the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL) and Atlanta United FC of Major League Soccer (MLS). The state-of-the-art stadium is set to open on Aug. 26 when the Falcons host the Arizona Cardinals in an exhibition game. It is also scheduled to serve as the hosts of Super Bowl LIII in 2019. Kickoff for the Celebration Bowl is set for 11:00 a.m. CT on ABC.

2017 SWAC football telecast schedule

Date Game Site Time (CT) Network

Saturday, Aug. 26 Texas Southern at FAMU Tallahassee, Fla. 11 a.m. ESPNU

Saturday, Sept. 2 Alabama A&M at UAB Birmingham, Ala. 2:30 p.m. WHNT (Local)

Saturday, Sept. 2 Miss. Valley St. at N. Dakota St. Fargo, ND 2:30 p.m. ESPN3

Saturday, Sept. 2 Grambling State at Tulane New Orleans, La. 7 p.m. ESPN3

Saturday, Sept. 2 Jackson State at TCU Fort Worth, Texas 7 p.m. FOX Sports Network

Saturday, Sept. 2 Prairie View at Texas Southern Houston, Texas 8 p.m. AT&T Sports Net (Local)

Sunday, Sept. 3 S.C. State at Southern Baton Rouge, La. 1:30 p.m. ESPN2

Thursday, Sept. 7 Sam Houston St. at Prairie View Prairie View, Texas 6:30 p.m. ESPNU

Thursday, Sept. 7 Houston Baptist at Texas Southern Houston, Texas 7:30 p.m. AT&T Sports Net (Local)

Saturday, Sept. 9 Alabama A&M at Vanderbilt Nashville, Tenn. 3 p.m. SECN Alternate

Saturday, Sept. 9 Alabama State at Troy Troy, Ala. 5 p.m. ESPN3

Saturday, Sept. 9 Miss. Valley St. at S. Illinois Carbondale, Ill. 6 p.m. ESPN3

Saturday, Sept. 9 Southern at Southern Miss Hattiesburg, Miss. 6 p.m. Stadium TV

Saturday, Sept. 9 Jackson State at Tennessee State Memphis, Tenn. 6 p.m. Fox Sports Southeast

Saturday, Sept. 9 Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Akron Akron, Ohio 6:30 p.m. ESPN3

Saturday, Sept. 9 Alcorn State at FIU Miami, Fla. 6:30 p.m. beIN Sports

Saturday, Sept. 16 Alabama A&M at South Alabama Mobile, Ala. 6 p.m. ESPN3

Saturday, Sept. 16 Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Ark. St. Jonesboro, Ark. 6 p.m. ESPN3

Saturday, Sept. 16 Jackson State at Grambling St. Grambling, La. 6 p.m. ESPN3 / ESPNU (tape delayed)

Friday, Sept. 29 Alcorn State at Texas Southern Houston, Texas 8 p.m. AT&T Sports Net (Local)

Thurs., Oct. 5 Alcorn State at Alabama St. Montgomery, Ala. 6:30 p.m. ESPNU

Saturday, Oct. 7 Texas Southern at Kennesaw St. Kennesaw, Ga. 6 p.m. PeachTree TV (Local)

Saturday, Oct. 14 Alabama State at Texas Southern Houston, Texas 2 p.m. AT&T Sports Net (Local)

Saturday, Oct. 28 Alabama A&M vs. Alabama St. Birmingham, Ala. TBA ESPN3 / ESPNU (tape delayed)

Saturday, Nov. 11 Southern at Texas Southern Houston, Texas 5 p.m. AT&T Sports Net (Local)

Saturday, Nov. 25 Southern vs. Grambling State New Orleans, La. 4 p.m. NBC Sports

Saturday, Dec. 2 SWAC Championship Houston, Texas 3:30 p.m. ESPNU

Saturday, Dec. 16 Celebration Bowl Atlanta, Ga. 11 a.m. ABC

Schedule subject to change.

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Alcorn State is once again the favorite to win the SWAC East

LORMAN, Mississippi -- Alcorn State is the favorite to win the SWAC East for a fourth-straight year, but that doesn’t mean second-year coach Fred McNair doesn’t have his work cut out for him.

After a tumultuous off-season full of off-the-field distractions, the Braves are anxious to get back on the field and get back to winning. And there’s plenty of reason to think they’ll do just that.

They return two capable quarterbacks, first-team All-SWAC guard Timothy Gardner and second-team All-SWAC tailback De’Lance Turner. First-team All-SWAC selection Michael Brooks leads a solid defensive line and O.J. O’Neal anchors a secondary that was second in the league in stopping the pass last year.

The schedule sets up nicely, with an adjustment game against Miles College before they jump into the meat of the schedule with Florida International, McNeese State and Southern.

Three questions with Fred McNair

Do you think the guys coming back will use the motivation from losing the SWAC Championship game?

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