BCSP Notes . . .
SWAC Kickoff
The Southwestern Athletic
Conference kicks off the league's 84th
football season with the 2005 Football Media Day. The SWAC Football Media Day will
take place on Friday, July 29, 2005 at the Birmingham Sheraton-Downtown from 10
am - 3 pm.
The event, marking the kick-off the 2005 SWAC football season, will be the culmination of two-days of SWAC events in the city of Birmingham. The conference will also co-sponsor the 2nd Annual SWAC Youth Football Clinic on Thursday, July 28, 2005 from 9 am - 12n at Birmingham's historic Legion Field.
The SWAC Football Media Day Activities are the beginning of a season that will be highlighted by the MEAC-SWAC football challenge to be televised by ESPN on Labor Day weekend, Saturday, September 3, 2005 at Birmingham's Legion Field. The 2004 SWAC Champion, Alabama State and MEAC Co-Champion South Carolina State will collide in a nationally televised game at 2:30 pm (CT).
The season will conclude with the SWAC Football Championship Game in Birmingham on Saturday, December 10, 2005 at Legion Field.
The Football Media Day program will feature coaches' presentations built into the luncheon period with the pre-season All-SWAC team and predicted order of finish announced at the end of the luncheon. Media one-on-one interviews with coaches and players will be held after the luncheon from 1-3 pm.
Admission to the luncheon is by invitation only. Registered media will be issued invitations during registration and a limited number of tickets are available to the public.
MEDIA DAY SCHEDULE
| 10a - 10:45a | - Registration |
| 11:00a | - Luncheon Program Begins |
| 11:20a | - Coaches Presentations Begin (In Alphabetical Order) |
| 12:30p | - Preseason Team, Predicted Order of Finish |
| 12:45p | - Luncheon Program Ends |
| 1:00p - 3:00p | - Coaches/Players 1-on-1 Interviews w/Media |
For more information, contact the SWAC Office at (205) 251-7573
Football Previews and Predictions
The Street & Smith's 2005 College Football Yearbook
is out with its previews and predictions for the upcoming season.
Three black college teams are picked in the preseason NCAA Div. I-AA Top 25 while three more made the Div. II Top 25. Two players from the MEAC were selected as preseason I-AA all-Americans while only Fayetteville State defensive back Anthony Hicks made the Div. II squad.
Grambling State, who suffered through a 6-5 2004 campaign after losing all-American QB Bruce Eugene in the opening game last season, gets Eugene back as a result of a medical redshirt and is the magazine's highest ranked black college team in I-AA at No. 9. Defending MEAC champ Hampton is 11th and defending SWAC champ Alabama State is 15th.
Hampton WR/KR Marquay McDaniel and 2004 MEAC Defensive Player of the Year, LB Justin Durant, were named to the I-AA all-American squad.
The magazine picks Grambling and Alabama State to win the SWAC West and East respectively. Defending West Division champion Southern is picked to finish behind Grambling while several teams are expected to challenge Alabama State in the East.
Hampton is picked to repeat in the MEAC with South Carolina State, Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M mounting serious challenges.
Eugene and teammate Lennard Patton are picked as the top players in the SWAC while Durant and his teammate, 1,000-yard rusher Alonzo Coleman, are picked as the MEAC's best.
Defending SIAC champ Albany State, the only team to defeat national champion Valdosta State last year, leads the contingent of black college teams in the D2 Top 25 at No. 10. Fayetteville State, who made the 2004 playoffs, is at No. 18 while CIAA champ and Pioneer Bowl victor Shaw is 25th.
© 2005 Azeez Communications, Inc.