UNDER THE BANNER
What's Going On In and Around Black College Sports
STREET & SMITH'S PICKS: The Street & Smith's College Football 2006 Yearbook is out with its preseason picks for the upcoming season and the expectations are high for some black college champions.
Defending champion Hampton and runners-up
South Carolina State of the Mid Eastern
Athletic Conference (MEAC) and defending champ
Grambling State of the Southwestern Athletic
Confe-rence (SWAC) cracked the top 25 in the magazine's NCAA Div.
I-AA preseason rankings. Hampton is ranked tenth, Grambling is
22nd and S.C. State 24th in I-AA.
The most lofty forecast is for defending Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) titleist North Carolina Central who is ranked No. 3 in Div. II. The Eagles under head coach Rod Broadway, made it to the second round of last year's playoffs after winning its first CIAA title in 25 years. NCCU is playing its final year in the conference before moving to I-AA.
Both Hampton and Grambling are picked to repeat in their respective conferences. S.C. State is the second choice in the MEAC while Alabama A&M is picked to again represent the East Division in the SWAC title game.
Three Hampton seniors were named preseason I-AA all-Americans. Running back Alonzo Coleman, who will be going for his fourth straight 1,000-yard season, placekicker Andrew Paterini, who led all I-AA kickers with 104 points and two-time MEAC Defensive Player of the Year, linebacker Justin Durant, were named to the squad. Conference sack leader Martin Jackson, a defensive end out of Alcorn State, was the only player from the SWAC to make the team. NC Central offensive lineman Robert Duncan was the lone black college player to make preseason Div. II all-American.
PERMANENT POSTS: Norfolk State interim baseball coach Claudell Clark and interim men's track & field coach Kenneth Giles have been appointed to the permanent coaching posts for their respective sports. The announcement was made by NSU Athletics Director Marty Miller. Clark has served as interim head coach since February of 2005. He has a 37-60 record in his two seasons. He led the Spartans to a 23-28 mark in 2006, their best record since the 2000 team went 23-22. Giles has been interim men's track & field coach since September of 2003, when former coach Floyd Conley passed. Giles led the Spartans to the MEAC indoor and outdoor track titles and cross country title in 2005-06, giving NSU just the fourth sweep of the cross country, indoor and outdoor track titles in conference history.
© 2006 Azeez Communications, Inc.