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VUU QB Little has plenty more to do
ROSCOE NANCE
BCSP Contributing Writer
The Virginia Union Panthers figure they have some unfinished business to take care of this football season, and they are counting on senior quarterback Lamar Little to handle it.
Two years ago, a loss to Elizabeth City State cost them a berth in the CIAA championship game. Last season, they reached the title game but lost to Shaw in overtime. With a more experienced Little, the 2007 CIAA Player of the Year and a candidate for the Harlon Hill Trophy (NCAA Division II Player of the Year), running the offense, the Panthers are confident they won't fall short again.
"We have a chip on our shoulder,''
says Little, who says he watched tape of last
season's championship game every day during the offseason. "We're using that as fuel to get the
job done this year.''
"We have a sense of urgency to finish the things we've started,'' said first-year coach Greg Richardson. "It's been frustrating. We've been a young team, and we had growing pains.''
The Panthers will be anything but young this season. They return 58 lettermen from last year's 9-3 squad, which posted the best record at VUU over the last 15 seasons. That number includes more than 30 seniors and 20 starters. Seven Panthers were named to the preseason All-CIAA team.
None of the returnees figures more prominently in the Panthers' plans this season than Little, a 5-10, 210-pound left-hander from Candor, N.C. Last season he threw for 2,340 yards and 28 touchdowns and rushed for 513 yards and another nine scores.
Little is a relative newcomer at quarterback. He moved under center as a high school senior after playing cornerback because his coach wanted a superior athlete at that position. His forte was running the ball when he arrived at Virginia Union, but he has shown steady improvement as a passer after spending his summers working out with his school team.
"I knew I had to work on my passing,'' Little says. "I had to get my arm stronger to make college throws, and I worked on my timing so I could get the ball where it needed to be.''
Richardson expects even more from Little this season. Richardson, who took over the helm after serving as defensive coordinator when Arrington Jones resigned last spring, has installed a spread offense to further exploit Little's skills.
"Being a good athlete is half the battle,'' Richardson says. "He has been blessed with great athletic ability. That allows him to improvise when he's in trouble. But he also understands reads and coverages. He's not forcing the ball. That comes from maturity and being in the system.
"We've challenged him to do more. He'll have a great year. Last year he did a lot of things on his own. By going to the spread offense, we want to get him to the second level (of the defense). If we can get him to the second level, we'll take our chances with him against anybody.''
Coming off his performance from last season, Little enters the season as a marked man given all the offseason attention he has received and he has his own blog on Union's web site.
Little understands and accepts that he is the Panthers' leader, and being in opponents' cross hairs doesn't faze him.
Things get started for the Panthers when they kick off a hefty schedule of 29 black college games this week when they travel to East Stroudsburg (Pa.) for a Thursday night (7:30 p.m.) matchup vs. East Stroudsburg.
"I was a marked man since the year that I came here,'' he says. "I don't feel any pressure. As long as I prepare myself like I did last year, there is no pressure. We have a whole team. The pressure falls on all of us. I just do my job and allow my teammates to do theirs. Leadership comes with playing quarterback. All the responsibility falls on the quarterback. I feel I can take it.''
His two favorite targets from last season, seniors Jarad Taylor and Michael Hampton, are still on hand. Taylor caught 42 passes for 703 yards and 10 touchdowns. Hampton led the CIAA with 1,148 all-purpose yards. All-Americans LaQuentin Blair (6-4, 260) and Kynneth Moses (6-2, 280) anchor the offensive line.
"We worked on all the flaws we had last season,'' Little says. "We feel good coming into the season.''
© 2008 Azeez Communications, Inc.