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2008 "Baad Team" full of bad dudes
Lut Williams
BCSP Editor
The 2008 Black College Sports Page "Baad Team" of Black College all-star football players is led by a guy that didn't even start for his team until the final three games of the regular season.
Former Kentucky schoolboy legend Curtis Pulley arrived at Florida A&M about three weeks before the start of the 2008 season. That didn't give new Rattler head coach Joe Taylor enough time to work him into his offensive system for the first game. But the multi-talented junior, who transferred from the University of Kentucky after a stormy two-year stay, played a key role in FAMU's second game of the season, an overtime loss to defending MEAC champ Delaware State.
Despite throwing a game-ending interception, Pulley showed flashes of brilliance. His statline of 7 rushes for 87 yards and 3-of-6 passing for 57 yards and a touchdown were signs of things to come. And though he alternated with starter Eddie Battle until the final three games of the season, Pulley put up enough stats to earn first team all-MEAC status at quarterback. Those stats included 885 rushing yards with 7 touchdowns and 1,372 passing yards (98-of-178, 55.1%) for 17 TDs with just five interceptions. Oh yeah, keep in mind that was in part-time duty.
That's why the BCSP is choosing Pulley as its offensive player of the year while wondering what those numbers will project to next year on a full-time basis.
Pulley leads a prolific offense that includes 1,000-yard rushers Javarris Williams, the Ohio Valley Conference offensive player of the year from Tennessee State, and Will Ford, of MEAC champion South Carolina State who actually won (and earned) the offensive player of the year in that conference. Southern wide receiver Jumorris Stewart was one of only three black college pass-catchers to top 1,000 yards and makes the first team on the strength of his 76 catches for 1,138 yards and 12 TDs. He's joined at receiver by outstanding Johnson C. Smith sophomore Jeremy Franklin who caught 64 balls for 984 yards and 9 TDs. SC State tight end Octavius Darby (31 rec., 16.7 ypc., 6 TDs) was the best of a productive group at his position and rounds out the first-team skill position players.
Morehouse senior linebacker Jeffrey Cargile
led all of NCAA Div. II football with 23 tackles for losses and 12.5
sacks, and also totalled 99 tackles to narrowly edge out other
standouts for the BCSP Defensive Player of the Year award. The
Jackson State senior defensive duo of lineman
Marcus Benard and linebacker Marcellus Speaks
could easily have shared the award. Benard was the black college leader with 14.5 sacks
and totalled 80 tackles, while Speaks led the SWAC with 121
tackles and registered five sacks. Speaks was the SWAC
defensive player of the year.
Other standouts and first teamers include 6-3, 312-pound Shaw defensive lineman Louis Ellis, who won CIAA defensive player of the year for the second year in a row after posting 8 sacks and 20.5 tackles for losses. Jackson State DB Dominique Johnson, projected by many as the top black college prospect for the NFL Draft, leads a ball-hawking first team secondary.
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2008 BCSP "BAAD TEAM" OF BLACK COLLEGE ALL-STARS FIRST TEAM OFFENSEQB - Curtis Pulley, Jr., Florida A&M; RB - Will Ford, Jr., SC St.; Javarris Williams, Sr., Tenn. St.; WR - Jeremy Franklin, So., JC Smith; Jumorris Stewart, Jr., Southern; TE - Octavius Darby, Sr., SC State; OL - Revay Smith, Sr., Grambling; Cecil Newton, Sr., Tenn. St.; Dennis Conley, Sr., Hampton; Kynneth Moses, Sr., Va. Union; Raymond Harrison, Jr., SC State; PK - Jeremy Licea, Jr., AA&M; KR - Leroy Vann, Jr., Florida A&M FIRST TEAM DEFENSE DL - Marcus Benard, Sr., Jackson St.; Louis Ellis, Sr., Shaw; Christian Anthony, Jr., Grambling; Cedric Lloyd, Sr., SC State LB - Jeffrey Cargile, Sr., Morehouse; Marcellus Speaks, Sr., Jackson St., Jarrell Guyton, Sr., Morgan St.; DB - Dominique Johnson, Sr., Jackson St.; Justin Hamilton, Jr., Eliz. City St.; Terrell Whitehead, Jr., Norfolk St.; Anthony Beck, Jr., Prairie View; P - Jamal Blanchard, Jr., Hampton SECOND TEAM OFFENSE QB - Bryant Lee, Jr., Southern; RB - Donald Babers, Jr., Prairie View; Devan James, So., Morgan. St.; WR - Thomas Harris, Sr., Alabama A&M; William Osbourne, Jr., Texas Southern; TE - Robert Smith, Jr., Lane; OL - Oliver Pazdry, Sr., Shaw; Johnny Culbreath, So., SC State; Cleveland Collie, Sr., Prairie View; Michael Stevens, Jr., Tuskegee; Mikeal Harshaw, Jr., Jackson St. PK - Justin Castellat, Jr., Norfolk St.; KR - Richard Medlin, So., Fayetteville State SECOND TEAM DEFENSE DL - Chris Baker, Jr., Hampton; Melvin Matthews, Sr., Grambling St.; Justin Lawrence, Jr., Morgan St.; Jarvis Devaughn, Jr., Tuskegee; LB - Zach East, Sr., Prairie View; Endor Cooper, Sr., Howard; Lee Robinson, Sr., Alcorn St.; DB - Markee Hamlin, Jr., SC State; Rod Jones, Sr., Eliz. City St.; Chris Williams, Sr., Morgan St.; Jeffrey Jack, Sr., Grambling St.; P - Justin Keable, r-So., Bethune-Cookman THIRD TEAM OFFENSE QB - Jacary Atkinson, Sr., Tuskegee; RB - Taron Hampton, Fr., Va. State; DeAngelo. Branche, So., Norfolk St.; WR - Brian Berry, So., Virginia St.; Dexter Manley, Jr., Eliz. City St.; TE - Abner Brown, Sr., MVSU; OL - Robert Okeafor, Jr., Florida A&M; Dwayne Delaney, Sr., Morgan St.; James Heartley, Sr., Eliz. City St.; Sam McNaulty, Sr., Clark Atlanta; Xavier Manuel, Jr., Alabama A&M; PK - Trevor Scott, Fr., Florida A&M; KR - Jeremy Gilchrist, r-Sr., Hampton THIRD TEAM DEFENSE DL - Vincent Lands, Sr., Southern; Brandon Fortune, Jr., Virginia St.; Joshua Ingram, So., Albany St.; Phil Stevenson, So., St. Augustine's; LB - Brandon Smith, Jr., Virginia Union; Travis Roland, r-Sr., Bethune-Cookman; Earl Thomas, Sr., Morehouse; DB - Kevin Thornton, Sr., Ark.-Pine Bluff; Darren McKhan, Jr., Morgan St.; Dre'Mail Hardin, Sr., Stillman; Justin Hannah, Sr., Tuskegee P - Aaron Haire, Jr., SC State |
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