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Talent, coaching make FAMU No. 1
Lut Williams
BCSP Editor
With the 2009 black college football season about to kick off with Saturday's match-up of three-time defending SIAC champion Tuskegee against conference-rival Benedict (6 p.m., Columbia, S.C.), it's time for the Black College Sports Page to unveil its preseason Top Ten.
The coaches have picked Fayetteville State in the CIAA, South Carolina State in the MEAC, Grambling State in the SWAC and Albany State in the SIAC to come away with conference titles. Two of those picks, Fayetteville State and Albany State did not win their conference titles a year ago. Grambling and South Carolina State did.
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So, like the coaches in the CIAA and SIAC, the BCSP is going to go with someone other than a defending champion as the top team in 2009 black college football.
It should surprise no one that Florida A&M, in its second year under head coach Joe Taylor, previously of Hampton University fame, is our pick as this year's best team. After all, Taylor brought Hampton in a span of decade from a Div. II CIAA team to the cream of the crop in the MEAC, an FCS conference, and in all of black college football.
The fact that he, and former coaching rival Bill Hayes now Taylor's AD at FAMU, have the Rattlers right back in the thick of things in the conference and maybe a challenger for an FCS title, should also be no surprise. After all, when the most successful coach over the last ten years in the MEAC goes to the talent-rich state of Florida, with a crafty former coach in tow, good things follow.
Even S. C. State head coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough is sold on the Rattlers, who he voted No. 1 in the MEAC preseason poll. He's also sold on FAMU QB Curtis Pulley.
"He's a player. It doesn't take a whole lot of figuring to see what this guy brings to the table. He's big, he's strong, he can run, he can throw. He's got all kinds of weapons around him. It's exciting to see him play. Hopefully, we can figure out some way to slow him down because he can beat us by himself."
While that's a stretch, Pulley is at the helm of an offense that includes eight other all-MEAC first teamers. South Carolina State and Grambling, who open the season in a Sunday, Sept. 6 showdown in Orlando, are tied for second in the early BCSP ranking.
Prairie View A&M, coming off a 9-1 2008 campaign under head coach Henry Frazier is picked fourth, ahead of fellow SWAC West Division member Southern.
Norfolk State (6th), Bethune-Cookman (7th), Shaw (8th), Albany State (9th) and Tuskegee (10th) round out the Top Ten.
Among those at the top of the second Ten are Hampton, Jackson State, Morgan State and Morehouse.
© 2009 Azeez Communications, Inc.