Alcorn notes

[Blacknbengal]

Alcorn's Teagle back in camp after 2002 injury

By ADAM DAIGLE

LORMAN - Lonnie Teagle couldn't believe it.

With pain shooting through a hamstring while lying on the turf at Prairie View, Teagle couldn't help but think this was not the way it was supposed to happen.

He was supposed to have a superb game playing in his hometown for the first time in his college career. He was supposed to continue on and earn All-SWAC honors at the end of the season. He was supposed to help his team make a push for the conference championship.

He just couldn't believe what was happening.

Turned out Teagle, Alcorn's speedy little 5-4 return specialist, tore a hamstring so severely he could literally do nothing on that leg.

Now the leg has healed, the maturity level is a little higher being a junior and Teagle - like all of Alcorn's returners from a year ago - realizes there's some unfinished business.

"It feels good now," Teagle said following the Braves' first workout Saturday afternoon. "I don't even feel it. I've got to make sure I stretch good and be aware of it because it can jump back up on me. It had been hurting me some (earlier last year), and it was real hot that day. I guess I didn't stretch well enough. I don't know if it was a matter of time or what."

The timing, however, couldn't have been worse for the Braves - who hold their special teams units in very high regard. Teagle was leading the conference in punt returns at 13.8 yards per carry and ended the season second behind his successor, former Brave Kris Peters, while Sidney Dumas handled kickoffs.

It was about that time when the Braves dropped three of their last four games, fell from atop the SWAC East Division standings and endured injuries that had them skidding into the off-season.

"That hurt us so much going down the stretch against Valley, (Alabama) A&M and Jackson State," said Alcorn head coach Johnny Thomas, also the team's special teams coordinator. "Our return units were putting our offense in such good field position. It shortened the field, and we could capitalize on what the defense was doing. Even if we sputtered with our offense, we could punt and put them so deep in their own territory.

"When he left, that disrupted the rhythm we had on our punt and kickoff returns. (Peters and Dumas) had not played the position as consistently as Teagle, and it's very difficult for anybody to get back there, catch the ball and know the system we have."

On Saturday Teagle and the remainder of the punt return unit went to work in the morning session of the first day of two-a-days. It'll be the first of several on- and off-field meetings for the unit as Thomas doesn't play around when it comes to kicking, punting and everything associated with the two.

"We work special teams like we work offense and defense," Thomas said. "Special teams are very, very important to the outcome of a game and to the team. We take special teams very seriously, and the seriousness comes from me and the rest of my coaches. If I'm the coordinator, you know there's going to be a great deal of emphasis placed on it."

That attitude suits Teagle and the rest of the specialists just fine. Thomas acknowledged Teagle has become a fan favorite of sorts since he's so small in stature, and the former tailback in high school set school records his freshman year in both kickoff (17.7 yards per carry) and punt returns (11.7).

"A lot of teams don't focus on special teams and just do it," Teagle said. "It gives us some pride on special teams. We're trying to put our best team out there on special teams, and that makes it easier on me. I'm trying to get back to that point and even better. Coach is expecting more out of me since I'm a junior. I've got to give more to the team, and the team is expecting more from me."

Plenty times he has done more than people anticipated he would with such a small frame, but it's not of any surprise to the Braves. He makes guys much bigger than them fall in the ground trying to catch him as his quickness helps him find the holes running down field.

"I looked at him on film while he was in high school," Thomas said. "That's why most people didn't want him - because he was so small. In high school he was making plays on big guys, small guys and medium-sized guys. Everybody pulls for him because he's so small. You can hear the people in the stadium when he catches the ball. You can hear their enthusiasm, and that's great."

NOTES - The Braves hit the field with purple helmets Saturday, believed to be the first time in several years if not the history of the program. Decals aren't on yet, but they'll feature the letters "ASU" placed similar to that of North Carolina's pattern but tighter?.The Braves have a couple injuries already, but the most notable may be running back Sidney Dumas (groin) and receiver Corvin Johnson (shoulder).

 

[Blacknbengal]

Dumas hopes jets are at full throttle for Alcorn

Dumas hopes jets are at full throttle for Alcorn

By ADAM DAIGLE
The Natchez Democrat


LORMAN - Blessed with enough speed to run a 4.27 in the 40, Alcorn running back Sidney Dumas just lets his legs do the talking.

On the left leg is a tattoo that reads, "The." The other, "Jet."

It's just that simple.

The junior college transfer that ran the 55-meter in indoor track last year for Alcorn is stepping into the starting running back position for the Braves this fall in the team's three-back rotation. While the Gautier native had almost half the carries as starter Andrew Burks, he's hoping to get the nod in an offense that is oozing with experience.

"This year it's going to be a little different," said Dumas, who nearly landed at Delta State following two years at Gulf Coast Community College before deciding on ASU. "Last year he was the starter, and this year I'm going to be the starter. We're all on the same page. We didn't play around this summer. We got on the same page to get better and stronger."

There's no plans so far to abandon the three-man running back rotation the Braves used last year, pending any injuries. Last season the Braves started out that way with Dumas, Burks and Robert Lester sharing the load as much as possible to keep defenses guessing.

Injuries, however, took their toll. Dumas had some bumps and bruises and was then moved to special teams to return kicks when Lonnie Teagle tore a hamstring.

But Dumas impressed enough last season to be voted first team Preseason All-SWAC at running back earlier this month.

"We've got great backs," senior left guard LaDarien Strauss said. "I would like for all of them to have 100 yards. Sidney is a great back. As long as he goes out and performs with the way our offense is set up, any back can do damage on any given play. Sidney is definitely the fastest of the three. If Sidney is on the sideline, I don't think anybody will catch him."

Strauss speaks from experience. Back in the season opener a year ago Dumas scored the first time he touched the ball when he took a short pass from quarterback Donald Carrie and turned it into a 57-yard touchdown pass.

The Braves won that game 34-24, and it was a coming out party of sorts for Dumas, whose finished the game with 93 yards on nine carries.

The way he ran that night had head coach Johnny Thomas afterward comparing his moves to that of Gale Sayers.

"We spread the ball around that game and gave everybody a taste of it," Dumas said. "It turned out pretty good. I scored the first time I touched the ball."

But after that the production waned. He carries four times for 9 yards against Grambling and three times for 10 yards against Hampton while the Braves relied on Burks to run the ball.

"We're trying to keep Dumas healthy," Thomas said. "If Dumas can stay relatively healthy, we'll use him frequently. We have three quality running backs, but if he can stay healthy, Dumas it the fastest of the three. But sometimes his durability might not be what the other two's durability is. That's going to be big part of whether we use him frequently or not."

Burks, meanwhile, took the bulk of the load at times during the remainder of the season as he logged 144 carries for 605 yards and eight touchdowns. Dumas finished with a second-best 78 carries for 438 yards and four scores, while Lester had 41 carries for 247 yards and no scores.

"It was a learning process for me, but I think it was a stepping stone," Dumas said. "Every time I got in there I wanted to dominate. I had to. It was frustrating. I'm not going to sit up here and tell you some stories. I wish I could have done more to help the team. It's us as a team. I'm looking past that and am willing to do much bigger things. We've got a good defense, and we know we've got a good offense."

Thomas said it had been quite a while since he saw a running back do the things Dumas did in the UAPB game in last year's season opener, but he could get a chance Aug. 30 when the Braves open at Pine Bluff. He's part of an offense people are expecting big things from due to the number of returning starters from last year's 6-5 squad.

There's plenty of speed on the offense, and there's probably no one faster than Dumas.

"He's like lightning," receiver Corvin Johnson said. "That's all I can say. He's lightning."

 

[Blacknbengal]

New coordinator Jones sparks Alcorn defense

New coordinator Jones sparks Alcorn defense

By ADAM DAIGLE

LORMAN - When it came time to find a defensive coordinator, Alcorn head coach Johnny Thomas went through all the necessary procedures.

But he had an idea who he wanted to hire.

So he went through all the interviews, did all the reference checks and tried to determine who was the best possible candidate for the vacancy created when Karl Morgan left for a similar position at Hampton. So when it came down to who was the best candidate, it was former Mississippi Valley State head coach LaTraia Jones - the guy he had known for quite some time.

"Ever since '93," Jones said of his relationship with Thomas. "You hear about jobs through the grapevine, and I gave him a call. We started talking about coming in, and he had two other candidates in mind. I came in, interviewed and did enough to convince him. Everything else went on from there."

The two go back a ways to the two coaches' stints at Arkansas-Pine Bluff when Jones served as defensive coordinator and Thomas an assistant professor in the school's health and physical education department.

It was there made an impression on Thomas as the Golden Lions lost in the NAIA national championship game to Montana State in 1994 largely due to their defensive Jones' efforts.

The two later went their separate ways as head coaches - Jones at Valley and Thomas at Alcorn.

Jones left Valley in 2001 and arrived at the Lorman campus following last season.

"When then position became available, he interviewed for the job and was the most impressive one," Thomas said. "I had an opportunity to know him as a person and a coach. Coach Jones brings a great deal of organization. He's very knowledgeable as a defensive coordinator."

What better way to make a debut than what the Braves' defense did Saturday in a 34-10 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The Golden Lions' offense tallied just 55 yards rushing and got just three points after taking inside the red zone following a turnover.

The team's only touchdown came on a kick return.

"We were fortunate," Jones said. "Everything went our way. I inherited some great ball players. We put together a great game plan. I enjoy working with those guys. I feel like I'm blessed."

It's a staff of assistants Garry Lewis, Willie McGowan Jr. and Eric Garcia who he credits to helping getting things rolling right off the bat like that defensively. Of course, having experienced players on that side of the ball helps, too.

The defense has mostly seniors and some experienced juniors with all having experience under their belts from seasons past.

"He's real good at teaching the defense," senior linebacker Omega Logan said. "I think he's mastered the art of good cop, bad cop. He'll get on your butt and you may hate him, but then he's telling you you're doing a good job. He's not always on your case, but he's not always on your side."

If Saturday's game was any indication, the unit may respond well to Jones' motivation. But this is a unit that played well down the stretch last year and was one of the better defenses in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

That win, however, has been put away as the Braves host Grambling in their home opener at 7 p.m Saturday. It's already billed as the biggest game in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

The Tigers have won the last three SWAC championships and are favored to win a fourth this fall. They enter the game a week rested following their 29-0 loss at Division I-A San Jose State.

"We've got a big test here against Grambling," Jones said. "Grambling is a good team, and Doug has done a wonderful job there. Everything centers around (QB Bruce Eugene). The kid is an All-American

 

[Blacknbengal]

Bad snaps haunt ASU at bad time

Bad snaps haunt ASU at bad time

By ADAM DAIGLE

Here's more on the deep snap that was - or wasn't, depending on where your allegiance lay Saturday at Jack Spinks Stadium:

No doubt it was the last of several big plays in Grambling's 40-28 win over Alcorn State Saturday in Lorman, but you've really got to feel for punter Shane Phillips and the punt team after two bad snaps late in the game led to nine Grambling points that blew the game open.

If there's anything the Braves spent countless numbers of hours on, it's special teams. Head coach Johnny Thomas serves as special teams coordinator, and Phillips up until then had some impressive punts - four of 45 yards or more, one of which went 56.

But with the game within reach late and every play a crucial one, the deep snap went high and wide to Phillips, who went into damage control and booted the ball out of the back of the end zone for an apparent two points that would have given the Tigers a 33-28 lead.

Not so fast.

Phillips actually booted it from about the Alcorn 1, and officials flagged him for an illegal kick. The Tigers opted to take over where the foul occurred, and quarterback Bruce Eugene later ran in for a touchdown for a 38-28 lead.

As if that wasn't enough, the very next drive ended in a punt for the Braves from their own 15, and the snap to Phillips was bad again. This time he didn't have to boot it out of the end zone, and the Tigers upped their lead to 40-28.

"I think when we came back and stopped them and they had to put and the bad snap, I think that really changed the whole complexity of the ball game," GSU head coach Doug Williams said. "It looked like whoever was going to have the ball last was going to win."

That's how the game looked in the third quarter, and the Braves looked like they were in control most of the first half after a GSU score with nine seconds left in the first half put the score tied at 7-7.

So for almost three quarters the Braves were just as good as the Tigers, but it was the bad snaps that turned things around and what the 20,000-plus fans on the tiny Lorman campus will remember.

"It's a loss that's very hard to explain," Thomas said. "It wasn't a conference game, but it was a game that really meant a lot to this football team because we hadn't beaten Grambling in five years. It would have really catapulted us to another level of college football, but it didn't happen that way."

EUGENE STEPS UP - Much of the Braves' success in the first half was due to their man coverage in the secondary, and Grambling quarterback Bruce Eugene had trouble finding usual target Tramon Douglas or others at times and wound up keeping it and running

That's just as dangerous as him throwing, but the Tigers finally got on the board with Eugene's 20-yard pass to Douglas with nine seconds left for their first score of the season.

But the second half the passing game stepped up and created mismatches in the secondary as most of Eugene's passing yardage came in the second half.

"Grambling had a week to prepare for us," Thomas said. "I've been the head coach at Alcorn for six years, and this is the first time Doug has come out running the wing-T. But that didn't hurt us. We didn't cover well down the stretch and made some mistakes. When we needed to stop Grambling, we couldn't stop them. When they went to their basic offensive set of five wides, that hurt us."

THOSE TRICKY BRAVES - The big game allowed the Braves to use some little-used plays offensively to spark the offense.

They went with the flea flicker pass twice with success - once where Sidney Dumas took the handoff and pitched back to quarterback Donald Carrie, who hit Corvin Johnson on a 50-yard pass that set up a score. On the next drive Carrie handed off to Robert Lester, who pitched back to Carrie to set up a 42-yard pass to Courtney Young to set up a 21-yard field goal from David McConnell.

"Alcorn was full of trickery tonight," Williams said. "We got caught up in it, and a couple of pass interference calls kept things going. Our defense got kicked around, but when they had to stood up."

But give credit to the Grambling defense, who kept Carrie from throwing cleanly late in the game. Take away that 45-yard touchdown strike to freshman Charlie Spiller, and Carrie's longest pass was a dump off to Dumas for 12 yards.

"It just didn't not go very well for us the last eight or nine minutes of the fourth quarter," Thomas said. "You can't make those kinds of mistakes against Grambling and expect to recover from it."

SWAC HONORS - Alcorn kick returner Lonnie Teagle was named Co-Specialist of the Week along with Southern's Ezra Landry Sunday. The 5-4 junior return specialist returned seven kickoffs for 138 yards, including one 41-yard return.

 

[Blacknbengal]

Tough loss

Tough loss

But Braves remain focused as they resume SWAC play

By ADAM DAIGLE


LORMAN - There's some solace to be taken out of that gut-wrenching 40-28 loss Saturday night for Alcorn.

For starters, the near-25,000 fans for Saturday's game with Grambling on the Lorman campus were not watching a contest that counted in the Southwestern Athletic Conference standings. And no one can hide the fact that for two quarters and most of the third the Braves played with the Tigers, the team Sports Illustrated tagged the best in the nation in its preseason I-AA poll.

"We could have won the football game, as you very well know," Alcorn head coach Johnny Thomas said Monday. "We collapsed in the end. We weren't opportunistic in the very beginning when we had a chance to put them away. That's something we can learn from and continue to grow and get better. We have to do that this year because these (seniors) are not going to be back next year."

The loss hurts, but Saturday's game against Alabama State is bigger since it is a SWAC game. The Braves are still 1-0 in conference after opening the season with an impressive 34-10 win at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, and Week 2 was an off week of conference - blame that on the strange SWAC scheduling where last year's Alcorn-GSU game counted in the conference standings.

But there's no arguing there would have been significant ramifications on both sides had the Braves come out the victors Saturday.

"I think earlier in the week somebody mentioned to me Coach Thomas mentioned this was the biggest game of his coaching career," GSU head coach Doug Williams said Saturday. "It wasn't the biggest game of my coaching career, but I couldn't feel sorry for Coach Thomas because we were playing him. I've got to pull for Grambling."

The Braves, however, move on. They must if there are any thoughts of playing in Birmingham in December - which, of course, there are.

"If it had been a conference game, it would have been a more devastating loss than it was," Thomas said. "I don't like losing, but we would be worse off winning the Grambling game but losing to Alabama State. The big thing we need to do is forget about Grambling, although we wanted to beat Grambling. We have an opportunity to pick that up in the championship game when we play them again."

"I've got to give Alcorn some credit," Williams said. "I would not be surprised if Alcorn is the team we play in Birmingham."

The Braves go into the Alabama State game with all three of their running backs healthy for the first time perhaps since early last season. Robert Lester, Andrew Burks and Sidney Dumas combined for 24 carries for 124 yards with Dumas leading the way with 11 carries for 62 yards.

It was Burks who shouldered most of the load in the season opener at UAPB, but the three-back rotation as indicated Saturday night is the ideal situation for the Alcorn offense since each one brings something different to the offense.

"Lester was hurt the first game," Thomas said. "The very first play he was hurt, and we had to go with Burks and Dumas. Then Dumas cramped up against UAPB. When Lester came back Saturday, Dumas didn't cramp up and Burks was OK, we had a pretty good running game with the three. And that's by design."

This week will also have the Braves' punt team unit going back to the drawing board of sorts after the two bad snaps late in the game. Also areas that need to be corrected were the 15 penalties for 178 yards Saturday - including a pass interference call that kept a Grambling scoring drive alive, a holding call that wiped off a touchdown and a flag for 12 men on the field on GSU scoring drive in the second half.

On the first botched snap officials flagged punter Shane Phillips for an illegal kick, a call Thomas said came after officials ruled he kicked the ball twice.

"We didn't kick the ball twice," Thomas said. "On film we kicked the ball once."

The Braves came out of the game relatively injury-free. Linebacker Dwan Wilson remains out with a strained MCL from the UAPB game and will miss three to six weeks.

 

[Blacknbengal]

Another Saturday night loss has Alcorn in dire search for answers

Another Saturday night loss has Alcorn in dire search for answers

By ADAM DAIGLE

LORMAN - Here it is a third straight Monday, and there's no other way to look back on a third Alcorn loss the previous Saturday and not know what went wrong.

"It's the same thing," said ASU head coach Johnny Thomas in reference to the turnovers, mistakes and other breaks that went bad Saturday in the Braves' 60-7 loss at Stephen F. Austin, a loss that was the third straight for the Braves after they opened with a convincing win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff back on Aug. 30.

But since then it's been the same thing, and the Braves have yet to get it right heading into Saturday's game at Division II Fort Valley State before jumping back into SWAC play 4 at Texas Southern.

"We can't get away from those things. The bottom line is we've got to get better. Until we get better, I'll be talking about these same things. That team was good, but we allowed them to be very, very good. We made turnovers and just didn't play very well."

The Braves had problems in just about every facet of the game - offense, defense and special teams - and had to get a score late in the game against the Lumberjacks' reserves to avoid the program's worst loss since a 69-6 loss to Jackson State back in 1958.

The Lumberjacks had nearly 500 yards total offense, and the Braves would have been held to just over 100 yards had they not connected on a 59-yard touchdown pass to get on the board with nearly two minutes left in the game.

"They're just a good football team," Thomas said. "It just didn't happen that way for us. They just out-played us, out-talented us and out-coached us, bottom line. They're a heck of a team."

And the ride back to campus was ample opportunity to put the loss out of their minds, especially since it was a non-conference game against a heavily favored opponent. And who wants to remember how bad things got at SFA's Homer Bryce Stadium - another poor snap to punter Shane Phillips resulted in an illegal kick call to set up a SFA touchdown for a 20-0 lead.

Phillips later had an 8-yard punt to set up the another score for the 27-0 lead, return specialist Lonnie Teagle then fumbled the kickoff to set up a SFA field goal for a 30-0 lead at halftime.

The Lumberjacks then pounded out a long drive to open the second half for a touchdown before the defense did the pounding when Alcorn got the ball. The Braves were backed up in their own territory, and Phillips had a punt blocked out of the end zone for a safety.

"We allowed them to capitalize on every facet of the game - offense, defense and special teams," Thomas said. "It snowballed big time. But I'm thinking this team will bounce back. We have had guys here for three or four years, and now they're juniors and seniors. I'm waiting for the maturation process to take effect for this football team.

"The good thing is we know what we have to do to win against quality football teams. If we're going to vie for the Eastern Division (title) of the SWAC, now is the time. We need to get some confidence and momentum for the final stretch of the season so we can make a serious effort and compete for the SWAC championship."

The game, however, allowed backup quarterback Milton Green, a red-shirt freshman, to get action on the field. The left-handed quarterback connected with freshman Charlie Spiller on the 58-yard touchdown pass for the Braves' only score of the game.

Green entered the game at the end of the third quarter after starter Donald Carrie threw an interception that set up a Lumberjack score for a 53-0 lead. Green finished the game with five completions on seven attempts for 80 yards, while Carrie completed 6 of 17 passes for 26 yards.

"He did an outstanding job," Thomas said. "I was happy to see him play the way he did. It's not the same type of performance when you're playing against a team that has gone up by 45 points and all of a sudden they've got their second-string guys in. But for him to come in and play the way that he did, it was comforting to see."

The 6-3, 210-pound Green is next on the depth chart behind Carrie, creating a situation where Carrie's durability may be tested over the course of the Braves' 11-game season. Green is a red-shirt freshman, and behind him is true freshmen Oliver Bozeman (6-3, 170) and Travis Dent (6-0, 195).

In the case of Carrie in a slump or injury, the others may get hurried along into a tough situation.

"We'd be in trouble," Thomas said. "We wouldn't be if our defense would rise to the occasion and our special teams would rise to the occasion. We wouldn't have the experience and knowledge of the offensive system to really compete competitively as a quality football program."

NOTES - The Braves weren't the only SWAC school not faring well against teams from the Southland Conference. Nicholls State put up nearly 500 yards rushing on Texas Southern in a 64-5 win. Earlier this month McNeese topped Grambling, 31-20, at Eddie Robinson Stadium....Linebacker Omega Logan strained an MCL Saturday. Thomas said although he appears much better he'll undergo tests today