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bosshogg
January 29th, 2007, 10:04 AM
Benedict’s Hendrick to join S.C. State staff
By THOMAS GRANT JR., T&D Senior Sports Writer
Monday, January 29, 2007

Even after his South Carolina State teams posted resounding Palmetto Capital City Classic wins over Benedict College, Oliver “Buddy” Pough still held counterpart John Hendrick in high regard.

Both men paid their dues as assistant coaches with Southeastern Conference teams and have solid reputations as being father figures to their players.

It now appears the Tigers’ former head coach will have the chance to work with Pough when he’s introduced as SCSU’s new defensive coordinator, possibly as early as Thursday.

Hendrick, who was in attendance at Saturday’s SCSU/Hampton men’s basketball game, will replace Tom Evangelista, who, SCSU sources indicate, has decided to leave in order to pursue other coaching opportunities.

In four years at Benedict, Hendrick posted an 18-24 mark, which includes the program’s only winning season since the program’s reinstatement in 1995. He was relieved of his duties in early November following a third straight losing season.

Prior to Benedict, Hendrick spent eight seasons at Mississippi State, where he worked primarily as defensive line coach. Under his guidance, the Bulldogs ran the 3-3-5 defense (something SCSU used during Pough’s first three seasons) and allowed a nation-low 222.5 total yards and 66.9 rushing yards during the 1999 season. They also led the SEC in every defensive category.

A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, where he played with future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino, Hendrick has worked with Delaware State, LSU, Kansas State and Temple, as well as the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers of the NFL.

Neither Pough nor Hendrick were available for comment on Sunday.

--SCSU up to 12 verbal commitments

As Hendrick spent the weekend getting acquainted with his new home, eight visiting recruits decided to spend their next four years at SCSU.

The latest round of verbal commitments includes the quartet of high school seniors who competed in the Class A state championships held last November at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium:

-- DT Charles Jones (6-3, 290 lbs.) of Lake View: An anchor upfront for the Class A Division II champion Wild Gators, the Shrine Bowl selection tallied 61 tackles and eight sacks in helping his team hold opponents to an average of eight points per game.

Ranked as a two-star prospect by SCRivals.com, he’s had a bench press max of 320 pounds, a squat max of 520 lbs. and received interest from Clemson University and Hines Community College

-- ATH Devonne Quattlebaum (6-0, 175) of Ridge Spring-Monetta: Originally slated to sign with the University of Colorado, the Region 4-A Player of the Year helped the Trojans reach their first-ever Class A Division II championship.

This past season, he threw for 875 yards and eight touchdowns and rushed for 18 touchdowns.

-- All-Purpose Donovan Richard (6-0, 180) of Carver’s Bay: A North-South All-Star, the senior Bear had more than 1,000 yards of offense and four interceptions from the defensive back position.

His recruiting stock rose up following his heroics in the Class A Division I championship game. In helping the Bears earn a 22-21 victory over Chesterfield, he made two successful fourth-down conversions off faked punts and blocked a PAT.

-- DE Stephen Moore (6-4, 260 oi) of Carver’s Bay: The senior defensive end had 104 tackles and seven sacks for the 12-2 Bears.

The Bulldogs also received verbal commitments from another Shrine Bowler and three out-of-state prospects:

-- Wide receiver Thomas “Tray” Williams (5-11, 180) of Riverside High School: In one season, the senior Shrine Bowl wideout tripled his receptions output with 48 catches for 784 yards and 11 TDs in helping the Warriors reach the third round of the Class 3-A Upper State playoffs.

-- LB Sanquan Davis (6-2, 220) of Victory Christian High School in Charlotte, N.C.: The MVP of the second-annual Oasis All-Star Shrine Classic where he rushed for 116 yards and three touchdowns. East Carolina and North Carolina A&T were also interested in his services.

-- DE Ahkeem McKinney (6-5, 255) of Griffin High School in Griffin, Ga.: A three-year letterman and All-State honorable mention, who also received an offer from Arkansas, he tallied 77 total tackles, 17 assists, 10 tackles for loss, three assisted sacks, one caused fumble, one fumble recovery and an INT returned for a touchdown. His team finished 11-1 and was ranked seventh in the state.

-- OL Shenaniah Thompson (6-5, 270) of Victory Christian High School in Charlotte, N.C.

The future Bulldogs join tight end wide receiver Brandon Bostick (West Florence), right guard Juavahr Nathan (Stratford), linebacker/running back Patrick Washington (Baptist Hill) and strong safety Marquais Hamlin (Lamar).

Meanwhile, highly sought quarterback Malcolm Long of Gaffney has yet to disclose his choice between SCSU and Winston-Salem State, which he visited this past weekend.

Quarterback Dewain Clark (6-3, 215) of West Iredell High school in Statesville, N.C., who visited SCSU this past weekend, is also scheduled to shortly make his final decision.

bosshogg
January 30th, 2007, 04:54 AM
Bulldogs get verbal commitment from Gaffney’s Long
South Carolina (State) Mr. Football



By THOMAS GRANT JR., T&D Senior Sports Writer
Tuesday, January 30, 2007

The “Long” wait is over as “Mr. South Carolina Football” has decided to make Orangeburg his new home for the next four years.

Gaffney quarterback Malcolm Long confirmed Monday evening in a telephone interview his verbal commitment to South Carolina State. The two-time state champion said he notified a “very happy” SCSU head football coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough about his intentions following his final official visit this past weekend to Winston-Salem State.

“I really liked the school,” said Long about SCSU. “I felt at home when I came down there.”

During his visit to Orangeburg two weeks ago, Long was impressed with how the coaching staff took care of the players and forged a quick bond with his sponsor, Bulldog starting quarterback Cleveland McCoy.

With only backup Bryan Hardy returning after this season now that Russell Hemby has moved over to defensive back, Long sees a “good situation” for him to possibly see action as early as next season should he redshirt this year.

“I’m just going to continue to play with the same hunger I played with in high school,” Long said.

In giving SCSU arguably its biggest recruiting coup since Pough’s arrival in 2001 and third North-South All-Star MVP in the last four years, the 6-4, 245-pound brings a strong arm, good size and unquestioned leadership credentials to the Bulldogs. During his high school career, Long threw for 6,437 yards and 63 touchdowns and also rushed for 15 scores for the Indians.

Over the past two seasons, Long especially excelled as he completed 60.1 percent of his passes and threw just one interception in 153 attempts and none during the postseason. More important, the Indians won 23 consecutive games en route to winning back-to-back Class 4-A Division I championships.

As a junior, it was Long’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Quinton Hemphill with 21 seconds remaining which lifted Gaffney to a 33-32 come-from-behind victory over Summerville in the Class 4-A “Big 16” final. In this year’s final, Long tossed three TDs and ran for two scores in a 45-0 win over Irmo.

A week later, Long celebrated receiving the state’s highest honor for a high school player by earning Co-Offensive MVP honors at the annual North-South All-Star Game. He completed 9-19 passes for 125 yards and a touchdown in the North’s 24-0 win over the South.

Long finished his senior year with 3,077 yards and 32 TDs and six rushing touchdowns in leading Gaffney to a 14-0 mark. He also posted two victories over nationally-ranked and defending Class 4-A Division II champion J.F. Byrnes and future Clemson quarterback Willy Korn. The first win snapped the Rebels’ 33-game winning streak and the second took place in the second round of the playoffs.

Despite his storied career, Long received little if no Division I-A scholarship offers and interest was limited to Winston-Salem State, Gardner-Webb and Western Carolina. When asked about the lack of Division I-A offers, Long insists he’s more than comfortable with his college choice.

“The point is I’m going for an education,” said Long, who plans to major in sports management. Long’s decision caps a busy yet fruitful weekend for SCSU. Not only did the Bulldogs get verbal commitments for 11 visiting recruits, including Union defensive lineman Devon Thompson (6-2, 280 lbs.), it was learned Saturday former Benedict College head football coach John Hendrick would be named the new defensive coordinator.

The verbal commitments will become official on Feb. 7. Until then, Long had a simple message to pass on to SCSU fans.

“Look for a winner,” he said.

T&D Senior Sports Writer Thomas Grant Jr. can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at 803-533-5547. Discuss this and other stories online at TheT&D.com.


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Coastal89
January 30th, 2007, 09:35 AM
Long could be the one player to put SCSU on top in the MEAC. He's probably the most under-rated QB in the state this year. I just don't know how he can only have a 1 star rating and Willy Korn a 5 star(now 4 star) when Malcolm's team beat Korn every time they played.:confused:

bosshogg
January 30th, 2007, 11:44 AM
Long could be the one player to put SCSU on top in the MEAC. He's probably the most under-rated QB in the state this year. I just don't know how he can only have a 1 star rating and Willy Korn a 5 star(now 4 star) when Malcolm's team beat Korn every time they played.:confused:

grades and ability to qualify factor into ratings, adn long is questionable to qualify.......if he pans out gradewise, its a great pickup...

childers aint bad either

GoldandBlack
January 30th, 2007, 12:31 PM
I just don't know how he can only have a 1 star rating and Willy Korn a 5 star(now 4 star) when Malcolm's team beat Korn every time they played.:confused:

Korn benefited from the glitz of Byrnes' national ranking. Yeah, he's good, but I think we'll see him struggle some at Clemson once all the opposing players have equal or similar size and speed in relation to his own team.

Some of that was seen in the two games against Gaffney this year. I'm not a fan of either team, but Gaffney laid the wood to Byrnes in both games.