DTSpider
April 22nd, 2006, 11:25 AM
DIV. I-AA NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Saturday, April 22, 2006
DUKES RESURFACING: James Madison holds its spring game today at noon in the final football contest on the unforgiving, hard, old-style rug of Bridgeforth Stadium.
JMU will install FieldTurf, at a cost of about $800,000, before the start of the 2006 season, ridding its otherwise attractive football facility of the least-liked (by players), highest-crowned surface in the Atlantic 10 Football Conference.
William and Mary is already in the process of replacing Zable Stadium's natural turf with FieldTurf, the synthetic grass that has a base of sand and shredded rubber. Richmond will move in the next few years into its on-campus facility, First Market Stadium, which already features FieldTurf.
JMU DEPTH: Madison went from 2004 national champions to a 7-4 team in 2005 that missed the playoffs. All four losses were decided by six or fewer points in contrast to the 13-2 national-championship team, which went 5-1 in games decided by a touchdown or less.
The difference? Depth, according to JMU coach Mickey Matthews, who constantly reminded his non-starters to keep improving during spring ball so the Dukes could stay strong late in games and when injuries strike. The Dukes have 13 starters back, including All-America safety Tony LeZotte, a rising junior who hasn't done much in spring ball due to a groin pull. Madison and New Hampshire, which meet Oct. 14 at UNH, will likely be A-10 divisional favorites this year.
Former JMU great Charles Haley will be inducted tonight into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. Madison's first I-AA All-America (1985) is the only player in NFL history to play for five Super Bowl champions.
WILL THIS FLY? Hampton's league, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, has a thought-provoking plan that will require NCAA approval.
The MEAC and the Southwestern Athletic Conference, rival leagues, want to play a bowl game in January. This bowl game would allow the MEAC champ to participate through December in the Division I-AA playoffs (SWAC teams do not participate in the I-AA playoffs because their league holds a postseason championship game).
I-AA's postseason tournament is not a money-making proposition for the 16 programs that qualify. A heavily sponsored, nationally televised January bowl game between the MEAC and SWAC champions after the playoffs, perhaps played in Atlanta, would be. The game would be billed as the Black National Championship, and HU Athletic Director/coach Joe Taylor estimated each school in the MEAC and SWAC could earn $500,000 from the bowl game, if the NCAA approves.
"Revenue generation is the driving force," said Taylor.
The NCAA probably won't allow the league champions to play an extra game, but may approve the bowl game if the MEAC and SWAC teams eliminate one game from their regular-season schedules. The MEAC and SWAC already hold a Heritage Bowl challenge during the regular season. Hampton will face Grambling this year on Labor Day weekend in Birmingham, Ala.
TRIBE TALK: William and Mary completed its spring drills with a veteran addition. Linebacker Chris Ndubueze returned to the Tribe after missing 2005 due to personal problems. He and Travis McLaurin, who missed 2005 due to a knee injury, will give W&M two of the A-10's finest LBs, assuming McLaurin's knee is fit. He sat out spring ball.
W&M has a couple of former players who are expected to get NFL shots: defensive back Stephen Cason, from James River High, and kicker Greg Kuehn.
SPIDER STUFF: Richmond looked like a running offense with good defense in its spring game last weekend.
"I think the spring game kind of ended up the way most of the spring went," UR coach Dave Clawson said. "I think right now we're ahead on defense. I think we have a lot of good [defensive] players back, and that's a group, if we do the things we need to do between now and August, we have a chance to have an outstanding defense.
"The challenge is to develop a quarterback-wide receiver combination that has the ability to make plays [and] open things for the running game."
Eric Ward, who redshirted last season as a true freshman, and sophomores Levi Brown and Will Healy continue to compete at quarterback.
"In order to give our offense some continuity, we'd like to have an idea who [the starter] is at least 10 days to two weeks before the [Sept. 2] Duke game," Clawson said. "There's not one person who pulled ahead, or conversely, one guy that fell so far behind that they're out of it. Probably as a coach, you'd kind of like that to happen. But you can't just say it happened if it hasn't happened."
Clawson didn't like what he saw in the spring game from returning receivers Arman Shields and Matt Hale.
"We need a wide receiver to step up, a guy that can win one-on-one routes, and catch the ball consistently," Clawson said. "I believe we have the personnel on our team to do that, just unfortunately [in the spring game], it didn't show up. It takes pressure off the quarterback position if [receivers] can win one-on-ones. When that doesn't happen, it's hard to play quarterback."
Former UR quarterback Stacy Tutt, 6-2 and 235 pounds, hopes to make an NFL roster as a backup QB and special-teamer.
- John O'Connor
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Saturday, April 22, 2006
DUKES RESURFACING: James Madison holds its spring game today at noon in the final football contest on the unforgiving, hard, old-style rug of Bridgeforth Stadium.
JMU will install FieldTurf, at a cost of about $800,000, before the start of the 2006 season, ridding its otherwise attractive football facility of the least-liked (by players), highest-crowned surface in the Atlantic 10 Football Conference.
William and Mary is already in the process of replacing Zable Stadium's natural turf with FieldTurf, the synthetic grass that has a base of sand and shredded rubber. Richmond will move in the next few years into its on-campus facility, First Market Stadium, which already features FieldTurf.
JMU DEPTH: Madison went from 2004 national champions to a 7-4 team in 2005 that missed the playoffs. All four losses were decided by six or fewer points in contrast to the 13-2 national-championship team, which went 5-1 in games decided by a touchdown or less.
The difference? Depth, according to JMU coach Mickey Matthews, who constantly reminded his non-starters to keep improving during spring ball so the Dukes could stay strong late in games and when injuries strike. The Dukes have 13 starters back, including All-America safety Tony LeZotte, a rising junior who hasn't done much in spring ball due to a groin pull. Madison and New Hampshire, which meet Oct. 14 at UNH, will likely be A-10 divisional favorites this year.
Former JMU great Charles Haley will be inducted tonight into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. Madison's first I-AA All-America (1985) is the only player in NFL history to play for five Super Bowl champions.
WILL THIS FLY? Hampton's league, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, has a thought-provoking plan that will require NCAA approval.
The MEAC and the Southwestern Athletic Conference, rival leagues, want to play a bowl game in January. This bowl game would allow the MEAC champ to participate through December in the Division I-AA playoffs (SWAC teams do not participate in the I-AA playoffs because their league holds a postseason championship game).
I-AA's postseason tournament is not a money-making proposition for the 16 programs that qualify. A heavily sponsored, nationally televised January bowl game between the MEAC and SWAC champions after the playoffs, perhaps played in Atlanta, would be. The game would be billed as the Black National Championship, and HU Athletic Director/coach Joe Taylor estimated each school in the MEAC and SWAC could earn $500,000 from the bowl game, if the NCAA approves.
"Revenue generation is the driving force," said Taylor.
The NCAA probably won't allow the league champions to play an extra game, but may approve the bowl game if the MEAC and SWAC teams eliminate one game from their regular-season schedules. The MEAC and SWAC already hold a Heritage Bowl challenge during the regular season. Hampton will face Grambling this year on Labor Day weekend in Birmingham, Ala.
TRIBE TALK: William and Mary completed its spring drills with a veteran addition. Linebacker Chris Ndubueze returned to the Tribe after missing 2005 due to personal problems. He and Travis McLaurin, who missed 2005 due to a knee injury, will give W&M two of the A-10's finest LBs, assuming McLaurin's knee is fit. He sat out spring ball.
W&M has a couple of former players who are expected to get NFL shots: defensive back Stephen Cason, from James River High, and kicker Greg Kuehn.
SPIDER STUFF: Richmond looked like a running offense with good defense in its spring game last weekend.
"I think the spring game kind of ended up the way most of the spring went," UR coach Dave Clawson said. "I think right now we're ahead on defense. I think we have a lot of good [defensive] players back, and that's a group, if we do the things we need to do between now and August, we have a chance to have an outstanding defense.
"The challenge is to develop a quarterback-wide receiver combination that has the ability to make plays [and] open things for the running game."
Eric Ward, who redshirted last season as a true freshman, and sophomores Levi Brown and Will Healy continue to compete at quarterback.
"In order to give our offense some continuity, we'd like to have an idea who [the starter] is at least 10 days to two weeks before the [Sept. 2] Duke game," Clawson said. "There's not one person who pulled ahead, or conversely, one guy that fell so far behind that they're out of it. Probably as a coach, you'd kind of like that to happen. But you can't just say it happened if it hasn't happened."
Clawson didn't like what he saw in the spring game from returning receivers Arman Shields and Matt Hale.
"We need a wide receiver to step up, a guy that can win one-on-one routes, and catch the ball consistently," Clawson said. "I believe we have the personnel on our team to do that, just unfortunately [in the spring game], it didn't show up. It takes pressure off the quarterback position if [receivers] can win one-on-ones. When that doesn't happen, it's hard to play quarterback."
Former UR quarterback Stacy Tutt, 6-2 and 235 pounds, hopes to make an NFL roster as a backup QB and special-teamer.
- John O'Connor