Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Charles Hawkins wants to become another NFL success story from Southern

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana  --  NFL scouts are scouring the countryside these days looking for that gem that could translate into success at the highest level. This week's tour brings the stopwatches to Baton Rouge for scheduled stops at LSU and Southern University.

For one player, the latter stop is hoped to be an eye opener. His goal on Wednesday afternoon is to post a 4.2 forty. His name Charles Hawkins.

"The worse that I'll run will be a 4.31," stated the former Southern Jaguar matter of factly. "I've worked hard for 4 months preparing for this."

Hawkins (5'8-170) previously ran a sub 4.3 so the anticipated time is not out of the realm of possibility.

"When I ran a 4.28, I had only worked on my start."

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Transfers make reloading Norfolk State roster an easy task

NORFOLK, Virginia  --  While most college basketball coaches whose teams aren't in postseason play are hot on the recruiting trail, Norfolk State's work is mostly done.

Coach Anthony Evans has three transfers enrolled who, along with four returning starters, should make Norfolk State the favorite to repeat as Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference regular-season champ, he says.

"With everything we've got coming back, with the new guys coming in, we should be favored," he said.

Norfolk State loses four seniors but only one starter: forward Rob Johnson. Kris Brown, a reserve non-scholarship player, was the only other senior to play frequently.

The most interesting of the newcomers is Grant Hefeng, a 6-foot-8 Fresno State transfer who practiced with the Spartans this season. He is a strong offensive player and rebounder and could start, Evans said.  Hefeng is from Shenzhen, China, and played for the Chinese Junior National Team.

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Florida A&M's Holmes keeps promise, hires Pata



TALLAHASSEE, Florida  --  During his final two years of playing college football as a reserve tight end at Florida State, Edwin Pata made up his mind on a career path.

He wanted to become a teacher and eventually a principal.

Or so he thought until his passion for the game overcame him while he was a volunteer coach in 2006. The following year, former FAMU coach Ruben Carter offered him a graduate assistant position to work with the tight ends.

Since then, he’s worked under Joe Taylor for two seasons and spent the last three seasons at Florida International University as an assistant.

Now, he’s in his second tenure at FAMU, as Taylor’s successor, Earl Holmes, kept a ...

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Hampton U. Justin Durant signs with Dallas Cowboys

FLORENCE, South Carolina  -- Justin Durant is going from one Big D to another.

The former Wilson standout has agreed to a two-year deal with the Dallas Cowboys after spending the past two seasons with the Detroit Lions. The deal was first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Durant’s deal can’t be made official until the Cowboys clear up some cap space to do so. Dallas is only $100,000 under the cap at the moment.

Durant earned $5.5 million in his two seasons in Detroit and is coming off his best season as a pro. He recorded a career-high 103 tackles this season for the Lions, good for second most on the team.

Durant played outside linebacker in the Lions’ 4-3 system and is expected to ...

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FAMU's New coordinator 2-time Pro Bowler: Kirkland teaches physical style

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- Levon Kirkland doesn’t appear to have change one bit 12 years after he played his last game in the NFL as a two-time Pro Bowl starter.

“What people don’t understand is that when you’re physical and going after people it makes opponents don’t want to play you because you have a style and a standard,” Kirkland said Monday.

That said, Kirkland isn’t about to change now that he is the defensive coordinator at FAMU. His ultimate goal is to make the defensive unit, especially the line backers unit that he will coach, one of the most respected in the all of FSC football.

“That’s what we need to establish here,” he said. “We are going to punch at you, we are going to fight you to the very end and when you leave whatever game we play, you’re going to be black blue. It’s very simple as that.”

Kirkland is one of six new additions that head coach Earl Holmes named to his staff last week.

Holmes, who was defensive coordinator before ...

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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

North Carolina A&T Aggies Hire New Offensive Coordinator

COACH RICKEY BUSTLE
GREENSBORO, North Carolina  – Third-year North Carolina A&T head football coach Rod Broadway added a key piece to his coaching staff on Tuesday with the hiring of new offensive coordinator Rickey Bustle.

Bustle brings 33 years of coaching experience to the staff, including nine years (2002-2010) as the head football coach at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. Bustle also spent 14 seasons (1987-93, 1995-2001) at Virginia Tech, where he was the offensive coordinator in the Hokies Bowl Championship Series title game against Florida State in 2000.

“Coach Bustle will bring a fresh new perspective and outlook to our offense,” said Broadway. “He brings new blood, new life, if you will, to our program. I wanted to bring in somebody who was going to continually work to make us better. Coach Bustle has the vision to make us a better team offensively, and that will hopefully translate into us being a better football team as a whole.”

Bustle’s two most recent stops were at Southern Mississippi as the running backs coach in 2012 and at Tulane as the quarterbacks coach in 2011. Bustle won 41 games at ULL, including a win over A&T in 2006. In 2005, he led the Rajin’ Cajuns to the Sun Belt championship and their first winning season in 10 years. They were bowl eligible in 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009.

During his first six seasons at Virginia Tech, he was the quarterbacks coach. In 1993, he became the Hokies’ offensive coordinator and helped them to a win in the Independence Bowl. He became the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of South Carolina in 1994, before returning to Virginia Tech as the offensive coordinator in 1995. He was a part of Hokie wins in the Sugar (1995), Music City (1998) and Gator Bowls (2000).

In 1999, the Hokies led the nation in points per game (41.4). In fact, his second seven-year stint with the Hokies produced seven of the eight highest-scoring teams in school history. Bustle has also coached collegiately at Clemson, East Carolina, Northeast Louisiana and Gardner-Webb. Bustle will take over an offense that ranked seventh in the MEAC in total offense and eighth in passing offense.

The Summerville, S.C., native, is a 1976 graduate of Clemson, where he received a bachelor's degree in parks and recreation administration. He was a four-year letterwinner as a wide receiver for the Tigers.


COURTESY NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS

UMES rolls through Hampton on its way to a sixth conference championship