By ADD SEYMOUR JR.
It’s tough not to like the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats this
season.
When a team runs through the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference
undefeated, has one of the nation’s top offenses and defenses, and returns the
main cogs on both sides of the ball, the Wildcats look hard to beat again this
year.
That’s why the Wildcats are the preseason number one team in
black college football in 2013, according to Add’s HBCU Sports Report in their
first ever Top Ten rankings.
Add's HBCU Sports Report has released its first annual HBCU football Top Ten polls for Football Championship Series (formerly Division I-AA) and Division II schools. The Winston-Salem State Rams is ranked as the preseason top team in Division II HBCU football.
Add's HBCU Sports Report has released its first annual HBCU football Top Ten polls for Football Championship Series (formerly Division I-AA) and Division II schools. The Winston-Salem State Rams is ranked as the preseason top team in Division II HBCU football.
Football Championship Series (Formerly Division I-AA)
On offense, Bethune-Cookman is led by the 1-2 punch of running back
Isidore Jackson and quarterback Quentin Williams. Jackson, the MEAC’s Preseason Co-Offensive
Player of the Year, rushed for 1,069 yards and had 12 touchdowns last season
while Williams threw for 1,173 yards and ran for 445 more. One of his favorite targets, All-MEAC wide
receiver Eddie Poole, also returns.
The Wildcats are again loaded on defense of the ball as they
return three of their top tacklers from last’s season’s squad, which had one of
the nation’s top seven defenses. Jarkevis
Fields had 103 tackles in 2012 and has been named the Mid-Eastern Athletic
Conference’s Preseason Defensive Player of the Year while Nick Addison, one of the nation's best pass defenders, had 62 tackles and four interceptions last year.
It won’t take long to figure out where the Wildcats stand
this year. They open up in Nashville
when they visit third-ranked Tennessee State in the John Merritt Classic on
Sept. 7. Last year, Tennessee State
handed Bethune-Cookman one of their two regular season losses in a 14-7
slugfest in Florida.
Tennessee State, which finished 8-3 last season after
starting 7-0, may have been some grades and a dance on a car away from the No.
1 preseason ranking this season.
Quarterback Michael German threw for 2,751 yards and 18 touchdowns last
season, but is out indefinitely after he was arrested on a vandalism charge for
dancing on the roof of a Ford Fiesta.
He’s also looking to become academically eligible after taking needed
summer school courses.
Losing German would be big for the Big Blue Tigers, who also
lost leading rusher Trabis Ward to graduation.
But the Tigers are still seen as a big player nationally as they have
been picked by a number of preseason national polls as a Top 25 team and are
seen as one of the best teams in the Ohio Valley Conference. They return junior All American cornerback
Steven Godbolt III, the Ohio Valley Conference’s Preseason Defensive Player of
the Year and last season’s leading tackler, linebacker Nick Thrasher, to a
tough, stingy defense. All-American
tight end A.C. Leonard leads the offense, along with a huge offensive line.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff was the class of the Southwestern
Athletic Conference in 2012 by blazing through a Things shouldn’t change a whole lot as the Golden
Lions return 20 starters from last year, including quarterback Ben
Anderson. Anderson threw for 2,346 yards
and 16 touchdowns last season. The SWAC’s second leading rusher, Justin
Billings, is back, as are Anderson’s main targets, Ladarius Eckwood and Dez
Beverly.
Jackson State continues their rise back to their traditional
rank among the nation’s top black college teams as they are ranked fourth. The rest of the Top Ten includes South
Carolina State, Alabama State, Howard, North Carolina Central, Florida A&M
and Delaware State.
Football Championship
Series (Formerly Division I-AA) Top Ten Poll
1)
Bethune-Cookman
2)
Arkansas-Pine Bluff
3)
Tennessee State
4)
Jackson State
5)
South Carolina State
6)
Alabama State
7)
Howard
8)
North Carolina Central
9)
Florida A&M
10)
Delaware State
Division II
Winston Salem State could do little wrong in 2012 as they blasted through the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference to win their second consecutive conference championship and make it to the Division II title game. They finished undefeated in the conference and 14-1 overall after falling in the NCAA Division II title game.
They lose a number of offensive stars, but the Rams return a
number of players who got huge amounts of playing time because, well, the Rams
were blowing people out so badly last season.
Leading the offense will be running back Maurice Lewis, who rushed for
1,027 yards and 13 touchdowns. Stepping
in at quarterback will be Anthony Carothers, a former Grambling transfer who played
more than capably when spelling graduated all-everything quarterback Kameron
Smith.
The Rams also have back the 2012 CIAA Defensive Player of
the Year Carlos Fields, a ball-hawking linebacker who had 117 tackles for the
conference’s top defense, and Donnie Owens, a defensive lineman who added 7.5
sacks and 62 tackles in 2012.
Capping off a dream season, Miles College made the program’s
first Division II playoff appearance in 2012 after going 8-2 and winning the
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference crown. They return All-SIAC quarterback David
Thomas, who threw for 2,059 yards and 13 touchdowns last season, as well as All-Conference
running back Floyd Graves. They lost
some big names on defense, but the Golden Bears have seven starters back for
2013. Reginald Virges had 82 tackles and
three interceptions last season while James Gaines III four sacks along with 52
stops.
Chowan, who could be the surprise team in the CIAA, is
ranked fourth. The rest of the Division II Top Ten is Albany State, Elizabeth
City State, Johnson C. Smith, Stillman and Morehouse.
Division II Top Ten
Poll
1)
Winston Salem State
2)
Miles
3)
Tuskegee
4)
Fort Valley State
5)
Chowan
6)
Albany State
7)
Elizabeth City State
8)
Johnson C. Smith
9)
Stillman
10)
Morehouse
