Grambling, Alcorn St. again the favorites
Grambling State and Alcorn State have been the dominant SWAC programs over the past three years, with the two teams playing each other in the last three conference championship games.
League coaches and sports information directors believe the balance of power remains with Grambling in the West Division and Alcorn, which has won the East four years running. The teams were picked to repeat as division winners during SWAC football media day on Friday in Birmingham, Ala.
Southern was second to Grambling in the predicted order of finish in the West, followed by Prairie View A&M, Texas Southern and ArkansasPine Bluff, the exact finish from last year’s standings. In the East, Alabama State trailed Alcorn, followed by Jackson State, Alabama A&M and Mississippi Valley State.
“Each team in this conference has gotten better, there’s no doubt about that,” said Prairie View coach Eric Dooley, one of five new head football coaches in the 10-team league. “It will be a challenge and very competitive.
“There’s a lot of new faces. I’ve had a chance to go against many of them in a lot of hard-fought battles. Grambling has done a lot of good things over the last few years and Southern is always in the mix.”
An influx of new coaches
Joining Dooley, who spent the previous four seasons at Grambling as the offensive coordinator, as first-year coaches in the league are Connell Maynor (Alabama A&M), Donald Hill-Eley (Alabama State), Vincent Dancy (Mississippi Valley State) and Cedric Thomas (Arkansas-Pine Bluff ).
This is the first head coaching position on the college level for Dooley, who is expected to run an up-tempo offense. Dooley, who has been on top in the SWAC while at Grambling, inherits a quality roster, including three quarterbacks who have all started at Prairie View — redshirt sophomore Neiko Hollins, senior Lavell McCullers and junior Jalen Morton.
Hollins started the final six games for the Panthers (6-5, 4-3 in SWAC) last season, passing for 1,853 yards and 21 touchdowns overall.
Defensive back Ju’Anthony Parker and offensive lineman Corbin Finlayson earned preseason first-team All-SWAC honors. The Panthers return seven offensive starters and four on defense as well as kicker Zach Elder, last year’s SWAC Newcomer of the Year after making 10-of-12 field goals.
Dooley was hired in December
to replace Willie Simmons, who took the same position at Florida A&M after compiling a three-year record of 21-11, all winning seasons at Prairie View.
Alcorn senior running back P.J. Simmons was named the preseason SWAC Offensive Player of the Year, while Grambling senior linebacker De’Arius Christmas was recognized as the conference’s top defensive player.
A bounce-back season?
Texas Southern is hoping to improve on last year’s 2-9 record, which included a 2-7 mark in conference play, with healthy competition at quarterback.
Joining the battle at the position is Tulane graduate transfer Glen Cuiellette and Devin Williams from Blinn College. Also in the mix are Jay Christophe, who suffered an early seasonending leg injury in 2017, and Elijah Odum.
“We feel with the growth those guys have made, along with the experience and talent we’ve signed with this year’s class, we should be able to make significant improvements in all three facets of the game,” TSU coach Michael Haywood said.