Prairie View head football coach Heishma Northern took a moment during Monday’s SWAC football teleconference to put the conference office“on blast.”
Northern took a moment to express his displeasure after it was announced that PV sophomore QB De’Auntre Smiley was not – at the very least – named SWAC Co-Offensive Player of the Week.
“I’m going to stand up for my guy. But you know De’Auntre Smiley had about 600 yards in total offense by himself, “ said Northern during his segment of the teleconference. “I just find that amazing that this guy is not even a co-player of the week.”
Northern makes a compelling argument in the case for Smiley as co-offensive player of the week. In fact, The Sports Network named Smiley FCS Co-National Player of the Week.
From PV Sports Information:
Smiley had a career outing in the third annual Shreveport Classic versus Southern on Saturday as he finished with 398 passing yards, 170 rushing yards on 14 attempts and five total touchdowns (4 passing, 1 rushing). Smiley was the chief engineer behind a Panther offensive unit which finished with 645 (398 P, 247 R) total offensive yards. Since returning to action on Oct. 20, Smiley has thrown for 649 yards, tossed eight touchdown passes and rushed for 200 yards while completing 77 percent of his passes (45-of-58) with no interceptions.
Antoine Bell, moderator of the SWAC teleconference, stated server issues which resulted in email delays were the reasons why Smiley was not considered for possible co-offensive player of the week honors. Bell further stated the SWAC POW honors could change. No such change has happened yet.
You can hear Northern’s comments from Monday’s teleconference below.
After listening to the conversation between the moderator and Coach Northern, I wrongly expected the oversite (not recognizing the accomplishment of De’Auntre Smiley) would be corrected immediately. However, I was wrong for treating the SWAC recognition committee as persons of character. Gerald Rideaux 1974 PVAMU Graduate.