bluedog
"Leader of Kings"
Southern freshman safety George makes impact
By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN
Advocate sportswriter
As the Education of Jarmaul George continues, George might not be tested through the air so much at 8 p.m. CDT today, when Southern (2-0) plays run-oriented North Carolina A&T (2-0) at UNLV's Sam Boyd Stadium in the first Las Vegas Classic.
That said, the learning process will continue, nonetheless. Tonight, he'll often have to come up in run support to help stop A&T's powerful running game.
As it is, the solid start (fourth on the team in tackles, with nine) hasn't satisfied George.
"I'm doing well, but I could do better," George said. "I've got to come up with some bigger plays."
Already, George (6-foot, 180 pounds) is showing the plays and poise he made as he rose to the first team midway through preseason camp last month.
"The surprising thing is his comprehension level," Miller said. "To say that he just played in high school a few months ago, and to come here and throw all these things at him, and in a matter of a week he understood everything. You started to see it in practice."
The interception Saturday showed the package: athleticism, instincts and knowledge.
"He has that uncanny ability," Richardson said. "He improved every day. The more reps he got, the more confident he got.
"The thing he does is he goes after the football like a receiver. He's going to catch it."
George's ascent mirrors that of senior cornerback Lenny Williams, the All-Southwestern Athletic Conference preseason defensive player of the year who has started every game.
"It's like deja vu with Lenny," Miller said. "You see a young, mature guy who's ahead of the game. He makes the right decisions. ... We have a guy, when people are trying to throw in the middle of the field, who can be a threat."
George came to Southern for a 7-on-7 passing camp after his junior year at New Orleans' L.B. Landry High and liked what he saw. Said George, "That's where I really saw what Southern was about. I saw the scheme on defense. I really liked it."
In turn, Miller was impressed with what he saw of George.
"He was a little stringy kid, but he could run and he could jump," Miller said. "At one time, it was just me (recruiting). Then, all of a sudden, we called one day and there were 10 schools in line."
Among those schools, George said, were powerhouses like Nebraska, Michigan State, West Virginia and Clemson. But he never visited any of them, as schools wanted him to walk-on.
"He was a stand-up kid and chose Southern," Miller said. "He hung in there, regardless, even when the Michigan States started calling."
George, who played in the inaugural Bayou Bowl (between Louisiana and Texas standouts) in June, made recruiting expert Max Emfinger's Super All-State team, Class 3A honorable mention all-state and The Times-Picayune's All-Metro team as defensive back.
An All-District 11-3A pick at safety and wide receiver the last two seasons, he led 3A with 10 interceptions (one returned for a touchdown) and had 795 yards and seven TDs on 46 catches in 2002.
"He understands the game. He understands what offenses are trying to do, pattern reads," Richardson said. "That may have come from being a wide receiver."
George was also a Class 3A all-state second-teamer in basketball after averaging 15.6 points per game. And he said he finished 23rd in his graduating class.
All this, and no butterflies.
"I just go out there and just do it, come out and try to make big plays to help my team. That's all I like doing," George said.
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Southern-N.C. A&T matchups
By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN
Advocate sportswriter
SOUTHERN OFFENSE VS. N.C. A&T DEFENSE
Advantage: Southern
The Jaguars have been machine-like behind a balanced philosophy. TB Lashun Peoples (121.0 ypg, three TDs) spearheads the ground game, while QB Quincy Richard (167.72 efficiency rating, 67.5 percent in accuracy) has been commanding, poised and surgeon-like. ... N.C. A&T, calling itself the ?Blue Death Defense,? led the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in turnovers forced last season. LBs Joey Lance and Chamar Milton are strong, and transfers Darnell Hamilton (Michigan State) and Marcus Lewis (Clemson) bolster the line, and the secondary has two All-MEAC players (CB Curtis Deloatch and S Eddie Ravenell).
SOUTHERN DEFENSE VS. N.C. A&T OFFENSE
Advantage: Even
After going 4-8 last season, the Aggies of the MEAC are back to their running game, and used that (203 yards on 47 carries against only 18 passes) to control the clock (39:30) in the win at JSU. The game film, for Southern, could stir unpleasant memories of a 1999 Heritage Bowl loss to MEAC member Hampton. TB Frank Patterson (121.5 ypg) ranks one notch ahead of Southern's Peoples on the national chart. TB Micheaux Hollingsworth (50.5 ypg), moved back after a year at WR, and QB Marshall Glenn (34.5 ypg) can also tote the ball. All-MEAC G Kareem Sanders anchors a massive offensive line. ... Southern has allowed only one TD this season.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Advantage: Southern
All-SWAC KR Ezra Landry has been electric so far for Southern, with K Breck Ackley and P Colby Miller have been solid. Deloatch, injured most of last season, is All-MEAC at both CB and KR. He's averaging 14.5 yards per punt return, just better than Landry's 14.43. The game sets up an interesting contrast in return styles, with Landry at 5-4 and Deloatch at 6-4. A&T's Yonnick Matthews kicked a 22-yarder to beat JSU in overtime last week.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
SOUTHERN: K BRECK ACKLEY (2-3 FGs, 11-11 PATs)
The true freshman has been solid on field-goal tries (one tipped away) and PATs. He also has shown the range on kickoffs to consistently get the ball into the end zone for touchbacks. That's an element that's been missing the last few years for the Jaguars.
N.C. A&T: RB FRANK PATTERSON (48 carries, 243 yards, 1 TD)
The 5-foot-11, 200-pound sophomore tailback, known as ?Shug? when he ran for 144.2 yards per game as the all-time leading rusher at Hunter Huss High in Gastonia, N.C., is the focal point of the Aggies' clock-controlling running game. He spent a lot of last season as a wide receiver.
SOUTHERN WILL WIN IF ...
The Jaguars can do all the little things right. Landry has to get the Jaguars into good field position. The defense has to keep N.C. A&T from controlling the clock. And the offense has to be just as effective against a better defense.
N.C. A&T WILL WIN IF ...
The Aggies can defuse Southern's offense, which is on a serious roll. A week ago, they (and new JSU coach James Bell's play-calling) shut down JSU's offense with ball control and solid defense -- an interception to stop a deep drive and a third-quarter interception to set up overtime. A&T would like to repeat that kind of performance.
PREDICTION ...
Southern will get its first test tonight. But the momentum they've generated and the execution they've shown in the first two games have the Jaguars ready. ... The victor will get a huge confidence boost that could carry through the rest of the season.
SOUTHERN 27, N. CAROLINA A&T 13
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Depth Charts
Rabalais: LSU, SU reasons for Baton Rouge to cheer
By SCOTT RABALAIS
Advocate sportswriter
Ah, to be in Baton Rouge now that football is here. Better yet, both of the home teams are undefeated and looking likely to expand their winning gains again today.
Unlike The Football Network, which was lured to Big BR by football fanaticism and even more fanatical state-sponsored economic incentives, some are slow to come around to River City's stature as a college gridiron town par excellence.
Earlier this week, "Sports Illustrated On Campus" picked its top 20 college towns and ranked Baton Rouge No. 12.
Obviously, LSU's football success hasn't been enough to offset the school's continued slippage in the Princeton Review's list of best party schools. Then again, you have to wonder what the folks at SI were drinking when they named Madison, Wis., No. 1 and Bloomington, Ind., ahead of No. 6 Baton Rouge.
Then again, BR apparently gets no credit for Southern. Script Ohio helped make Columbus, Ohio, No. 15 on the list. A band that can form the score on the field at halftime has to count for something.
So does Southern's football team. Both the Tigers and the Jaguars are off to promising, dominant 2-0 starts. Both have fans dreaming of big things as Week 3 rolls around.
The question for LSU and Southern remains however: will this weekend bring the first true test of the season?
The Tigers were hardly winded in their season-opening 49-7 victory over Louisiana-Monroe. And LSU didn't even suffer jet lag from playing two time zones west of home base last Saturday, except that they almost scored before the opening kickoff. As it was, the Tigers poured in five touchdowns and a field goal in the first half to fuel a 59-13 rout that started a brush fire outside Arizona Stadium.
Southern is spending its third consecutive week on the road, but the Jaguars may never come home if they continue to have success like this.
First they went to Jackson, Miss., and left Mississippi Valley State submerged under flood stage, 29-0. Last Saturday, the Jaguars sortied to Shreveport and made Prairie View sorry it came across the Texas border after a 62-7 loss.
While winning is wonderful, both teams have to be left wondering a bit. So complete has been their control in both games, so outclassed their opponents, both the Tigers and the Jaguars are left to ponder -- just how good are we?
Equally puzzling is whether this week's games will provide the answers LSU and Southern seek.
LSU is at home against the nation's No. 1 team -- the No. 1 team in Division I-AA, that is, Western Illinois. Southern is playing yet another classic in a place with casinos not far from the stadium. But with apologies to Shreveport, this place really is classic: Las Vegas. And the opponent is no Prairie View but a traditional and also undefeated I-AA football power, North Carolina A&T.
For LSU, it's no question that Western Illinois is better than UL-Monroe. But could the Leathernecks possibly be more talented than Arizona, a Pac-10 bottom feeder but still a member of a BCS conference (Tulane president Scott Cowen spits when he says that)?
The Leathernecks don't have the depth but do have some skill with players like quarterback Russ Michna, running back Travis Glasford and defensive tackle Mike O'Brien. And Western Illinois does possess something UL-Monroe and Arizona have lost: a winning attitude. Unlike the Wildcats, who gave up shortly after the first quarter, discipline and determination should not abandon the Leathernecks. Expect them to display their esprit de corps till the end.
Southern is playing an N.C. A&T team that has built its early winning streak on what the Aggies bill as their "Blue Death Defense." Sounds imposing, but scarier propositions in Vegas come to mind. You could, say, double down on a pair of kings and draw a pair of deuces, or lose a bet and be forced to step into the ring with Sugar Shane Mosley or Oscar De La Hoya (Vegas' primo event Saturday night) -- that or get dangled by your ankles from atop the Stratosphere Hotel.
The stakes are high, but Southern's combination of quarterback Quincy Richard and tailback Lashun Peoples should be enough to keep the Jaguars in the win column.
So what if LSU and Southern go into next week 3-0? That doesn't happen too often. Sort of uncharted territory for local disciples of the gridiron faith.
There can be fear in the unknown, but at least we have this: We're not in Carbondale, Ill., (home of Southern Illinois) the worst college town on SI's list.
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