Monday papers

Here's what's up this morning:

The (Clarksville, Tenn.) Leaf Chronicle profiles Austin Peay starting quarterback Mark Cunningham. Cunningham tells the paper the Govs' Pioneer Football League days are over. "Be there on Sept. 2, when we play Southeast Missouri," Cunningham said. "We're not a 2-9 team like we were last year." Of course, the outcome also depends on whether SEMO is a 2-9 team like last year." Unfortunately, in an otherwise fine story, Leaf Chronicle writer James D. Horne makes the classic I-AA blunder when writing about Cunningham's love of football video games. Horne writes, "Cunningham is a big fan of the video game College Football 2007, which has every team from Division I and every team in a conference from Division I-AA." James, that's redundant. "Every team in Division I" includes those in I-AA (including the PFL teams, by the way). What you mean is probably "all I-A teams and some I-AA teams." There's also a story today on how the Govs' move back to scholarship ball impacted recruiting this year. The paper says APSU landed some plum players from powerful high school programs.

The (Nashville) Tennessean finally checks in on Tennessee State today, but of course, the story is about a I-A transfer. Wide receiver Mike Mason came to TSU from North Carolina in January, and no one is quite sure why. The intrigue is interesting, I"ll admit. But the paper could do Tigers fans a favor and pay a visit to practice sometime and see how the team is coming together.

The (Charleston, Ill.) Journal Gazette/Times-Courier has a report today on Eastern Illinois's Saturday scrimmage. Coach Bob Spoo tells the paper the staff still is evaluating the starting quarterback position, where returning starter Mike Donato is being challenged by Ball State transfer Cole Stinson.

At Jacksonville State, the question mark at quarterback is for the No. 2 slot. Matt Hardin appears to have the starters' job nailed down, and wide receiver Taurean Rhetta will be called in if the Gamecocks need a third-stringer. Coach Jack Crowe tells The Anniston Star (sorry, subscribers only) he's not yet comfortable with redshirt freshman Shea Allen. The team scrimmages Tuesday, where the staff hopes to get a good look him and plenty of other players contending for spots on JSU's 56-man travel roster.