Saturday ink

Here's what's in the papers about OVC teams today:

With the Tennessee Titans gone, The (Clarksville, Tenn.) Leaf Chronicle turns its attention to the opening of camp for Austin Peay. In all, 87 players reported for the Governors on Thursday, 42 veteran players and 45 freshman (who hold the first football scholarships APSU has doled out in a decade). They'll still be young when they begin OVC play next year, but that oughta be one deep, experienced team in three our four years. The headline for another story in the Leaf-Chronicle says the Govs' roster is full of lcoal players - then lists four from nearby high schools. Freshman running back Jeff Lyle tells the paper, "We're laying the foundation this year, and hopefully next year we'll progress and eventually become a contender for the OVC title."

Eastern Illinois, meanwhile, apparently has only one local player on its roster, backup tight end Brady Woolverton, who hails from Shelbyville, Ill. The (Charleston, Ill.) Journal Gazette/Times-Courier features Woolverton in a story today. Unfortunately, sports writer Mike Monahan, in an otherwise fine story, says Woolverton is "the first player from Shelbyville to play at the Division I or Division I-AA level since Drew Daniels". That's a bit redunant, since I-AA is the Division I level. I assume what he meant was "the Division I-A or I-AA level." Of course, a simpler way to say that would be simply, "the Division I level." Hopefully that will be easier for sportswriters to understand after December, when the NCAA ditches those unnecessary A's.

Shawn Green, a Jacksonville State freshman from nearby Weaver High School, may carry the same last name as current star running back Clay Green, but it's a former No. 1-ball carrier that the coaches see in him. The Anniston (Ala.) Star today says some coaches are comparing the younger Green to Oscar Bonds, who powered the Gamecocks to their 2004 OVC title. He even wears Bonds' number, 43. The Star also says Jacksonville State coach Jack Crowe is looking for a new contract, always a touchy subject around the athletic department headed by Jim Fuller. Fuller, under a new department policy, wants to discuss a contract after the season. Crowe wants to do it now. All the talk in the story comes from his "representative" (lawyer?), who contends that a series of one-year extensions signed in 2004, with a base slary of $109,000, does not constitute a contract.

I don't know that I've ever seen this much JSU coverage in The Gadsden (Ala.) Times before. Of course, much of that coverage lately, like today's story, has focused on Auburn transfer Montavis Pitts. Pitts, who may or may not start as a cornerback for the Gamecocks this season depending on what happens to a DUI charge he picked up in June, is apparently just happy to be on a football field right now.

Someone else happy to still be playing is Southeast Missouri's Tim Holloman. According to the Southeast Missourian, the running back was barred from campus in December after an incident at a fraternity party where he and two other players were alleged to have assaulted another student. The charges were dropped, but Holloman was the only one of the three to return to the team. There's also a story on SEMO moving into two-a-days beginning today, and a rundown of player comings and goings.

Tennessee Tech apparently had a rough day on Friday, it's first practice in full pads, according to the Cookeville (Tenn.) Herald-Citizen. Players and coach Doug Malone blamed the heat and general fatigue. Malone told the paper, "We've got a long way to go. That (practice) wasn't great and that didn't help us a whole lot."

EDIT (10:51 a.m.): I'm having trouble linking to Herald-Citizen stories. For some reason, the URL doesn't work when used as a link from the blog. To see the story mentioned above click here for the main sports page. The TTU story is the first one listed.

EDIT #2 (10:55 a.m.): I missed this on my first go-around. The Southeast Missourian's Mike Mitchell blogs about area sports, and today he posted an interview with SEMO head coach Tony Samuel. Nothing really worth noting there, except that Mitchell misused division names. He asked about the differences Samuel sees from being around "Division 1 prgams like Nebraska and Purdue." Mike, SEMO is a Division I program (and it is "I," not "1," by the way). That's bad enough, but then at the end of the post he talks about SEMO AD Don Kaverman's thoughts about the divisional name changes that take effect in December, and really mucks it up. "Starting in December, the 1-AA label will be known as the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision. Teams at the Division 1 level will be called the Football Bowl Subdivision," he writes. Mike, it's "I-AA" and "I-A." Both are Division I. The NCAA is making the change because people keep making the mistake you just made. I wonder how many people will even realize that?