Tuesday papers

Here's your Tuesday morning OVC news, from newspapers covering league teams:

The Nashville City Paper says Tennessee State looks loaded in the backfield in the first few days of camp. Returning tailback Javarris WIlliams doesn't have a locak on the starter's job, with two freshmen, Terrence Wright and Justin Johnson, looking good. Last season's backups Maurice Young and Denard Cox return as well, giving head coach James Webster plenty of options.

The (Charleston, Ill.) Journal Gazzette/Times-Courier has two Eastern Illinois stories today. One lays out the big days the Panthers are looking forward to this season - on the list are Sept. 2 at Illinois, Oct. 14 at Eastern Kentucky and Dec. 15, the national championship game. The other story looks at the load of transfers who arrived at AIU in the offseason - six came in from I-A teams.

The Anniston (Ala.) Star ( subscribers only) says Jacksonville State coach Jack Crowe was happy to have LeMarcus Rowell and Montavis Pitts on the field for Monday's first day of practice. Rowell, a monster defensive end in 2004, was academically ineligible for 2005. Now he's back. Pitts, a cornerback, is transferring from Auburn after a June arrest for DUI. The story says JSU won't let Pitts play if the DUI charge stays on his record. The Star also has several JSU items in its college notebook: Players surprised coaches with a spontaneous prayer before stretching Monday, four freshmen from local high schools are contending for spots on the Gamecocks' travel squad, another local player is walking on after spending two years at a nearby junior college playing basketball, and another walk-on, an offensive lineman, left the team for personal reasons but quickly was replaced.

The Birmingham (Ala.) News says Samford coach Bill Gray has a full-fledged quarterback battle on his hands. He's got returning starter Jefferson Adcock, backup Dante Williams and Arkansas transfer Alex Mortenson to pick from. The News also has short items on Samford and JSU in its college beat roundup - five paragraphs written from the school press releases, tucked neatly behind the novels about Alabama and Auburn and the novella about UAB.
(EDIT (1:11 p.m.): The college beat link wasn't working. Here's a link to the first page of the story. Scroll to the botom and click to go to page 7.

The Southeast Missourian says SEMO players spent their first day of practice in conditioning tests. Redhawks players said much of the team stayed in town over the summer for the strength and conditioning program.

The Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal has a short item on the TSN pre-season poll, leading with EKU's #20 ranking.