The 2008 football season is now a pleasant memory of the past for South Carolina State.

Graduation and new additions have already made this year’s Bulldog squad indistinguishable from last year’s 10-3 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship team.

As quarterback Malcolm Long used the start of spring practice Monday to shake off four months of cobwebs, the hunger and focus which drove S.C. State to its first playoff appearance in 26 years was very much still alive.

“We can’t be satisfied with just winning the MEAC,” Long said. “We want to be able to compete for a national championship. We got to experience the playoffs last year by going up to Appalachian State and competing on that level. We want think we can take the vibes we got from that experience, improve on it and move to another level.”

It was “business as usual” for the Bulldogs, who did little to shy away from their normal regimen. The first hour of practice was spent on conditioning and fundamentals within their respective position groups, followed by a second hour of passing drills inside Oliver C. Dawson Stadium.

“Anytime you’ve had as long a layoff as we have, you’re going to have a good bit of learning to gather again,” S.C. State head football coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough said. “It’s the usual, but we’ll be OK.”

While familiar faces like linebacker Marshall McFadden, BANDIT Rafael Bush, safety Markee Hamlin and defensive back Phillip Adams made their presence known, newcomers like junior college transfer center Sam Timothy and redshirt freshmen wide receivers Lennell Elmore and Randall Hawkins looked to make a good impression.

“We’ve got some guys that we’re trying to get into some of those positions where we’ve got some pretty good size losses in and we’re making sure that we don’t leave any stone unturned as far how we got those positions filled,” Pough said.

“The focus right now is to just get everybody together, get everybody in tuned to what’s going on,” McFadden said. “We’ve got some new people here filling in some new gaps, so what our plan is is to get everybody focused, let me know where we left off from, learn their position because we’ve got some big shoes to fill in. My main thing is to get everybody right and lead us to another (title).”

McFadden said the experience at Boone, N.C., and playing in an exciting, big-game atmosphere like “The Rock” has motivated the players to see their sights on not just repeating as conference champion.

“Everybody was satisfied that we won the MEAC championship,” he said. “But everybody knows we had an opportunity to make it to ‘The Big Dance.’ but we weren’t able to win. What we’re going to do is stay humble, work hard and see if we can get to a championship -- not just in the MEAC.”

Before resuming conference play, there’s the matter of the MEAC/SWAC Challenge in Orlando, Fla., against Grambling. Unlike Benedict College, the Bulldogs’ original season-opening opponent, McFadden said the Bulldogs would not be necessarily favored against the Tigers from Louisiana.

“Grambling, there’s talk about them that they’re probably better than us and this and that,” he said. “So instead of playing a Benedict, somebody they expect us to beat up on, now we’ve got to play against Grambling who stands a better chance of (competing against) us. It gives us more motivation for that game, to work really hard and prove that we’re one of the top teams in (the FCS).”

Big John’s impact

It did not take new strength and conditioning coach John Williams long to make a strong impression with the Bulldogs.

The former North Carolina A&T defensive lineman was credited with turning the Bulldogs into an overall more formidable physical team which seemingly got stronger as the last season progressed. Having had a full offseason with Williams, the players have not shown a dropoff from last November.

“Our guys are not only different strength-wise, we seem to be quicker and more enthusiastic,” Pough said.

Several S.C. State players are sidelined this spring following post-season surgeries including Sterling Blunt (wrist), defensive linemen Markus James and Jason Ayers (knees) and North Carolina State transfer Thomas Barnes (meniscus).

McCoy pays a visit

Former S.C. State quarterback Cleveland McCoy played the role of wide receiver during a passing drill Monday. The school’s all-time leader in career total yards (6,149) and touchdowns (53) is expected to take part in Pro Day set for 3 p.m. Wednesday at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium.

S.C. State will resume spring practice at 8 p.m. the same evening.

2009 S.C. State

football schedule

Sept. 6 - Grambling (MEAC/SWAC Challenge in Orlando, Fla.)

Sept. 12 - at Bethune-Cookman

Sept. 19 - OPEN DATE

Sept. 26 - WINSTON-SALEM STATE

Oct. 3 - at the University of South Carolina

Oct. 10 - at Norfolk State

Oct. 17 - FLORIDA A&M

Oct. 24 - at Hampton

Oct. 31 - DELAWARE STATE (Homecoming)

Nov. 7 - at Howard

Nov. 14 - MORGAN STATE

Nov. 21 - NORTH CAROLINA A&T

-- T&D Senior Sports Writer Thomas Grant Jr. can be reached by e-mail at tgrant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5547. Discuss this and other stories on-line at TheTandD.com.

You must be logged in to comment.