It was a good day for the fan of South Carolina's small college teams to whip out a notebook Thursday at the Orangeburg Touchdown Club.

John Daye, a former football coach who spent time as the head coach of Orangeburg-Wilkinson, was the club's featured guest speaker and he came with a wealth of knowledge. Daye, who is the editor of GridCoach Magazine, a publication aimed at providing coverage of what Daye called "The Palmetto 10" -- the small in-state colleges.

With his knowledge of the schools, Daye, who once coached football at Orangeburg-Wilkinson, gave the club a brief forecast. Daye said he looked for Newberry, Wofford and Coastal Carolina to challenge for conference titles. Daye called The Citadel, along with South Carolina State, one of the two most physical teams in the state. He said Benedict, Charleston Southern and Presbyterian had improving programs.

"As for South Carolina State," Daye said. "The road to the MEAC title goes through Orangeburg."

South Carolina State defensive coordinator Mike Adams stopped in to give the weekly report on the Bulldogs as they head into their game Saturday against Bethune-Cookman.

"Going into Bethune ... you see that they lost to Shaw last year," Adams said. "And, you say, well, if Shaw beat Bethune we should be able to obliterate them. But, as a coaching staff, we talked about it and we realize that Bethune is basing their whole season on this game. If they can win they can maybe get it turned around. If they lose, they could go down."

Bulldogs head coach Buddy Pough also spoke about the team's win over Grambling. One topic that Pough spent a great time speaking about was the play in which Will Ford had the ball stripped from him by Grambling defensive end Christian Anthony, recovered, and made a one-armed tackle on Anthony to save a touchdown.

"You see on TV that (Ford) is holding his arm, but he catches that guy at the 5," Pough said. "And, if they don't run what I'm convinced was an illegal pick play on third and five they wouldn't have scored.

"I may have got more out of that play than any run he has had up until this point."

Calhoun Academy's Jordan Rucker was honored as the Offensive Player of the Week after going 8 of 9 passing for 238 yards and two touchdowns in his team's 39-24 win over W.W. King. Orangeburg Prep's Thacker Staley was honored as the Defensive Player of the Week after recording 10 tackles, two for loss, and 12 assists in his team's 7-3 loss to top-ranked Hammond.

T&D Sports Editor Brian Linder can be reached via e-mail at blinder@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5553.

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