Black College Sports Weekly
As the rest of the MEAC starts its 2024 football season in a week or so, Norfolk State and Delaware State kick off this Saturday, respectively, on the road in Week 0.
Week 0 usually refers to the opening weekend of college football games in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), a small number of contests to begin the regular season a week before the vast majority of teams begin their season in Week 1, which typically starts on the Saturday before Labor Day.
Norfolk State heads south to Atlanta to play FAMU in the annual MEAC/SWAC Challenge. Delaware State heads to Honolulu to open its season at Hawaii. Both contests are on Saturday.
The two Black head coaches, Dawson Odums (Norfolk State) and Lee Hull (Delaware State), spoke to reporters on Monday at the first MEAC weekly Football Media Teleconference of the 2024 season.
“I think we’ve had a productive camp. I think we have taken the next step, strides … you know, the biggest improvement comes from year one to year two,” noted Hull, who is in his second year at Delaware State.
Odums told the MSR, “It’s been a really fun camp. Our discipline is something that I’m very proud of with our football team, and we’ve been trying to get it this way since we’ve been here, and it takes time.”
Odums, hired in 2021, is entering his fourth season at Norfolk State. Six of his players made All-MEAC last season, led by then-freshman linebacker AJ Richardson, who led the team in total tackles.
The Spartans HC has over 20 years of collegiate coaching experience, including 10 years as Southern University head coach.
Odums pointed out that playing FAMU on Saturday will be the first test for his squad. “I’ve been telling my guys that you’re gonna find out real quick whether or not you belong. Now you got a platform to showcase whether or not you belong.
“You’re gonna be on a platform that’s going to allow you to showcase what our program is all about,” said Odums.
Successfully adjusting to the Hawaiian time change will be his team’s first test and challenge, said Hull, who was hired at Delaware State in 2022. “We’re playing them at 6 p.m. their time, which is midnight our time,” he pointed out. “That’s going to be a change on our bodies trying to get acclimated to time … I think it’s more than playing the game; it’s the travel, the logistics.”
Nonetheless, continued the Hornets coach, “We’re looking forward to the matchup. Once we get there (Hull said the team expected to leave for Hawaii early Tuesday morning), we also want to do some stuff educationally and culturally for the guys because it’s a great experience.”
This includes a visit to Pearl Harbor and the 57th Infantry, a primarily Black unit, said Hull.
Norfolk State will go into Saturday’s game without last year’s starting quarterback Otto Kuhns, who must sit out the first four games of the season due to an unspecified NCAA ruling.
“He’s still with the team,” stressed Odums on the senior Kuhns.
In his place, sophomore Jalen Daniels will be under center for the Spartans against FAMU: “[He] has done a really fantastic job for us. So, he’s excited, and this football team is excited about the opportunity that’s in front of us,” said the coach.
Delaware State has three players on the MEAC preseason second team: tight end Edward Core, defensive lineman Darren Cook, and Eric Montes, who had 49 total tackles last season.
Redshirts junior LB Charles Brown, Jr., graduate student LB Maurio Goings, “and a bunch of transfers that I think going to make an impact for us on offense,” said Hull.
Norfolk State and Florida A&M will represent their respective conferences on Saturday in Atlanta at the MEAC/SWAC Challenge (ABC, August 24, 7:30 p.m.)
Delaware State at Hawaii (August 24, 6 p.m. Hawaii time, 12 a.m. ET)