College Sports

By HAROLD WILSON
Staff Writer

Texas College head coach Jay Brown will walk through a familiar valley today when he returns to the field he spent some of his most memorable years at.

Brown's Texas College team faces his old school, Mississippi Valley State, in an intriguing matchup at Rice-Totten Stadium, set for a 5 p.m. kickoff in Itta Bena, Miss.

From 1999-2001, Brown served as defensive coordinator there, the same time current Mississippi Valley State head coach Willie Totten worked on the other side as the offensive coordinator.

Following the 2001 season, Brown and the majority of the staff did not get their contracts renewed. Totten moved into the head coaching slot afterward, while Brown moved back home to East Texas.

"It's an eerie feeling," admitted Brown. "I hadn't been back since I left. We're excited to be going back with a team I think is going to be competitive."

The NCAA status (Football Subdivision) of Mississippi Valley State, and the NAIA-affiliation of the Steers, means little to Brown. He expects his Steers to make a game of it.

Having been on both levels, Brown knows the dynamics of a school that competes in the SWAC (Southwestern Athletic Conference) like Mississippi Valley State, and his TC team.

TC defeated a lower-level SWAC school in 2003 (Prairie View A&M) and lost to a high-profile conference member in 2004 (Southern).

"I think it will be competitive," Brown said. "I'm going with the intention to win."

Mississippi Valley State's home stadium bears the names of the two men who put the school on the map in the 1980s. Jerry Rice, the all-time leading NFL touchdown producer, teamed with Totten to leave a legacy at the historically black university. Totten owns 15 different NCAA Division I-AA records, including TDs responsible for in a season (61) and career TDs responsible for (157). The university named the new stadium in Totten and Rice's honor in 1999.

According to Brown, the two coaches "talk all the time" and no ill-feelings exist. But, Brown made it clear that he is now a Steer.

"Coach Totten is a good friend of mine, but I get paid to work for Texas College," he said. "I kid him all the time and tell him when we beat them they're going to have to take his name down and put up mine and leave Jerry's."

The two squads struggled last year, with the Steers going 4-7 and the Delta Devils 3-8.

The Delta Devils, who run a three-receiver offensive set and 4-4-3 defense, welcome the return of several key players. They include a preseason second team All-SWAC pick, Clarence Cotten (WR/PR), and Kevin Golden (LB) and Paul Roberts (QB).

"This preseason we have so many new faces," Totten said. "We have guys in here who really want to learn and do the things we ask. We just really feel good coming out of this preseason camp."

The Steers bring back their three offensive leaders, junior QB X'Zavier Bloodsaw, senior RB Fred Dixon and senior WR Curtis Shaw, as well as All-American CB candidate, senior Kevin Robbins.

Being the underdogs perhaps positions TC for an upset, their coach conferred.

"I think definitely they underestimate a Texas College. You'd be inhuman not to," Brown said. "If I was on the other side I'd be expecting a victory. The coach Brown on this side is not willing to give them that opportunity. We're going in with the mindset that this is a winnable game for us."

STEER SCOOP: Texas College was one of the original founding members of the SWAC, along with Bishop College, Paul Quinn, Sam Houston and Wiley. All-time SWAC members, and their years in the league, are" Bishop College (1920-56), Paul Quinn College (1920-29), Sam Houston College (1920-59), Texas College (1920-68), Wiley College ( 1920-68), Prairie View A&M (1920-present), Langston University (1931-57), Arkansas AM&N (1936-70), Southern (1934 - present), Texas Southern

(1954 -present), Grambling State (1958-present), Jackson State (1958-present), Alcorn State (1962-present), Mississippi Valley State (1968-present), Alabama State (1982-present), Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1997-present) and Alabama A&M (1999 - present).