NEWS RELEASE
May 15, 2012
 
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Bethune-Cookman University Athletic Department has named Stanley Elliott and Stacey Speller its 2011-12 Male and Female Athletes of the Year, it was announced Friday in conjunction with university commencement exercises.
 
The awards are based on criteria including academic and athletic achievement, as well as leadership and high character. The selection committee consisted of the B-CU Athletic Department’s senior management.
 
Elliott, a senior men’s basketball player from Newark, N.J., was a four-year starter for the Wildcats. He graduated Saturday as the first player since the program elevated to Division I in 1980 to enjoy a winning record in each of his four years. During his time, B-CU won its first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) regular season championship in 2011, played its first post-season game in the 2011 NIT and appeared in the MEAC Tournament championship game for the first time in 2012.
A Mass Communications major, he leaves B-CU as the all-time leader in games played and ninth on the all-time steals list.
 
“I have watched Stanley Elliott perform at a very high level both academically and athletically the past four years,” said B-CU athletic Director Lynn W. Thompson. “For him to cap off a tremendous career on the court, walk across the stage and receive his degree, and being named Male Athlete of The Year is is the perfect trifecta for a well-deserving young man.”
 
Speller, a senior women’s tennis player from Bronx, N.Y., was named to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference first team after compiling a 15-8 record in singles play and 16-8 in doubles play. Her leadership helped Lady Wildcats improve from a 5-15 mark in 2011 to 20-7 this season.
She received her Biology degree on Saturday.
 
“Stacy’s story is a true success story for the whole world to know,” said B-CU Senior Women’s Administrator Sandra L Booker. “Not only has she been an excellent student-athlete, but she is a wife and mother as well. Her accomplishments in athletics are only a small portion of the success of this outstanding young lady.”

Coach Chris Cochran and the Lady Wildcats wrapped up their third consecutive MEAC Softball Tournament title  by defeating arch rival FAMU 2-1 on Sunday afternoon. 

Cesley Tafoya’s RBI double down the left field line plated 2 Wildcat runners in the bottom of the 2nd and that was all of the offense the Cats would need.  Sophomore pitcher, Shanel Tolbert allowed just one run in the top of the 1st and secured yet another championship (8th overall) for the Lady Wildcats.

The Lady Wildcats will now travel to College Station, Texas to take on Texas A&M in Regional play.  Texas State and LSU will also compete in the College Station Regional.

The women’s golf team withstood a hard charge from South Carolina State to win the PGA’s National Minority Golf Championship (NMGC) for a record 9th time. 

Here are a number of fun facts for you. 

• The Women’s NMGC has been in existence for 15 years. 
• BCU’s women’s golf team have won 9 of the 15 titles. 
• This year’s 916 three-day shot total is only 4 more than the tournament record.  (And to think, this current National Championship team is made up entirely of underclassmen).

Ryan Davis and Jean Fanor have signed Free Agent deals with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Kansas City Chiefs respectively. Two other HBCU players will join Davis as undrafted free agents in Jacksonville (Kevin Elliot, WR, FAMU and Antonio Dennard, CB, Langston).

Other HBCU undrafted free agent signees include:

Indianapolis Colts
Micah Pellerin CB, Hampton,

Jacsksonville Jaguars
Kevin Elliot, WR, Florida A&M
Ryan Davis, DE, Bethune-Cookman
Antonio Dennard, CB, Langston

Houston Texans
Mario Louis, WR, Grambling St

Oakland Raiders
Marqutte King, P, Fort Valley State

Dallas Cowboys
Adrian Hamilton, DE, Prairie View A&M

Atlanta Falcons
Casey Therriault, QB, Jackson St

San Francisco 49ers
Brian Tymes, WR, FAMU

2012 NFL Undrafted Free Agents

Rodney Scott runs a pass route during Saturday's Spring game

Shortly after yesterday’s Spring game, I shook the hand of a high ranking BCU official. The gentleman asked me “did you see what you wanted to see”…to which I replied: “absolutely”!

I’m going to let you all in on a little secret folks.  The Wildcats are loaded. And if you take Coach Jenkins at his word, he will be adding a few more bullets to the team’s arsenal before the kickoff of the 2012 regular season.

I already had lofty expectations for the Cats this season. Saturday’s intra-squad contest gave me more reasons to believe that high expectations are in order for the maroon and gold this year.  Yeah, yeah, I know: it’s only April; the other teams have guys on scholarship too; chemistry matters; you can’t predict injuries; yada, yada, yada.  I am not quite ready to guarantee a couple of playoff victories for this upcoming season, but I am not exactly ruling out that possibility either. Things will sort themselves out beginning in a few short months.  For now, I will simply enjoy the thoughts of what could be and take comfort in knowing that this current year’s squad is the best collection of talent Coach Jenkins has possessed in his BCU tenure.

The talk of the town

Broadrick Waters

The buzz circling around Daytona Beach after the Spring game centered largely on “that kid wearing #2” (Broadrick Waters) and playing quarterback for Bethune.  Folks were talking about him at the (Derbyshire) Park .  I heard a few people at the Shell gas station talking about him, and I received a number of telephone calls asking about Waters as a prospect. Waters looked like the best athlete on the field during Saturday’s contest.  He demonstrated the type of explosiveness and elusiveness that Wildcats fans grew accustomed to seeing from players like Allen Suber and Pa’tel Troutman.  No really, he was that impressive (albeit it in an April scrimmage).

David Blackwell was also very impressive and received his fair share of compliments from the fans in attendance.  Blackwell started two games at quarterback in 2011 for the Cats.  He switched over to wide receiver in the spring and it looks like a natural fit for him.  Blackwell did a nice job of catching the ball with his hands and using his large frame to shield defenders.  Once the ball was in his hands, he was able to make a few guys miss and run away from others.

Quarterback Quentin Williams had a nice showing opening the game with a 70 yard touchdown drive.  Williams got the ball out of his hands in rhythm and seemed to make the right decisions in the passing game.

Harold Love was the most disruptive player along the defensive front and linebacker Jarkevis Fields just seemed to find the ball carrier and be on the end of more tackles than anyone else.

BCU opens the 2012 season on September 2^nd in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge in Orlando.  Alabama State you are on the clock.