Sports

Ex-Players Endow Scholarship Honoring Coach Reynolds
Holmes, Nelson Spark 'Dogs Down the Stretch
Balance Is Key for Men's Team
Women Adopt Princeton Style
2002 Basketball Schedule

Ex-Players Endow Scholarship Honoring Coach Reynolds Former players of Ramsay High School football coach Thompson "Mutt" Reynolds, left, have endowed an athletic scholarship in his honor at Samford. Here, Reynolds visits with one of his former players, Pete M. Hanna '59, following a late October reunion of former players. Reynolds was head coach at Ramsay for 18 years (1953-70) and later served as athletics director at Vestavia Hills High during a 40-year career in coaching and administration.

Holmes, Nelson Spark 'Dogs Down the Stretch

Junior receiver Aryvia Holmes and freshman quarterback Ramon Nelson breathed life into a struggling Samford offense the second half of the season and helped the Bulldogs salvage a 5-5 record after a 1-4 start. In winning four of their last five, the 'Dogs averaged 35 points an outing. They capped the comeback with a 46-28 win over Virginia Military Institute in the last game, rolling up a season-high 578 yards of offense. Holmes, a 5-11 junior from Midfield, became Samford's first 1,000-yard receiver, finishing with a school-record 74 catches for 1,042 yards and eight touchdowns.

Nelson completed 32 of 44 passes for 403 yards and four touchdowns in the win over VMI. The completion mark was a Samford game record, and the performance made Nelson national Division I-AA Independent Player of the Week for the second time this season.

Nelson played sparingly during the first four games but was forced into a starting role when three-year starter Josh Kellett broke his left arm in the fifth game. The 5-11 freshman from Theodore responded by passing for 1,466 yards and 13 touchdowns, completing 120 of 219 attempts. Most of the production came in the last five games.

Running back Jason Ogletree, a 6-0 sophomore, led the ground game with 667 yards in 113 carries. The majority of his yardage also came during the last five games.

Holmes, Nelson and Ogletree will be back for the 2002 season, along with the majority of this year's team. Samford had only eight seniors this fall.

Balance Is Key for Men's Team

Four years ago, Jimmy Tillette began his tenure as men's basketball coach with one of the youngest teams in Division I-10 freshmen and sophomores. That group put together the brightest era in Samford history, winning conference championships and NCAA Tournament trips during 1999 and 2000.

This year, Tillette once again has 10 freshmen and sophomores, along with two seniors and a junior. What can we expect from this group?

Tillette said "our coachability is a definite strength, due in large part to our youth." He added, "These guys have an eagerness and a compatibility, which, of course, will need to develop further, but they've already established a chemistry with each other."

Picked to finish eighth in the Atlantic Sun Conference (formerly the Trans America), Samford got off to a good start in November and December, opening with a 4-2 record and winning its first two league games on the road.

Senior guard Chris Weaver, junior guard Cornell Felton and sophomore center Sebastian Sachse are returning starters from last year's 15-14 team. Senior guard/forward Corey Green and sophomore center Phillip Ramelli are other experienced returnees.

Also slated to see plenty of action are sophomore guards Eddie Harper, Tyson Dorsey and Will Gardner, and redshirt freshman Jon Mills and true freshman Bryan Boerjan at forward.

The Bulldogs will be more balanced than last year's team, which depended on seniors Marc Salyers (17.2 points a game) and Derrick Jones (13.8) for offensive leadership. Tillette sees this year's balance as a positive.

"This group of players will be completely committed to staying within the system," he said. "We don't have any outstanding stars, so they really have to be dependent on one another."

Women Adopt Princeton Style

Women's Basketball Coach Janet Cone has forsaken the fast break style that characterized her first four years, moving instead to the Princeton offense run by the Samford men's team.

"Patience is the whole key to this offense," said Cone, "not just when you are running it on the court, but patience when you are learning it over a period of time."

Even though the offense is new to the team, particularly the six freshmen, Cone feels the talents of the players fit the more deliberate style of play.

Co-captain Clarissa Clark, who missed most of last season with an injury, will be counted on for senior leadership. Clark was a regular on the 19-10 team of two years ago, but her season-ending injury after just five games was a factor in last year's disappointing 8-21 mark.

Returnee forward Giovanni Price led last year's team in scoring and rebounding, making the conference all-freshman team. Other experienced returnees are forwards Noot Pittman and Tara Enoch, center Natalie McLendon, and guards Jennifer East and Sarah Clement. Guards Lindsey Harris and Morgan Vickery will see the most action among freshmen.

East will take over at point guard for graduated Aimee Cochran, who finished as Samford's career leader in points, assists and steals. "Jen East is a different type player than Aimee," said Cone. "She will probably bring a calmness to the court that this offense needs."

The women's team won its home opener over Southern Mississippi before encountering turnover problems and dropping several games in row. Eliminating floor mistakes was Cone's big priority going into the 2002 portion of the schedule.