NSU, Hampton give players a second chance

Orlando Barrow committed to play football at Norfolk State while a senior at Deep Creek High. Though he ultimately changed his mind and opted to play at Division I-A Bowling Green, Spartans coach Pete Adrian told Barrow he always had a place on his team.

When a home-invasion charge led to the defensive end's dismissal from the team at Bowling Green, Barrow turned to Adrian and got the second chance he was looking for.

"He's got a solid family; his dad is a police officer," Adrian said. "I know the kid's character and feel good about him here."

Players transferring from Division I-A to I-AA programs - even players with baggage - is nothing new. Although neither the NCAA nor the MEAC keeps statistics on the number of transfers, conference coaches agree that transferring is on the rise, and many I-AA schools are improving their teams with transfers from bigger schools.

Just about every I-AA roster has at least one I-A transfer, and many have several. Tennessee State boasts a whopping 21, including wide receiver JaJuan Spillman, kicked off the team at Louisville after concealed weapon and marijuana charges.

The rewards go both ways. Moving down a division allows players to avoid having to sit out a year. For the I-AA coach, bringing in what is often a high level I-A recruit can at the least fill an immediate need and sometimes can vault his team from also-ran to contender.

But one caveat.

"There's a reason why the kid is leaving," Adrian said. "That's what you've got to find out. It doesn't mean it's a bad reason, but there's a reason."

Sometimes, a player is simply impatient with a lack of playing time at his initial college choice. Other times, transferring can result from differences with the coach or simple homesickness.

Too often, players don't have a choice. They are dismissed for a variety of reasons, whether it be a bad attitude, academic difficulties or a criminal incident. Those are the ones coaches have to be most careful with.

Consider the roster of transfers at Hampton University:

- Defensive end Chris Baker (Penn State): dismissed after two fights.

- Defensive lineman James Ingram (Tennessee) and defensive tackle Kendrick Ellis (South Carolina): kicked off after marijuana possession.

- Running back LaMarcus Coker (Tennessee): dismissed after failing several drug tests.

- Linebacker J'Courtney Williams (Virginia): let go after credit card theft and fraud charges.

- Wide receiver Reggie Dixon (Rutgers): released from his letter-of-intent shortly after being found guilty in juvenile court of two counts of aggravated sexual assault.

Each situation is judged on a case-by-case basis, said Pirates coach Jerry Holmes. Any time a transfer with baggage is involved, there's a risk that goes with that potential reward, and coaches make judgment calls. When they get it right, the payoff can be huge for both program and player.

Former Hampton coach Joe Taylor took a chance on Marcus Dixon, who committed to Vanderbilt but wound up serving 15 months in prison for statutory rape and aggravated child molestation. After Dixon's case became a national cause, the Georgia Supreme Court overturned the molestation charge. While the statutory rape conviction stood, the court released him based on time served.

Dixon went on to become a first-team All-MEAC defensive end and honor roll student at Hampton, earning numerous national awards for his academic achievement. This season, he's on the Dallas Cowboys' practice squad.

"We had clergy call us, lawyers and judges, about Marcus," Taylor said. "On his high school transcript, I saw all A's and B's. To me, he wasn't a bad decision-maker."

Taylor admitted had he been a less established coach, he is unsure whether he would have taken a chance on Dixon.

A poor decision by a coach can hurt his own reputation and cast a program in a negative light. Defensive end Mike Shelton was dismissed from Arizona State for disciplinary reasons. He transferred to Montana, where he took part in a home invasion. His next stop was the Treasure State Boot Camp to serve a five-year term.

"You can't just go and pick up anybody off the street," said Taylor, now head coach at Florida A&M. " It's like I tell a guy, if you just shot somebody yesterday, I don't know if I can help you today."

Coaches say it comes down to doing your homework.

Holmes said he researched each of the Pirates' transfers and is not concerned that the problems they had will follow them to Hampton.

Still considered the stalwart of the MEAC, Hampton is especially attractive because players see it as a viable conduit to the NFL. The Pirates sent five players to the NFL Combine in 2007, and this NFL season opened with seven former Pirates either on active rosters or practice squads. Landstown High graduate Jeremy Gilchrist, who was getting limited playing time before he left Virginia Tech to go to Hampton, looks to be the next Pirate en route to the pros.

"Every kid that we brought in here, we knew somebody at that school," Holmes said. "I place a lot of weight on my friendships with the people I know."

Hampton also uses several safeguards, including a pastor, to monitor the players once they arrive. Another safeguard: team-wide punishment for individual miscues. Holmes has found that players are simply not willing to put up with suffering for the mistakes of others, even for a talented transfer.

"You miss study hall one time, you run. You get two strikes on you, the whole team runs," Holmes said. "We have a leadership committee, so after awhile, the team sets you straight because they're not going to be out there running."

Former Granby High School star Chris Bell, who was dismissed from Penn State after he threatened a teammate with a knife, also found a place in I-AA at Norfolk State.

Bell's roots here were among the reasons Adrian felt he would be a good fit.

"We had people on campus who coached him," Adrian said. "We talked to his high school coaches. Chris and his mother came over here; we know the family. We talked to the people at Penn State. They said the kid made a mistake and were very complimentary."

Bell, who like Barrow isn't playing this fall because of academic eligibility issues, said he doesn't feel he's being watched more than anyone else on the team when it comes to behavior. "They don't monitor me," he said. "I'm a grown man."

Taylor's willingness to take I-A transfers didn't end when he went to Florida A&M after last season. He acted quickly to bring in former Kentucky quarterback Curtis Pulley, who was expected to be the starting quarterback at Kentucky this fall before he was dismissed after a DUI charge.

"His uncle played for the AD here," Taylor said, adding that he also had connections with people who knew Pulley in his hometown in Kentucky and felt comfortable after talking with people there.

"The way I see coaching is it's a ministry; we're trying to enhance lives and in some cases, save lives," he said. "Normally, when I do my research, I call back to a guy's neighborhood and try to find his minister."

Adrian has a bottom-line question he asks of his assistants - a litmus test of sorts: Do you want this person rooming with your son?

"If the answer is no," Adrian said, "then why should I bring him in here and put him with somebody else's son?"

Like others, Adrian is also wary of affecting his team's chemistry. The need has to be there before he will bring someone in. Transfers come in expecting to make an immediate impact, not sit the bench.

Former UConn quarterback Dennis Brown signed with NSU expecting to start this fall. Another I-A transfer, Casey Hansen, had played for Spartans, but completed his eligibility.

"If Casey was coming back for another year, I don't think (Brown) would have come here," Adrian said.

Typically, I-AA football is played under less public scrutiny than a I-A program, where player infractions are dissected in newspapers, on television and on Internet message boards and chat rooms. While playing in the NCAA's second tier is not exactly a refuge, it's not life under a microscope, either.

Barrow was among seven players in trouble with the law at Bowling Green, a mounting toll that put coach Gregg Brandon under close watch.

"Any time a kid gets into trouble, everything that's written is 'Bowling Green football player' or 'ex-Bowling Green football player.' No one is writing 'Joe English Student' got popped for selling drugs," Brandon told the Toledo Blade. "I tell the guys when you sign on the dotted line, when you sign your scholarship, you give up your privacy."

Despite the inherent risks, MEAC coaches cite few examples where they were burned by transfers who came in with a spotty history. Instead, they see the rewards.

"They usually go on to get their degrees," Taylor said. "They bring their families and we catch up at homecoming."

NSU's Barrow, for one, is overjoyed at getting another shot.

"I know I have a second chance; nobody had to say anything to me about it," he said.

"For me, it's for myself. I know I have a second chance and I'm going to take advantage of it. Right now, I'm on the scout team and I'm going to do everything I can to help this team."

 Vicki L. Friedman, (757) 477-6874, VickiL120@cox.net