Good news for next year

You won't see it on Saturdays, but stop by a Norfolk State practice these days and you can get an eyeful of two players likely to help the Spartans next season.

I discussed running back Marvin Ford, the former Colorado State commitment, often throughout the preseason. His speed is obvious, even when running the scout team offense with NSU's deep reserves. When he gets a hole, he hits it hard, and he seems like the lone scout team player that threatens the defense. The players and coaches talked him up this preseason. Odds are, he'll be pretty good.

Recently, another player has appeared at practice with big-school credentials. Cameron Jude, who spent two years at Michigan State without seeing the field, is practicing with the team this season and NSU's coaches believe he'll join the squad next year. Jude was a high school teammate of Josh Turner at Manchester in Chesterfield. His listed weight of 6-foot-3, 253 pounds, seems a little light for the defensive line, but he won the Dominion District's Defensive Player of the Year in 2007 with 89 tackles, 41 for loss, and went to college as a two-star prospect.

NSU's players have supposedly been raving about him. He'd join the team as a redshirt junior and have two years of eligibility. I haven't spoken to Jude to see what brought him back to Virginia -- the best guess is playing time, with Turner selling him on Norfolk State -- but at one point he had looked impressive in camp with Michigan State.

It appears academics could be an issue -- this is what I could find online in The Lansing State Journal http://greenandwhite.com/article/20100324/GW01/3240324 -- but as long as Jude gets that in order, he could be a nice pickup. It'll be something worth following in the spring and next fall. 

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