Johnson C. Smith football has been scrubbed of underachievers.

Golden Bulls coach Kermit Blount used spring practice as an audition for the fall. Players who measured up are in preseason camp to improve on last year’s 4-6 record. Those who didn’t aren’t.

“We made some changes coming out of spring,” said Blount, who is in his second season at JCSU. “There were some young men who didn’t return. We made some additions to those guys we didn’t allow to return, but I’m really pleased with the work ethic right now, I’m really pleased with the attitude, the mental side of it. I think our guys get it. They understand where they want to go and want to accomplish. It’s a matter of us putting it together.”

All-America safety Carlo Thomas isn’t shy about calculating what’s ahead, starting with the Sept. 3 opener at Wingate.

“We have a great team,” he said during the first week of drills. “We just have to put everything together. Our expectations are high. We feel like we can make a deep run to the national championship.”

To be relevant in November, JCSU needs to navigate the CIAA Southern Division, where the Golden Bulls were picked fourth in a preseason poll of league coaches. Despite a four-month gap between spring practice and summer drills, Blount is pleased with the early results.

“The expectation is to always see where our guys are,” he said. “It’s still early in camp. …We’re trying to gauge where we are shape-wise, what we have to do conditioning-wise, how fast we need to move forward or how slow we need to move to get our kids acclimated. I think things are going to get better as we continue to move along.”

JCSU is more experienced with 13 starters returning, including seven on a defense that led the CIAA in takeaways last year. The offense is more of an unknown with sophomore quarterbacks Jordan Lane and Harold Herbin battling for the starter’s job.

“These young guys we have in might be the most talented we’ve ever had offense-wise,” said senior receiver Rod Carter, who caught 31 passes last year for 366 yards and four touchdowns. “They’re young, but they’re mature and once we get it rolling, they pick up pretty fast, they pick up the pace and they’re a pretty good offense.”

Said Thomas: “I have expectations through the ceiling. We’ve just got to work one day at a time, work together and get the ball rolling.”
   

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