UAPB not worrying about poll position
BECK CROSSARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
PINE BLUFF -- Based on the players he has coming back from last year's 6-5 team, Arkansas-Pine Bluff Coach Lee Hardman could be offended by the results of the Southwestern Athletic Conference coaches' preseason poll.
The Golden Lions, who return 16 starters, were picked to finish fourth in the five-team Western Division. UAPB, which finished third in the division last season, was placed behind defending division champion Grambling State, perennial power Southern and Texas Southern despite having the top two running backs in the league.
Seniors Ron Johnson and Dwight McKissic each rushed for over 1,000 yards last season.
"We feel like we're 2 1/2 deep on every position," Hardman said. "Preseason polls are preseason polls. It doesn't bother me that much because I really don't put a lot of stock in them anyway.
"It's all a bunch of guesswork. The only poll that matters is the one at the end of the season. But I do believe the entire league is much stronger than it was a year ago."
Despite the strength of the league, UAPB will play a more favorable schedule this season. Because Golden Lion Stadium wasn't completed until October, UAPB played its first six games away from Pine Bluff last year.
Though his team was 3-3 before christening the stadium, Hardman felt all the road travel early left his players too weary and burned out to make a viable late-season run.
In its final game of the season, UAPB was shut out by Alabama A&M, 26-0 in Pine Bluff.
This year, the Golden Lions play five of their first seven games at home.
"There's no doubt the schedule is better," Hardman said. "I really think it's going to make a big difference because we'll be able to build some momentum going into the last stretch of games.
"We did all that travel early by bus and we ran out of steam last year. It made it hard on us."
One short trip UAPB will not be making this year is to War Memorial Stadium. For the first time in recent memory, the Golden Lions will not play in Little Rock. The season opener against Mississippi Valley State was scheduled for War Memorial Stadium but was moved to Golden Lion Stadium because of a conflict with the Arkansas Razorbacks.
"We definitely want to play in Little Rock," Hardman said. "It's an area that has always given us a lot of support and we will try to play one game there every year from here on."
But with newly built Golden Lion Stadium, possibly the top facility in the SWAC, Hardman said he has been able to bring in top-notch talent.
"Players and parents alike who see it are so impressed," Hardman said. "It has helped recruiting tremendously."
One of those talented newcomers, La-Kendrick Powell, is expected to help fill the void left at quarterback by Darryl Shelton exhausting his eligibility. Powell was a two-time junior college All-American at Mississippi Delta Community College before transferring to UAPB this season.
"[Powell] is the one who can take us to a different level," Hardman said.
Defensive end Victor Davis, a transfer from Arkansas, also should see playing time early.
"Victor will contribute big time," Hardman said. "He is so quick off the ball. [Powell and Davis] are the two newcomers who will make a big difference immediately.
This article was published on August 27, 2001
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