2010 Albany State Golden Rams Football Preview by Jarrett Carter

Jarrett Carter, Sr. writes about HBCU football at HBCU digest. Follow him on Twitter here.

The Albany State University Rams are a perennial contender for the SIAC championship, and are extra motivated to end Tuskegee’s streak of conference championships in 2010. While there are concerns at quarterback, they will have the talent on defense and offense to yield a championship-worthy finish to the year.

2009

The Golden Rams won all but two games in 2009, but their win-streak-busting loss against Tuskegee all but derailed ASU’s run to the championship. Senior quarterback A.J. McKenna was the SIAC’s Offensive Player of the Year, and the Rams go into 2010 as the favorite for the conference title.

The Good

Albany State is the SIAC’s most balanced and dominant team, leading the conference in scoring offense, rushing defense and interceptions in 2009. What they may miss on offense with A.J. McKenna, they will make up on defense with four seniors being named to the first team pre-season all-conference squad.

The Bad

One of the best quarterbacks in ASU history is gone, and the race to replace A.J. McKenna will be left to junior college transfer Stanley Jennings and 09’ backup Wayne Campbell, Jr.; neither of whom as emerged as the starter. Albany State has fallen short of beating Tuskegee University for the past three seasons, and they will have to exorcise the demons of those defeats if they want to win the 2010 conference title and a berth in the NCAA Division II playoffs.