NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk State head coach, Latrell Scott has a simple motto for the upcoming football season, "Stand up". His Spartans are trying to shake the doldrums of four straight 4-7 seasons. On top of that MEAC preseason polls have NSU finishing 7th in the conference despite a number of key returning players. "We're older", says Scott. "We've got a ton of seniors. Very about the group that's coming back."
NSU feels like it has balance on both sides of the ball. Juwan "Pootie" Carter returns at quarterback for the Spartans, and is embracing his role as one of the leaders. "I'm really working on bringing the team together", he says. On the other side of the ball, All-MEAC 1st team linebacker, Nigel Chavis anchors the defense and thinks this might be a special season. "I feel like we've put the pieces together".
The Spartans are certainly motivate coming into this season. They had the lowest number of players (6) selected to the preseason all-conference teams and none were on the first team on either offense or defense.