Hampton University revels in newfound productivity

David Legree hardly knew what to do. On second-and-10 from his own 19-yard line, Legree, Hampton's senior quarterback, dropped back. He pump-faked once and surveyed his options.

Streaking down the left side of the field was Javaris Brown, who caught a touchdown pass in Hampton's 21-20 win against Alabama A&M in Saturday's season opener. Separating from his defender on a slant on the right side was P.J. Hicks, who curled free in the end zone with no one sharing his same zip code.

Legree hit Hicks for the touchdown, a 7-0 first-quarter lead and a demonstration of what the Pirates' new-look spread offense can do when it's firing on all cylinders.

"P.J. and J.B. (Brown) were wide open. I chose one," said Legree, who was 27-for-39 for 268 yards and two TDs both to Hicks as Hampton improved to 2-0 with a 23-17 win against Florida A&M on Thursday night. "J.B. got one last week, so I tried to get P.J. one this week." For Legree, the time to make such a choice was a luxury missing for most of last season. An often-suspect offensive line left Legree scrambling away from pressure on a regular basis and contributed to a series of leg injuries that left both Legree and his team limping through a 1-4 finish to last year's 6-5 record.

The Pirates put up a paltry 17.5 points per game in 2010, straining a defense that tied for ninth in the nation by allowing just 18.4 and leading to a truncated return for offensive coordinator Fred Kaiss, part of Hampton's Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference^[1] championships from 2004-2006 who last just one season in his second go-round.

Enter new offensive coordinator Willie Snead, whose spread offense produced state championships in Michigan on the high school level and drew raves from Legree and his various targets from spring practice on.

The new-look offense sputtered in Saturday's season opener, as the Pirates had to rally from a 17-0 deficit and Legree didn't crack 100 yards passing.

On Thursday, it became clear the Pirates had shifted up a gear or two. Legree also hit Hicks for a 29-yard TD in the second quarter and found both Dyrri McCain and Isaiah Thomas seven times McCain for 98 yards, Thomas for 71. Antwon Chisholm added 93 rushing yards as the Pirates piled up 427 total yards.

Equally vital, Legree sacked 23 times last season remained upright. He was sacked once, but not thrown to the ground, and his post-game smile was as bright as his still-blue uniform pants.

"It's a blessing. It's all the fun that you want as quarterback," Legree said. "You watch the great quarterbacks, you see Tom Brady^[2] just sitting back there and just shredding defenses. It was fun to be able to do that.

"I'm blessed to have these guys, and we're thankful to have the opportunity. This are the same guys we had last year. We have a coach now to put them in a great position."

Case in point: Hicks, a product of Hampton High who had two catches for 33 yards in all of 2010. He had three for 53 yards and two TDs at halftime and finished with four catches for 59 yards.

"Things weren't going my way last year," said Hicks, who was Hampton's third-leading receiver as a sophomore in 2009, catching 26 passes for 285 yards and three TDs.



"I was very frustrated all last year, but I knew I would have another opportunity this year."

But how do you stay focused when you're not getting the ball?

"It's just going to practice every day, just trying to get better as a player, just not going to practice with your head down or anything like that because I wasn't playing," Hicks said. "I knew one day I would have an opportunity."

Hicks said he had a feeling he'd get more chances in Snead's offense, "because he likes to throw the ball." And Legree had an inkling that several players would put up big numbers against the Rattlers.

"I just felt like a lot of us were going to have a big game," Legree said. "We watched film, and they had so many holes on their defense. We just wanted to exploit every single one of them, and I felt like we did that to an extent. Like last week, I still feel like we still need to clean some things up, myself included, but I know as the year goes on, we're going to get a lot better and we're going to look at lot faster."

The Pirates (2-0) led 23-10 after Taurean Durham's third field goal with 5:56 to play, then held on as FAMU^[3] (1-1), led by former HU coach Joe Taylor, tried to rally. The Rattlers punched in a TD with 2:19 to play, but Hampton ran out the clock when it got the ball back.

There were some causes for HU concern. The teams combined to commit 27 penalties for 281 yards, with 20 of those for 147 yards coming from the Pirates. Hampton also converted just one of 14 third-down chances.

"We're not as mature as far as our guys playing together," HU coach Donovan Rose said. "We're young. I'm not saying all the guys are young, but we're young playing together.

"At the end of the day, we did enough to get the win."

And not to worry. If Legree is right, more W's and more points are on the Hampton horizon.

"Coach (Snead) is a mastermind," Legree said. "He gets in at 6:30, he doesn't leave until 12:30. He doesn't sleep. He's texting me at three in the morning, like, 'I found something new. I found a new hole in the defense.' It's a great feeling to know you have a coordinator that's always working and never resting."

References

1. ^{^} Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (www.dailypress.com)
2. ^{^} Tom Brady (www.dailypress.com)
3. ^{^} FAMU (www.dailypress.com)