LUT WILLIAMS

BCSP Editor

When the 2010 NFL season begins with Minnesota facing Super Bowl champion New Orleans Thursday night in the Super Dome, there will be a total of 41 players from black colleges on NFL rosters, down just one from a year ago.

Marking the rosters this season is the absence of a few veterans who stayed around long enough to make their mark in the league.

Gone is ten-year veteran Marques Douglas out of Howard cut this year by Miami. Also absent are ten-year veterans Nick Harper out of Fort Valley State and Damion Cook of Bethune-Cookman.

Among the new faces are Stillman rookie free agent linebacker Junior Galette who made the Saints' squad and former Jackson State and Southwestern Athletic Conference standout Marcus Benard, who made the Cleveland Browns' opening day roster.

The two black college players taken in this year's draft also made their teams. Phillip Adams, a defensive back out of MEAC champion South Carolina State taken in the seventh round by San Francisco, made the 49ers roster. Morehouse offensive tackle Ramon Harewood, taken by Baltimore in the sixth round, is on injured reserve with the Ravens.

Also among the new faces is former Norfolk State defensive back Don Carey who made the Jacksonville Jaguars' squad a year after being drafted and released by the Browns.

Also making an opening day roster this year is former Clark Atlanta pass rushing demon Curtis Johnson who was released by the Dallas Cowboys but picked up by the St. Louis Rams.

Among veterans changing teams is former Howard three-time Mid Eastern Athletic Conference player of the year and NFL special teams standout Tracy White, who caught on with his fifth team in seven years in the league with the New England Patriots. Hampton product Marcus Dixon was cut by Dallas but signed to the active roster of the New York Jets.

One year after making the Pittsburgh Steelers practice squad, Isaac Redman of Bowie State made the team's active roster this year as a back-up running back. The black college player with the longest tenure in the league now is prolific Green Bay wide receiver Donald Driver entering his 12th season out of Alcorn State.

Hampton has the largest contingent of players in the league with four. Alcorn State, Bethune-Cookman, Howard, Jackson State and Tennessee State each have three. With 13 defensive backs on rosters, that position continues to be far and away the most manned by black college products.

The MEAC again is head and shoulders above the other conferences with 17 players in the league.