The Livingstone notebook ...

With Livingstone facing Virginia State’s electrifying receiver Damon “Red Alert” Thompson, who holds every CIAA receiving record, last Saturday, the last thing anyone expected was for a Blue Bear to win CIAA Defensive Back of the Week honors.

But that’s exactly what strong safety Denotrico Nash did. Nash, 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds, got the voter’s attention with 12 tackles — two of them for loss — plus an interception.

“We made calls to give Nash the opportunity to make plays last week and he certainly did just that,” said Livingstone coach Greg Richardson. “He has great physical tools and he put them to use.”

“I guess I had an all right game,” said Nash modestly. “I was on a little bit.”

While Nash lines up as a safety, he plays the position more like a linebacker. His forte, he says, is run support, rather than pass coverage.

“I enjoy tackling people,” he said. “That’s what I like the most out there. Just flying to the ball and hitting someone.”

Nash will get more opportunities to hit people this week when the Bears visit Winston-Salem State’s always strong Rams, who are 4-1 after beating Fayetteville St. 28-14 last week. Winston-Salem just happens to be Nash’s hometown and he would like nothing better than to spring an upset in front of the home folks.

“When you’re an underrated team like we are everybody wants to schedule you for homecoming,” said Nash. “We’re 0-5 and I know that doesn’t impress anyone, but we really should be 2-3. Everybody on the team is uptempo and believes we can still go 5-5. We’ve got a shot at winning on Saturday. It should be exciting. Beating Winston-Salem on their homecoming would be icing on the cake.”

When you pronounce Nash’s mouthful of a first name, by the way, please put the emphasis on the “Not” — as in not intimidated.

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RECOGNITION:Nash said that he’s not sure if he’ll get a certificate from the CIAA to commemorate his player of the week status, but says he really doesn’t need one.

“I got recognized by the coaches in front of the whole team for it,” he said, “and all my teammates clapped. That’s all the recognition I need.”

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FEELINGGOOD:The Bears are 0-5, have suffered potentially disheartening losses each of the past two weeks and haven’t played on their home field in a month. But if you think they’re about ready to pack it in, think again.

“Everyone has a great attitude,” said Richardson. “The team knows now that it can move the ball. The young men are trusting more in the system every day.”

The players agree.

“The morale is still there,” said sophomore running back Sonji Mason. “When you’re a unit, that’s how it is. At the same time, no one wants to be 0-5. We’ve worked hard. We just need to get a win to take the pressure off the players and the coaching staff.”

“We’re not down because we’re so much better now than we were a few weeks ago,” added 6-4, 300-pound defensive lineman O’Brian Scott. “We’ve just got so many young guys playing. But more of them are stepping up to the plate each week. We’re still gonna do good things this year.”

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YOUNG ATHEART:Livingstone’s early problems can simply be traced to youth. Richardson says no fewer than 40 of his 70 roster members are freshmen.

Women’s basketball coach Andrew Mitchell says he was startled by just how young the football team really is.

“They always send the freshmen kids up the steps to go get the tackling dummies,” Mitchell said. “One day I saw them going after the dummies and it looked like the whole team was climbing the steps. I said, ‘Uh oh, these guys are gonna be young.’”

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THERUN:Livingstone speedster Carl Jones broke a 96-yarder against Virginia State.

“It was just a basic option play,” explained Richardson. “We got good blocks and that left Carl just one man to elude. And Carl eluded him.”

Jones said the huge block that sprung him was thrown by Osny Etienne.

“Every play is designed to go to the house,” said the former North Iredell High star. “We got one to go because the line did a great job. I had to hop over one man, but basically I went untouched.”

Jones, now fully recovered from an early season injury, picked up 145 yards in the game and is up to fourth in the latest CIAA rushing stats.

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MYSTERYMAN: When the stats from Livingstone-Virginia State were reported by Virginia State, they credited Blue Bear Andre Humphries with a spectacular game. According to the stat sheet, Humphries was everywhere. He threw for 92 yards and ran for 117. For good measure, he punted five times for a 38.4 average.

When people back home saw the numbers, they figured Richardson must have discovered a fantastic new quarterback, even though Humphries, a sophomore from Sarasota, Fla., is listed on the roster as a DB.

As it turns out, Humphries is still a DB and the guy putting up all those good numbers was the same guy that always puts up those good numbers — senior QB D’andre Hopper. Hopper, usually No. 7, had simply switched jerseys with Humphries, because his was torn and couldn’t be repaired before game-time.

But when the Virginia State statistician saw No. 10, running, throwing and punting, he looked at the roster and handed all the credit to a very sheepish Humphries.

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MOREACCOLADES:Richardson allowed that inside linebacker Jason Ocean had a fair game against Virginia State. Ocean must be pretty good. His “fair game” included a dozen tackles. ... DB Premier Posey came up with eight tackles, while Devie King had a pick. ... Former QBAntonio Kirkpatrick caught a pair of passes as a wingback.

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AROUNDTHECIAA: Virginia State’s terrific Thompson has a shot at becoming the all-time top receiver not just in the CIAA, but in Division II. He needs 32 more catches, 780 more yards and 18 more TDs (that’ll be tough) to take the all-time receiving triple crown ... Former Livingstone coach Rudy Abrams piloted North Carolina Central to a 19-16 win over Morris Brown in Philadelphia last week to cop CIAA Coach of the Week honors. ... Fayetteville quarterbacks coach Connell Maynor, an Arena League star, has a part in the hot new movie “Remember the Titans,” which stars Denzel Washington. ... Central’s two-sport phenom Warren Bell, an awesome basketball player, has moved from quarterback to wide receiver. ... In other games last week, Virginia Union (4-1) overpowered Bowie 48-14 and J.C. Smith outscored Elizabeth City 39-33. ... In a key CIAA game this week, Virginia State, which boasts the league’s best offense, travels to Elizabeth City, which owns the league’s No. 1 defense.