Heishma Northern took over a Prairie View A&M team from Henry Frazier III that could only charitably be called “in transition.” Quarterback K.J. Black and running back Donald Babers, two of the main sparks in the Panthers’ magical run to a SWAC championship in 2009, were among a sweep of 25 departing seniors.
The schedule didn’t do this first-year coach any favors, either.
“I called Coach Frazier and told him he set me up,” Northern told me, chuckling. “Losing K.J. and Donald Babers doesn’t help — then six road games in a row in one season? Even homecoming isn’t until the last game of the year.”
Prairie View opened 2011 on the road, too, facing Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference co-champion Bethune-Cookman in the season-opening MEAC-SWAC Challenge, a deflating 63-14 loss on national television. Then, there was an early test at key in-state rival (and defending Southwestern Athletic Conference champion) Texas Southern.
After a pair of home games, Prairie View has begun that rugged run of away dates — starting with back-to-back emotionally draining contests against Grambling and then Southern, programs where Northern came of age as a former assistant and player, respectively. He’d face the Jaguars in Baton Rouge too, his hometown.
Prairie View won them both, knocking off Grambling 31-23 after scoring 21 fourth-quarter points behind backup quarterback Jonathan Troast in the State Fair Classic at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Then, back in Baton Rouge, Christopher Barrick kicked a 19-yard field goal with 10 seconds remaining to score a 23-20 victory over Southern. That was Barrick’s second game-winner of the season, after nailing a 36-yarder to give the Panthers (4-2, 4-1) a 37-34 win over Texas Southern on Sept. 10.
Result: Northern is one of just three new coaches in all of the Football Championship Subdivision to get off to 4-win start, joining Elon’s Jason Swepson and Texas State’s Dennis Franchione. He also has his team perched atop the SWAC’s Western Division.
Yet, for all of that, Prairie View still has a lot in front of it: The Panthers’ next two games are against the Top 2 teams on the other side of the SWAC bracket. Saturday, Northern and Co. must travel to league-leading Alabama State, a consensus No. 1 in black college football after getting off to a 5-1 start. Northern then has a “home” game against Jackson State, also 5-1 overall, that’s been moved to a neutral site in Shreveport, Louisiana, on Oct. 29.
Next, Prairie View travels to Texas State — an FBS-bound program — and then to Alcorn State, before finally returning on Nov. 19 to close things out against Alabama A&M, a team that also sits at 4-2 right now.
That’s a staggering 56 days between visits to its own Blackshear Field. What was Coach Frazier’s number again?
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