Melvin Spears aims to bring familiar attitude, attack to Alabama State

Former Grambling assistant and head coach Melvin Spears brings a familiar confidence to his new job, despite taking over as the fourth offensive coordinator during head coach Reggie Barlow’s three-year tenure at SWAC foe Alabama State.

Don’t tell Spears that Alabama State hasn’t sniffed a divisional title in years. He’s ready to roll.

“Coach Barlow was looking for a guy with a vertical game,” said Spears, part of four league championship-winning staffs at Grambling in a tenure that lasted from 1998-2006. “I want to do what we’ve always done.”

Spears, at Texas Southern from 2008-09 under Johnnie Cole, takes over for Richard Moncrief and Roger Totten. Moncrief was Alabama State’s offensive coordinator last year, but Totten eventually took over some playcalling duties, as well.

Known for his attacking, downfield offensive philosophy, and as a tireless recruiter, the ever-upbeat Spears has seen his name pop up in a number of searches lately — including open top positions at Mississippi Valley State and Southern. Ending up in Alabama State makes some sense, though, since he’s had such notable success over the years in pulling prospects out of the Montgomery-Birmingham area.

“To have the opportunity to come in with Coach Barlow,” Spears said, “and go into an area which is centrally located in a talent-rich place like Alabama, and two-and-a-half hours from Atlanta? That’s a lot of outstanding football players. It enticed me.”

One of the things Spears will no doubt focus on is finding his next great quarterback project. At Grambling, he mentored record-smashing passer Bruce Eugene, who helped Grambling to a trio of Southwestern Athletic Conference titles. Alabama State’s Chris Mitchell, listed as a senior last season, ranked in the middle of the SWAC pack with 1,778 yards and 10 touchdowns — less than half of the numbers compiled by league-leading Bryant Lee of Southern.

“I haven’t had a chance to look at any of their personnel,” Spears told me. “But, in our league, you have to have an outstanding quarterback. That’s the first place we will evaluate. We will also be looking at the offensive line. We’ll need some speed guys who are athletic on the outside. Overall, they had some good kids. We’ll keep working to put the best football team we can on the field. With Coach Barlow, I think we can get it done.”

TIGER TRACKS: Howard Davis, a standout basketball player at GSU from the mid-sixties, has been appointed as the chairperson for this years’ Grambling Legends Hall of Fame selection committee. … Former Grambling assistant coach Dennis Winston will oversee the defensive line at Arkansas-Pine Bluff for Monte Coleman. Winston, who who last year served as defensive coordinator at Mississippi Valley State, is a former standout linebacker at the University of Arkansas and with the 1970s Super Bowl-era Pittsburgh Steelers.

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