Smith adds to his team

- Pictured, left to right, Ashton, Shepherd and Hunter Smith (click on picture to enlarge)

EASLEY, S.C. - Former Rocky Mount assistant football coach and Northern Nash head coach Chad Smith is beginning to have the makings of a pretty good offensive line - right in his very own home!

Smith and his wife and former RMHS teacher Hannah added to their roster on Nov. 18 with the birth of their third son, Shepherd Owen. He weighed eight pounds, nine ounces and was 21.25 inches long - the biggest of the three boys at birth, says Hannah.

Congrats to the Smiths and their families for their new addition!

These Smith boys, I bet, will make for some pretty good O-linemen one day. I know Chad will see that!

Noble makes MEAC All-Conference Team

NORFOLK, Va. - Redshirt sophomore Kendall Noble was named to the MEAC second-team All-Conference football team recently. The 6-foot-4, 292-pound offensive lineman played left tackle for the Spartans as they went 7-4 this past season.

He was also named MEAC Offensive Lineman of the Week in NSU's game against Howard.

Noble, who is majoring in kinesiotherapy, lettered and started for three years at Rocky Mount High. He was a first-team all-conference and all-county selection as a junior and senior and helped the team win the North Carolina 4-A regional championship as a junior. He played in the North Carolina East-West All-Star game his senior year and he also lettered in track and field four seasons at RMHS.

His brother Wayne Jr., also a former Gryphon football standout, was a senior defensive back this past season at Winston-Salem State.

Word has it that his former Gryphon teammate and former Shrine Bowler Nazir Levine, who was out this season with an injury at WSSU, will transfer and join his old teammate on the O-line at Norfolk State.

Chauncy Perry, a senior offensive lineman at Virginia Union University, was named to the CIAA All-Conference second team. Perry, who is 6-2 and 325 pounds, is a computer information systems major. Perry was three-year starter for the Gryphons (2003-05).