Grambling Students in Spotlight with BET Miniseries

Photo credit: Darryl D. Smith/the Gramblinite Landry "Blu" Carter, left, Eva Grooms, Bruce Eugene, Mancel Perrill and LaShonda Harris are starting to be recognized on their Grambling State University campus after appearing in BET's "Season of the Tiger.".

By Darryl D. Smith
Black College Wire

"Season of the Tiger" -- a series of six half-hour "docu-drama" episodes shot at Grambling University -- is taking off on Black Entertainment Television. Viewers get an inside look at the world-famed Tiger Marching Band and the 2005 SWAC Championship football team.

Cast members anticipated its April 27 debut. “I’m feeling very overwhelmed and blessed,” said LaShonda “Shunnie” Harris. “It’s happening so quick.”

Eva Grooms echoed the sentiment.

“I’m very excited about it,” Grooms said. “I’m very proud to get this recognition, and it’s my first year here.”

“It’s a good opportunity,” said Landry “Blu” Carter, a wide receiver for the football team. “It’s good to be exposed to the world.”

BET said that over the course of the six half-hours, the series will show what it takes for the three musicians and two athletes "to overcome all the obstacles and hurdles strewn in their respective paths as they strive for excellence on the field and off.

"With practices held as early as 4 a.m. and as late as midnight for players and musicians alike, SEASON OF THE TIGER shows why it takes a special kind of person to endure the physical and mental demands made by Doc, the no-nonsense band director -- and Coach Spears, the unyielding and uncompromising football coach overshadowed by the legends who have come before him," a news release said.

Reginald Hudlin, BET president of entertainment, said, "Black kids are often criticized for being low achievers or materialistic. But in this show, we see them trying to measure up to the exacting standards of two great Black institutions, Grambling State University football team and marching band."

As the promotions for the show started, cast members began to be noticed around campus. Carter saw a change in students’ behavior.

“People think I’m a superstar or whatever,” he said. “It hasn’t changed me; I still do me. I’m still going to be the same person.”

Harris, a master drill sergeant, also felt a difference. “They don’t stop me or anything; they just stare,” she said with a smile. “They don’t say anything, because they don’t know what to say.”

Harris said this is because others have called her stuck-up. She has one response: “You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

Grooms, the only female snare drummer, said she enjoyed the change.

“They are a lot nicer,” she said. “I also have more haters. It’s OK if you’re not me. You can have your time to shine, but don’t hate on mine.”

Even though she has haters, Grooms said her personal life "hasn’t changed that much. I’m just me at all times.”

“My phone bill is messed up,” Harris said with a smile. She said she’s been getting calls from people she hadn’t talked to since high school.

Besides juggling band practice and schoolwork, Harris also is recording a studio album in Houston.

“I’m still working on it,” the business management major said. “It’ll probably be out in the fall.”

Grooms also has an idea about what she wants to do after college.

“By the next six months to a year, I at least expect to get calls [from] a modeling agency,” Grooms said. She modeled for the first time during a BET photo shoot for the series. “It all depends on what happens after the show.”

Carter said, “I may get some calls from people watching it. Anything can happen. I can be a host, anything. Hopefully, I’ll have some NFL teams looking at me,” he said. “It’s all going to be good for me.”

Grambling has helped the cast members develop in ways they never thought.

“Grambling is already famous,” said Harris. “If I hadn’t [come] to Grambling, I would have never had this experience. Just having Grambling’s name is something I’d never forget.”

“Public speaking classes helped me,” Carter said. “Being able to speak just helped out a whole lot.”

However, there’s one thing Grambling didn’t help Carter with.

“Me being me, can’t nobody teach me that,” he said.

"Season of the Tiger" airs Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times; 8:30 p.m. Central Time. Repeats of each week’s episode air on Thursdays at 1:30 a.m.; Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Tuesdays at 10 p.m., all times Eastern and Pacific.

Darryl D. Smith, a student at Grambling State University, writes for the Gramblinite.

Posted April 27, 2006