Morgan St. hungry to gain wins and earn respect
After loss of coach, ban from postseason, team aspires to MEAC crown
After a volatile offseason in which the Morgan State football team lost its head coach and an opportunity to play in the postseason, the Bears are looking forward to opening training camp Aug. 7 and trying to capture the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title.
“We still can win the MEAC,” senior wide receiver Ricky Fisk said Friday at the conference’s media day in Norfolk, Va. “Nobody really talks about the postseason. At the end of the day, it’s about who was the conference champion. We’re striving to be the conference champion and go out with a bang.”
The hazy and humid conditions normally associated with August are almost a welcome respite for the program. In February, Lee Hull left after two years to become the wide receivers coach for the Indianapolis Colts. Two months later, the NCAA banned the team from postseason play after failing to meet a satisfactory score in the Academic Progress Rate report.
But Morgan State can still win the MEAC crown for the second time in three years, and Fred Farrier, the offensive coordinator who was promoted to interim head coach, said that goal takes precedence.
“Our goals really haven’t changed,” Farrier said. “That’s kind of the viewpoint we’re taking. Our glass is still full. It’s not half empty, it’s not three-quarters empty, it’s not one-quarter empty. Our glass is full, and we’re excited about competing for a MEAC championship in 2016.”
The program’s optimism was not reflected by the conference’s preseason poll, which predicted a seventh-place finish for the Bears in the 11-team league. North Carolina A&T State collected 13 of 22 first-place votes to earn the first-place ranking. Bethune-Cookman, North Carolina Central, South Carolina State and Hampton rounded out the top five.
Although the program put five players on the All-MEAC preseason teams, only redshirt senior defensive back Delonta Hall earned a spot on the first team.
“That’s the same respect we got my entire career here, and I’m tired of it,” senior inside linebacker Greg Gibson said. “I’m ready to go out there and finally prove it with my actions because my words obviously don’t change much. I’m ready to get to it and show them that they need to start respecting us in the conference.”
But the MEAC’s pessimism is not baseless. A defense that finished last season ranked fourth in the conference in average yards and sixth in scoring lost six starters, including two of its top three tacklers in sophomore inside linebacker Mike Gaynor (academics) and free safety Peterson Janvier (graduation). But Gibson said the players under co-defensive coordinators Earnest T. Jones and Mike Fanoga have been working together since the spring and have developed chemistry.
“We’ve always had a strong defense and [are] loaded at each position,” Gibson said. “We’ve got a bunch of hungry guys waiting to prove themselves, even guys who started. They just want to prove that they’re the best in the conference. We’re just ready to prove ourselves as a whole, and I think with the defensive philosophy from Coach Fanoga allowing us to play faster, we’re able to go out and do what’s natural for us.”
The cupboard is much fuller on the offensive side, which returns nine starters from last year’s team that went 4-6 overall and 4-4 in the MEAC to finish in a tie for sixth. But the biggest question is the lack of an established quarterback after the graduation of Moses Skillon (2,036 combined yards and 12 touchdowns) and Seth Higgins (389 total yards and three scores).
Sophomore Khalil Trotman is the leading candidate to start and is competing with graduate transfer Chris Andrew (Wagner), sophomore Randolph Norwood and freshman Deandre Harris for the position.
“I think the last couple years, we were fortunate to have some pretty good guys back and having the luxury of deciding who was going to start between Moses, Seth or Robert Council [in 2014] and then last year between Seth and Moses,” Farrier said. “This year, we came back with not a single person who has played a single snap in a game. So quarterback is probably our No. 1
MEAC preseason poll
Finish, Team 1. North Carolina A&T St. (13) 2. Bethune-Cookman (3) 3. North Carolina Central (4) 4. South Carolina State 5. Hampton (1) 6. Norfolk State 7. Morgan State 8. Florida A&M 9. Delaware State (1) 10. Howard 11. Savannah State Votes 489 447 388 351 265 239 192 164 121 90 48 area where we have to get some answers.”
Despite the worries, the Bears can’t wait to return to the field inside Hughes Stadium to makes waves in the MEAC.
“We just want to win,” Fisk said.