BURNING BRIGHT
An all- purpose threat wowed Panthers coaches right from the start with a neon- green high school game
MNEW BRUNSWICK, N. J. uddy shirts weaved through drills on a late July morning as coaches barked orders and the central Jersey sun beamed on everyone involved. Preparation for another football season was well underway for New Brunswick High School. But even amid the organized chaos — even with the team working toward what’s ahead — a piece of the past permeated the practice field: A lone neon shirt, a not- so- subtle reminder of Pitt playmaker Maurice Ffrench.
“He definitely left his imprint on the program. No question. No doubt,” New Brunswick wide receivers coach Jermaine Terrell said of his former pupil, pointing out to the patch of grass. “Just look out there right now, there’s a kid wearing a neon shirt. ... He started a trend.”
What Ffrench did was a little bit of everything at New Brunswick.
It’s true, he scored rushing, receiving and special teams
touchdowns wearing all neon accessories in front of Pitt’s coaching staff in New Brunswick’s 2015 home opener. It’s also true that Ffrench, a 2019 preseason All- ACC kick returner, shattered school track records. And yes, back in the day, the Pitt senior threw down ingame dunks with regularity.
Ffrench was “the high school version of Reggie Bush,” according to New Brunswick athletic director Craig Lowery. The kid did it all in Middlesex County, laying a foundation for what was to come in Oakland.
“In the past, I’ve coached NFL guys like Malcolm Jenkins, Tajae Sharpe, Kyle Wilson, Dwayne Jarrett,” Lowery said, emphasizing
every name from the Eagles Pro Bowl safety to the former Southern California standout. “Maurice’s athleticism is on par or even better than those guys. ... The sky’s the limit for him.”
Lowery knew that when Ffrench was a freshman, dunking in his gym class. Cynthia Hagood, Ffrench’s mother, knew at a younger age.
When Ffrench was in first grade, he brought home Pop Warner permission slips and gave them to his mother, begging and pleading. Cynthia, a single mother, was admittedly scared to let her youngest put on a pair of shoulder pads. “Those slips got lost,” Hagood said, smiling.
But Ffrench was persistent in his pursuit of football, playing with friends after school and dominating Madden on mute past his 9 p. m. bedtime, trying not to wake his mother or any of his four siblings. Ffrench’s older sister, Artrice, said he was “hooked.”
Eventually, their mother relented, signing up Maurice for the New Brunswick Raiders. It was then that Artrice ( inadvertently) fueled her brother’s burgeoning passion and flair for the dramatic.
“Even back in Pop Warner he wore neon green and highlighter pink,” Ffrench’s sister said in Lowery’s New Brunswick High School office. “He would steal my leggings, cut them up and put them under his uniform. ... He had too much energy.”
Ffrench let loose when given the chance. In the summer before his freshman year at New Brunswick, Ffrench traveled to Rutgers for a seven- onseven competition, where Nate Harris — then the Zebras defensive coordinator — saw the plucky playmaker take it to upperclassmen in full- contact drills.
“We knew then he was going to be special,” said Harris, now New Brunswick’s head coach.
Ffrench, a four- year starter and captain, didn’t turn out to be a blue- chip prospect. Of course, he produced like one at Pitt last year, tallying 1,224 all- purpose yards and ranking ninth in Football Bowl Subdivision in yards per kick return. But in high school, he had just 11 offers, four of which were from Football Championship Subdivision programs.
Penn State pushed for his signature days before 2016 signing day, but Pitt led the way throughout Ffrench’s recruitment — culminating in a verbal commitment before the two- way star’s senior season. So when his future coaches came to New Jersey to check out their new recruit for the first time, Ffrench, a quiet kid by all accounts, wanted to put on a show. And he needed to look the part.
On Sept. 25, 2015 — before boarding the team bus at the high school to drive a mile over to New Brunswick’s Memorial Stadium — Terrell, Ffrench’s wide receivers coach, spotted the speedster rocking neon green cleats, socks, sleeves and leggings. Oh, and a lime green mouthpiece and headband for good measure.
“What you doing? You can’t go out there like that,” Terrell told Ffrench at the time.
“Coach, they came to see me,” Ffrench responded.
“Well, they can’t miss you,” the coach quipped.
No one did that night. Ffrench rushed for 125 yards and two touchdowns, hauled in a 60- yard scoring strike and even turned a botched punt into seven points. Wait, what?
“Yep,” New Brunswick special teams coordinator Garret Conger said, still shaking his head in disbelief. “He was a cheat code.”
Ffrench, on top of starring at wideout, corner and kick returner, also was New Brunswick’s starting punter. Go figure.
But when a snap cleared his head by a figurative mile, the ball flying 30 yards all the way to New Brunswick’s 20, Ffrench didn’t think about kicking it out of bounds. He reacted in the only way he knew how. The neon- clad ballcarrier bolted to the ball, picked it up, evaded six would- be tacklers and outran two more, scoring a 79- yard touchdown just before halftime in a 35- 6 victory against Carteret.
“It was the dagger,” Terrell said, shrugging nonchalantly as he peered back to the New Brunswick practice field. “It was the death blow.”
In truth, it was Maurice Ffrench. It was the all- purpose threat who finished his senior season with 2,102 yards from scrimmage and 24 touchdowns. And it was the athlete who dazzled not just on the football field.
Outside of pickup games here and there, Ffrench never got to hone his basketball skills. Not with football taking up his summer and fall. But New Brunswick basketball coach Samir Sanu, brother of NFL wide receiver Mohamed Sanu, didn’t mind. Whenever the then- assistant got Ffrench in the gym, Sanu used him. Ffrench guarded the team’s best player on defense and shook the gym with putback dunks on the offensive end.
“Some of the stuff he was doing, like, really dude?” Sanu marveled. “You’re not supposed to be doing that at the high school level.”
He wasn’t supposed to pick up track on a whim and succeed, either. In fact, he didn’t at first. As a freshman, Ffrench showed up to practice wearing high tops, got beat in the 200- meter and walked off the track, muttering to himself that the sport wasn’t for him.
Conger, New Brunswick’s special teams coordinator and a track coach, was pleased, though, to see Ffrench give it another shot as a junior. That year, Ffrench didn’t lose a race until the state meet. As a senior, he set school records in the 100 and 200 meters, long jump and triple jump.
Naturally, Ffrench broke New Bunswick’s triplejump record the first time he tried the event. “We were at state sectionals, and he just decided he wanted to try triple jump,” Conger said. “We coached him literally on the side of the runway.”
“That triple jump, man, that was something for me,” Ffrench’s mother said. “Here he goes, taking those three steps and then, boom. The whole field shouts, ‘ Oh my god.’ It lit everyone up.”
And it showcased the athleticism Cynthia saw as a child and now sees at Pitt firsthand.
Ffrench’s mother doesn’t miss a game at Pitt. Neither does his sister, Artrice, which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows the older sibling. When Ffrench played at Memorial Stadium, Artrice couldn’t bear to sit in the stands. Instead, she sneaked past security guards and ran up and down the sidelines, losing her mind when Maurice scored touchdown after touchdown.
Ffrench’s sister isn’t allowed to do the same at Heinz Field. Still, Cynthia, Artrice and the wideout’s supporter section make their voices heard. Last year, Cynthia rented a 16passenger van from Enterprise, filled it up with family and friends and drove to Pittsburgh for home games. For the season opener Aug. 31 against Virginia, she booked two vans to accommodate all those who will be at Heinz Field wearing custom shirts with Ffrench’s face on the front and number on the back.
With training camp beginning Friday, Week 1 is inching closer and closer, as is Ffrench’s last year at Pitt — a season Ffrench enters on the Maxwell Award watch list for college football’s best all- around player.
“I just know it’s going to be a show,” Artrice said of her brother’s upcoming senior season, citing new offensive coordinator Mark Whipple and a potential breakout campaign for quarterback Kenny Pickett. “[ Maurice has] been randomly texting me, ‘ I’m ready for the season.’ Him saying small things like that is big. Because he doesn’t say much. He’s ready.”
His former coaches believe big things are ahead, too.
Harris — New Brunswick’s head football coach who had trouble putting together a signing day highlight tape a few years ago (“It was impossible. It was just big plays all day.”) — said he sees Ffrench “building on everything he started here.” Conger, staring at Ffrench’s track records hung above a row of second- floor lockers at the high school, called Ffrench “unfair.” And Lowery, who dubbed Ffrench as athletic as Malcolm Jenkins, said he’s destined to reach the next level, to play in the NFL.
First, Ffrench has training camp and the 2019 season ahead of him. But forgive those at New Brunswick for dreaming big. They’ve been conditioned to do nothing but expect success from this electrifying Pitt playmaker — with or without the neon leggings.
“We’re hoping he’s the next guy from this city to make it,” Sanu, Ffrench’s basketball coach, said. “Because he’s come a long way. He’s come a long way.”