New culture — and players are buying in
First-year Bears coach Wilson bringing out new attitude
For four years, linebacker Lawrence Richardson III passed photos at Hill Field House of the four Morgan State players inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and didn’t give them much thought.
That changed this summer when new coach Damon Wilson tasked a select group of Bears players with researching offensive tackle Roosevelt Brown, defensive end Len Ford, running back Leroy Kelly, middle linebacker Willie Lanier and legendary coaches Eddie P. Hurt and Earl C. Banks and making presentations about them to the rest of the team. The discussions — which included memorizing the school song “The Alma Mater” — were educational and inspiring for Richardson.
“Being a senior, I would see the Hall of Famers on the wall, but I never knew anything about them,” he said. “So just
knowing that a [historically] Black college has had four Hall of Famers is just great to see. … They went big-time. That’s showing us that we can go big-time, too. So if we just do what they did and stay focused and work hard, it’s showing that [college football] isn’t just it for us.”
Learning about the Morgan State football program’s history is one of several changes Wilson has enacted since being named the school’s 23rd head coach on May 26. In his first preseason camp with his new team, Wilson’s pedigree as a successful coach at