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SPORTS
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INSIDE MOREHOUSE. SEPTEMBER 2010
'Championship Caliber Football'
Freeman Touts 2010
Maroon Tigers As His Best
Team in Three Seasons
By ADD SEYMOUR JR.
Morehouse head football
coach Rich Freeman believes he
has one of the most talented foot
ball squads since he came to cam
pus three years ago.
He wants the Morehouse com
munity to come out and see for
themselves.
“We want all of those people
who are dear to Morehouse to buy
tickets,” Freeman said. “The days
are long, long gone of Morehouse
down there playing a game
because we’re on the schedule to
play. We have teams now that
are playing championship-caliber
football and we’re gaining respect.
The Morehouse community has a
very good football team; very
entertaining.”
In three seasons under
Freeman, the Fighting Maroon
Tigers have won 20 of 30 games
and have won at least six games
each season since Freeman’s
arrival in 2007. Last season’s team
finished 7-3 and just missed
getting an at-large bid to the
NCAA Division II playoffs, which
would have been a first for the
Morehouse football program.
Though Southern Intercolle
giate Athletic Conference coaches
forecast a fifth-place finish for this
year’s Maroon Tigers, Freeman
bases his belief in the team’s quali
ty on an abundance of talent on
both sides of the football.
On offense, sophomore run
ning back David Carter, a sec
ond-team All-SIAC pre-season
pick, returns to lend stability to
a unit that is still trying to find
a quarterback.
Senior William Brack returns
as quarterback, but Freeman has
opened up competition for the
starting job. Senior Dajuan
Thigpen and redshirt freshman
Donnay Ragland are vying for the
“spot, as is junior college transfer
Myron Ingram, who once played
at Georgia Tech.
“Ingram is a 6’5,” 220-pound
kid with arguably the strongest
arm I’ve seen since Tavaris Jackson
[a quarterback with the NFL’s
Minnesota Vikings], whom I had
Running back David Carter (left) and linebacker Charlie Wilson (right) are two of the main players for the
Morehouse football team this season.
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the privilege to coach at Alabama
State,” Freeman said. “This kid is
extremely talented. He can run;
he’s experienced; he’s smart; and
he catches on fast. He’s a good kid.”
Two pre-season all-conference
performers, defensive lineman
Derrin Nettles and linebacker
Charlie Wilson, return to lead the
defense. Freeman said Nettles, a
senior, is an NFL prospect, while
Wilson, a junior, won multiple
conference and regional honors.
“We return eight starters on
defense,” Freeman said. “I look for
our defense to be extremely tough.
I’m thinking if things work out,
this will probably be our best
defense since I’ve been here.”
Senior kicker and punter Ian
Mullen, who led the SLAC in both
areas last year, was also a pre-sea-
son All-SIAC pick.
It all makes Freeman confident
that the 2010 Maroon Tigers are a
team worth watching this season. ■
m
MOREHOUSE COLLEGE
MAROON TIGERS
2010 FOOTRALL SCHEDULE
AUGUST
28th
SEPTEMBER
Benedict College (Palmetto Capital City Classic)
Columbia, S.C.
4th
Fort Valley State University
Ft. Valley, Ga.
11th
Lane College
B.T. Harvey Stadium
18 th
Kentucky State University
B.T. Harvey Stadium
25th
OCTOBER
Lincoln University
B.T. Harvey Stadium
9th
Tuskegee University
(76th Annual Tuskegee-Morehouse Football Classic)
Columbus, Ga.
16th
Stillman College
Tuscaloosa, Ala.
23rd
Albany State University (Homecoming)
B.T. Harvey Stadium
30th
NOVEMBER
Clark Atlanta University
Atlanta, Ga.
6th
Miles College
Fairfield, Ala.
4 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
7 p.m.
5 p.m.
2 p.m.
2 p.m.
I p.m.
Morehouse
Wins SIAC
Commissioners
Award
This summer, More
house captured the Southern
Intercollegiate Athletic Con
ference Commissioners All
Sports Award which goes to
the conference school with
the best all-around perform
ance in all sports each season.
Morehouse won the award
on the strength of Southern
Intercollegiate Athletic Con
ference championship sea
sons by the Morehouse golf,
tennis, track and field, and
cross country teams during
the 2009-2010 school year,
It is the third consecutive
year that the College was
named the conferences most
successful athletic program
and fourth in the past six
years. ■
*Home games in BOLD.