It’s a new day for the Morgan State University Bears, as they hope the recruiting class announcments will provide an immediate impact for the team’s offense and defense.
“Next bear in,” said Ernest Jones, interim head coach, is the slogan for this year’s recruiting class for Morgan’s football program. The bears successfully recruited all 20 of the student-athletes that they spoke to and invited for a visit to the campus.
The signing athletes from the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) area and students with 3.0 GPA’s are some of the requirements the football staff took into consideration when finding talent.
“We had to do a better job of taking care of home. We are Baltimore,” said Edward Scott, athletic director. “We have to give back to the community, but we also have to keep our own at home,” said Scott.
Scott also mentioned he noticed the Washington, D.C, Maryland and Virginia (DMV) area has more National Football League players per capita than anywhere else in the country. The coaching staff was successful in getting a total of nine students from the DMV to commit to join the Bears and help them compete for a championship.
The signees from Baltimore are two-time, All-Baltimore, county wide receiver, Jordan Cofield, Baltimore county player of the year quarterback, Tyler Holley and Baltimore city player of the year quarterback, Jared Lewis.
Jones was excited about signing the two quarterbacks because it will start a competition to be named the starter for next season. He also raved about the dynamic speed of Cofield as he is also, a two-time Baltimore county track champion. However, the most surprising signees were five-star long snapper, Zachary Castano and transfer student wide receiver, Corey Holmes.
Castano, from Miami, will provide help to the kicking woes for the Bears. Now, players from different positions will not have to be snapping the ball during field goals or punts. Castano along with newly signed kicker, Nicholas O’Shea will help to improve the Bears kicking as the team was at an unacceptable 3-13 attempting field goals.
Holmes also played football at Purdue University and Notre Dame University where he had a combined 103 receiving yards and 12 receptions.
“He has already changed the tempo of the wide receiver room,” said Jones. “This kid is explosive, can go score touchdowns and is a playmaker in the making,” said Holmes.
The Bears’ coaches hope they can develop the new signees intellectually, spiritually, socially and physically with the anticipation of helping each student-athlete football player enhance their skills. In return, they want players to continue to restore the bear’s pride and tradition and to do this they must first win games.
“We have a strong history and tradition at Morgan, but we have only had five winning seasons in the last 44 years,” said Scott. “But the coaches are positive they can turn the football program into a winning one and win championships.”
