The college football transfer portal has been drawing a lot of attention lately but Morehouse isn’t compromising on their core principals.
“Recruiting is fluid. The need for recruiting changed on a yearly basis based on position,” Morehouse Head Coach Rich Freeman said at SIAC Media Day. “For us, we are always looking for ‘the right fit.’ It always goes a little bit further than what happens on the gridiron.”
Freeman spoke to the HBCU Gameday during the SIAC media day in the beginning of August. He spoke very passionately when asked about how the transfer portal was affecting the Morehouse football program.
“We look for that person that is well-spoken person, well-read, and well dressed. We talk about presence, and we talk about character, and we talk about intellect,” Coach Freeman explained. “Those are three of the pillars that we have our program founded upon. We will engage the transfer portal but it has to be someone that is ready for all that comes with Morehouse College.”
Morehouse recently landed a former Power Five quarterback in Jalen Chatman. Chatman transferred in after playing at Rutgers and Portland State. Coach Freeman made it clear that it was not just Chatman’s big-school resume that made him an enticing fit for the Tigers.
“[Chatman] was also at Rutgers prior to being at Portland State and he is already a business owner. We have a few guys that came from the Naval Academy, WestPoint, and Mercer,” Coach Freeman stated. “We did a pretty good job with that and we were able to capitalize off of those guys that fell victim to Covid.”
“We are very happy with where we are with recruitment and we will see if we can put it all together in these 21 practices that we have before we kick the ball off,” Freeman concluded.