It’s been a long time since the glory days of Morgan State University dominating on the gridiron back in the 1960s. The program has been searching for the right coach to turn things around and build a competitive program.
HBCU Gameday spoke to players during Morgan State’s football camp to talk about their transition and expectations going into their second season under coach Damon Wilson.
“Wilson came in and changed everything around, but he came in very late last year. We only had about a couple of weeks until our camp started with him and bringing that new staff in,” junior linebacker Erick Hunter explained. “I believe the new transition is that we all are more experienced. We understand what’s asked of us and we’re gonna be very exciting to watch this year. We’re gonna fly around and be a good football team to watch on Saturday.”
Wilson took over the program last summer just before camp. His late arrival at Morgan State University meant that he had the difficult task of setting the foundation for his team in a small amount of time before week one of the 2022 season.
“Compared to where we were last year, we’re so much further along. Like we said, the coaches came in July. A lot of the camp we spent time learning. This time around we are familiar with the installs, so we can hit the ground running,” graduate quarterback Carson Baker said. “It helps so much when you get to rep an offense in the fall, the spring and back to the fall compared to learning something new. This offense puts guys in the right spot and what we have to do is just go out there and make a play.”
Morgan State players are optimistic that a full year of learning and defense will create stability.
“We hear all the talk about how good our defense can be and what will happen with our offense, but our offense has improved tremendously,” Hunter said. “I’m very excited to see them boys play this year. We know what we have on defense, but understanding right now that it’s all on paper, so it’s about what we gonna do come Saturday kickoff.”
Although the Bears feel ready for the season, the older and wiser players want to let their play speak for itself on the field.
“We’re not really in the position to be talking right now. We gotta let our play talk. When the pads come on, when we go through camp, for us it’s about let’s figure out who we are in Week One, and let’s go play. We don’t need to talk and tell people how good we’re gonna be. We don’t gotta tell the MEAC you gotta look out for us. We just gotta show up. That’s how I see it,” Baker said. “Every game is important for us. We wanna have a winning record. We wanna be successful. It starts with Richmond in Week One.”
Morgan State will have its first opportunity to let its play talk and continue to take steps towards being a successful team when it opens the season at the University of Richmond on September 2nd.