jmccann@heraldsun.com
DURHAM — Tired of talking about N.C. Central losing close ballgames because the other teams were better positioned to play grown-man football, Eagles coach Henry Frazier III and his staff scoured the country in search of legitimate, big-bodied players and found some.
NCCU got written commitments from nine offensive linemen, five defensive backs and five linebackers on Wednesday’s national signing day, Frazier said.
“This is a solid recruiting class here,” Frazier said. “We definitely addressed all our needs, definitely got some good, young players I think we’re going to be able to develop, and we’ve got some I think that can come in and play right away. It’s a good mixture.”
The biggest need for the Eagles was on the offensive line, and addressing that is welcome news to veteran players such as wide receiver Geovonie Irvine, a playmaker who will benefit from guys who can buy time so the quarterback can get him the ball.
“It all starts up front,” Frazier said about his incoming linemen. “With the exception of Carl Jones, the center, they’re all 6-3 or bigger.”
Still, Jones stands 6-2, 273 pounds.
A founding member of the MEAC in the early 1970s, NCCU left in 1979 to join the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association when the MEAC began competing on the Division I-AA level, now known as the Football Championship Subdivision.
The 2011 season was NCCU’s first as a full member with the opportunity to compete for MEAC and NCAA championships, but it also was NCCU’s fourth straight losing campaign and Frazier’s first at the helm of the program that went 2-9, 1-7 in the MEAC.
Time and again after losses, Frazier would talk about how his squad, particularly by the time the fourth quarter rolled around, just couldn’t compete with the physicality of other teams.
Those beatings had some of the Eagles hanging their heads, and Frazier vowed not only to bring in bigger players but also to go after young men who had the will to take the challenge of rebuilding NCCU football.
“The measuring stick was (that) we didn’t recruit nobody that didn’t have other offers,” Frazier said. “So everybody that chose us, they had choices, they had options and that was important to me.
“I didn’t want (any assistant) coach bringing no kid to me that we were his only option. So we knew when they chose us, they chose us over someone else. All these kids had other options to go other places, and they chose us.”
One such player is Matthew Goddard, who is expected to give NCCU quarterback Jordan Reid a run for his money.
NCCU also received a commitment from quarterback Malcolm Bell out of Richmond, Va.
Last season, Reid as a redshirt sophomore backed up senior quarterback Michael Johnson. NCCU also has redshirt freshman Quenton Rucker in the mix.
And while Reid will have a leg up on NCCU’s other quarterbacks in terms of familiarity with the offense, the job under center isn’t automatically his, Frazier said.
“No question; Matthew Goddard is on campus now,” Frazier said. “He’s a junior college transfer, and we like Matthew. We like Jordan. They’re going to fight it out this spring.
“It’ll be wide open for those four guys. Whichever one wants the job, has the most composure and can lead, he’ll be our quarterback next year.”
