Mild and comfortable weather brought on by cloudy skies Tuesday did not necessarily cool tempers on the Morgan State football team.
In just the third practice of training camp, emotions erupted into three altercations on a Bears' practice field adjacent to Hughes Stadium in Baltimore. The fisticuffs drew Fred Farrier's ire in the form of sideline-to-sideline sprints at the end of practice and a vocal tongue lashing from the interim head coach.
"I don't mind the aggressiveness and kind of getting after each other," Farrier said. "But we've got to get to the next play. We want to play fast, and there's a certain amount of time to get a high number of things done, and if we're wasting time with guys jawing at each other and unnecessary shoving, then we're getting to a point where we're taking away from practice. So once it starts to disrupt practice and we can't get in the things we need to get done, then it becomes a problem."
During an inside run drill, senior inside linebacker Greg Gibson and sophomore center Cooper Clarkin clashed, causing Clarkin to lose his helmet and several players to jump into the scrum. A subsequent water break did little to bring calm as Gibson continued yelling at members of the offense, particularly senior fullback Marcolm Banks.
During a full-team exercise, Gibson and Banks grabbed each other's facemasks, which forced another stoppage. Farrier reacted by pulling both players off the field, ordering them to complete at least 30 up-downs, and banning them from returning to practice. A few plays later, sophomore wide receiver Brian Gentry jostled with some defensive teammates along the sideline.
Farrier said he hopes his stern message delivered after practice got across to the players, especially Gibson and Banks.
"Those two guys got into personal-foul situations where if that was a game, they'd be tossed. So they got tossed out of practice, and now somebody else had to take their reps, and it had ramifications and consequences for the entire team," Farrier said. "We're just teaching life lessons in football. We want to win games, but they've got to understand how their actions impact a team and what it would be like in a game. We're not going to be an out-of-control team in the game, so we're not going to be an out-of-control team in practice, either."
Graduate student quarterback Chris Andrews, a transfer from Wagner, said he wasn't surprised at his teammates' friskiness.
"It's football," he said. "It happens. Not everybody is going to play pitter-patter. Sometimes there's going to be a fight, but you've got to stop and just try and come back on the next play and try to beat your guy."
Other notes and observations...
Andrews leads QB battle: Andrews took the field with the first-team offense despite sophomore Khalil Trotman listed atop the quarterback position on Morgan State's depth chart. The 6-foot-1, 225-pound Andrews is new to the program, but made 10 starts in his last three seasons at Wagner, and Farrier said Andrews is the leading candidate to start Sept. 3 against Holy Cross. "Right now, he's the starting quarterback," Farrier said. "I'm not going to play quarterback games or anything like that. Right now, we made the decision to go ahead and make Chris the starting guy to see what he can do and to see if he can do it. So it's kind of his job to lose."
Cool running: The running game appears to be in good hands with senior tailbacks Orlando Johnson and Herb Walker Jr. Both players ripped off long runs during the inside run drill, and each running back scored two touchdowns on three carries.
Big 'D': The defense bounced back during the full-team exercise. Junior defensive end Ayodeji Agbelese sacked Andrews, and junior defensive tackle Jai Franklin got freshman Deandre Harris. And the final play of the drill ended with redshirt freshman cornerback Troy Robinson (City) intercepting sophomore quarterback Randolph Norwood's bomb intended for redshirt senior wide receiver Grayling Harrison (Edmondson) down the right sideline.
Injury report: Two notable absences from practice were senior wide receiver Ricky Fisk and redshirt senior cornerback Delonta Hall. Farrier said Fisk, the team's leading receiver from last season, tweaked his hamstring on Monday, and Hall, the team's top defensive back, is dealing with a similar nagging injury. While their presence is preferred, Farrier said there is no need to rush them back to practice. "Those guys have played in games, and they're proven," he said. "So we need to get them ready to play on Sept. 3 versus seeing if they can run a route out here on Aug. 8. Aug. 8 isn't really that important for those guys. So we're going to try to get them what they need to get healthy and be ready to go on Sept. 3."