New Morgan State football coach Tyrone Wheatley doesn't broach the subject of building a football team directly. The big-name rookie head coach talks more about building men than building, say, an offensive line.
Excuse Wheatley, a former Michigan star and 10-year NFL running back with the New York Giants and Oakland Raiders, for painting in broad stokes while he rolls up his sleeves and works on the Bears, who went 4-7 last year. There's work to be done, but the Bears could be better than advertised. Morgan State knocked off then-fourth-ranked North Carolina A&T State last September to snap the Aggies' 15-game winning streak and had three losses by a total of eight points last year.
With 17 starters back and a team talented enough to place nine players on the three-deep 2019 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference preseason team, Wheatley has some options. But even with that talent, MEAC coaches and sports information directors tabbed the Bears to finish eighth in the league's preseason poll.
