RACER FOOTBALL A special publication of The Murray State News
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Football
The News
September 8, 2016
The News
Football
September 8, 2016
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Missouri State Preview Collin Morris
GORDON STEELE
Contributing writer cmorris29 @murraystate.edu After a 52-3 loss to the
-Offensive Line -Run Game Coordinator
OFFENSIVE STARTERS
Pos. #
Name
QB RB WR WR WR WR LT LG C RG RT
KD Humphries Mark Dodson II Jordon Gandy Malik Golson Jesse Blackburn L.J. Gainey Joe Irby Ryan Rainey Brant Newman Chris White Noah Banks
2 7 16 1 85 3 78 57 60 69 71
University of Illinois, the Racers will face their own level of competition for the first time this season when they host Missouri State. The Fighting Illini held the Racers bare in both the air and on the ground. Senior quarterback KD Humphries had 163 of the team’s total 175 passing yards, while redshirt junior running back Mark Dodson II led the team with 16 of the team’s 46 rushing yards. But even after facing FBS level competition, Humphries said he feels confident in the team’s ability to make adjustments and improve going into week two. “We just need to create the little things,” Humphries said. “It’s the things we know we can create and we can learn from. Saturday was a great learning experience. Playing against those bigger teams, if you make the little mistakes they’re going to make you pay for it. Turning the ball over the second play of the game -- they’ll make you pay for it. We just have to learn from those little things.” The determination doesn’t stop with the quarterback, however. On the defensive side of the ball, redshirt junior linebacker, Lamont Crittendon has already focused his attention on the next name on the schedule. “We’re ready,” Crittendon said. “We watched the film from Illinois yes-
OFFENSIVE
player to watch
terday, we put that game to rest and tomorrow we’ll be going full speed at Tuesday’s practice getting ready for Missouri State and getting ready to play in front of the best fans in the OVC.” In their most recent game, Division I Missouri State shutout their NAIA challenger Southwestern College with a score of 57-0. Missouri State saw production on most fronts, with 355 rushing yards and 141 receiving yards from eight different receivers. Murray State Head Football Coach Mitch Stewart said he has not been discouraged by the difference in momentum between the two teams in their upcoming game. Stewart said he understood the marginalization of talent between the two teams and hopes the team will be adjust as the schedule normalizes. “It’s always good to start with an opponent like we did last week in Illinois just because you’re hoping that things slow down from here,” Stewart said. “We put a few of our guys in some really, really good situations in the first week because it’ll be some of the best competition they play all year and hopefully this week and the weeks in the future, now that we’re getting back to our level of competition, some things will slow down for some of these guys – especially our young guys.” The Racers will face Missouri State and celebrate Senior Night at 6 p.m. on Sept. 10 at Roy Stewart Stadium.
CHRIS BOONE -Defensive Coordinator -Assistant Head Coach
DEFENSIVE STARTERS Pos. #
Name
DL 32 Zuri Elrington DL 91 Bishop Woods DL 99 Rashad Johnson DL 94 Silas Owens LB 9 Lamont Crittendon LB 13 Quincy Williams DB 21 Zach Wade DB 8 Zack Shipley DB 24 Toby Omli DB 5 D’Montre Wade CB 6 Marquez Sanford
DEFENSIVE
PLAYER TO WATCH
Jesse Blackburn
Toby Omli
Senior Wide Receiver 2016 Pre-season All OVC team at tight end 2016 Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame All-Commonwealth
Senior Defensive Back 2016 Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame All-Commonwealth Team
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Football
The News
September 8, 2016
Fans cheer for more than football The Shoe Tree and Tent City are only two of the many different traditions that Murray State has to its name, but when the Racers score at Roy Stewart Stadium, there is one tradition that brings more cheer to the Racer faithful. Bryan Edwards
Contributing writer bedwards13@murraystate.edu
Emily Baucom/The News
Kelsey Hathaway will be riding Racer One for the first time on Saturday.
Racer One has been running around the track at Roy Stewart Stadium for every touchdown the Racers have scored since the horse’s first season in 1976. The horse has not always been named Racer One, however; for the first nine years of the tradition, the horse ran under the name “Violet Cactus,” and it wasn’t until 1985 that the horse was formally named Racer One. To this day, every horse that runs on the track has had that name. Violet Cactus ran at every Murray State Football game for eight seasons. After the horse died in 1984, she was buried inside of Roy Stewart Stadium and can be located on north side of the field behind the end zone, where there is a plaque in the wall dedicated to the first-ever horse to be later known as Racer One. Today, Racer One is still running around the track after every touchdown and is being ridden by Kelsey Hathaway, senior from Bowling Green, Kentucky. Hathaway has had a passion of horse riding since she was nine years old. “My older sister got me into it,” Hathaway said. “She had been around horses since she was little, and it got me started, and I’ve done it ever since.” Hathaway was on the Racer One team last season and had to go through multiple tests, including an interview, to become the jockey for the 2016 season. “We had to prove ourselves as riders, as well as have the character for the job,” Hathaway said. Hathaway also said that Racer One knows when Saturday
Emily Baucom/The News
comes along when the Racers are at home. “Horses know when a human changes their demeanor so they know when something is up,” she said. Hathaway also commented on what her experience will be like riding Racer One around the track for the very first time. “It will be really awesome, exciting and nerve-wracking, but when it’s all said and done I’m sure it will be an unforgettable moment.” Dave Winder, a 1983 Murray State graduate and the current Assistant Athletic Director, said that he was very proud to be a part of this wonderful tradition. “It was just so amazing,” Winder said. “Watching the different horses and jockeys ride around the track produced a special moment for myself, and I’m proud to have experienced this Murray State tradition.” Racer One will make its first appearance of the season at 6 pm, on Saturday, Sept. 10 when the Murray State Racers host the Bears of Missouri State, so come out and experience Racer One; celebrate with all in attendance when the Racers score the first touchdown in Roy Stewart Stadium of the 2016 season.
The News
September 8, 2016
Football
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The News
Football
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September 8, 2016
Football ends, bonds last forever Collin Morris
Contributing writer cmorris29@murraystate.edu
Kelli O’Toole/The News
Jesse Blackburn was a Preseason ALL-OVC pick for the 2016 season.
With a highly-anticipated season coming for Murray State’s lone Preseason AllOVC award winner, 2016 will be solidified as the year college students have “felt the burn.” Senior wide receiver Jesse Blackburn is entering his final season as a Racer. “Murray is home now. It’s been that way since I first got here,” Blackburn said. “I was kind of skeptical about it but then I started loving it here. It’s been nice to stay here and to play football here.” As with the majority of successful college athletes, football became a fundamental part of Blackburn’s life at a young age. He picked up the sport in Alabama’s reiteration of a youth football league, and he came to find his love for the game shortly
Student Government Association wishes all the athletes good luck!
after. “I started really young. I think I was around six,” Blackburn said. “My mom was the one who really wanted me to play. My dad didn’t want me to start that young, but after the first couple of practices, it turned out that I loved it and he loved watching me so he let me play a little further on. After that, I really began to find my love around the age of 10, thanks to my rec league coach Greg Parrish.” Unranked coming out of high school in Gardendale, Alabama, Blackburn’s football future was a question mark. However, Blackburn found himself with an opportunity presenting itself at a school four and a half hours from home. “Murray State found me,” Blackburn said. “I was having a little trouble with recruiting and Coach [Chris] Hatcher
was here and I get a telephone call one day from him saying he wanted to talk to me and come down and say hello. So he came down and met my family, and it took about a week for me to decide I wanted to come here.” Blackburn has established numerous memories for both himself and the Racer fans during his tenure, but he has a few in particular that have stood out to him, including a play he considers his greatest accomplishment so far as a football player. “I’d never caught a Hail Mary before and I’ve always wanted to,” Blackburn said. “I caught one last year at Southeast Missouri [State] and it was kind of like a once in a lifetime thing and I’ve always wanted to do it and I finally got the chance to.” His own personal accomplishment is not his favorite memory as a Racer, howev-
er. Instead, Blackburn said he values his team’s achievements over his own personal accolades. “The first game I ever started in was the EKU [Eastern Kentucky] game my freshman year when we won in overtime,” Blackburn said. “I had one catch in overtime that put us up and then our defense held them to a goalline stand. It was a great thing for the team and it’s probably my favorite memory.” Blackburn said he has reflected on the bond he has had with the rest of his teammates. “My greatest influence is probably tied between Mitch Stults and KD [Humphries],” Blackburn says. “Mitch has been my roommate and he’s been with me through everything. Then obviously with KD being the quarterback we’re always hanging out with those guys.”
The News
Football
September 8, 2016
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Stewart leads on and off the field Murray State head football coach puts family first Mark McFarland
Sports Editor
mmcfarland1@murraystate.edu
Head Football Coach Mitch Stewart was born and raised in a small town near Auburn, Alabama, and has stayed in the South his whole life. When he was in middle school, Stewart moved to Georgia and stayed there until he played college ball as a quarterback at Valdosta State, where former Murray State Football Coach Chris Hatcher was the head coach. After his playing days, Stewart took a graduate assistant job, was on staff with Hatcher at Georgia Southern and found his way to Murray State as the offensive coordinator for his first four years at the university. “I love it,” Stewart said on what he thinks of Murray. “Family loves it, my wife, it’ll be a sad day at the Stewart household if we ever have to leave here. We’ve just gotten very plugged into the community and the community has been very welcoming in letting us plug ourselves in,” he said. But Stewart said he is more than a football coach - he is a family
man. He said it is nice living here because it is a good place to have his family. He said he likes how the community can come together and help each other out. “There’s a lot of good things going on here, it’s just the type of town that it is,” he said. “How easy it is to raise a family here, and certain things like that just makes it very livable, very comfortable.” Stewart said in coaching people are always looking for a paycheck, but for him it is about the quality of life. “It’s a pretty good quality of life here,” he said. Stewart has two daughters living with him and his wife, one is two-years-old and the other is fiveyears-old. He said he had the joy of watching his five-year-old earn her white belt in karate and is that is something he takes pride in. Stewart said the hard part of living here is not having other family here to help when they need it, but the community of Murray is always there to step in. “We don’t have luxury of having our fam-
Chalice Keith/The News
Mitch Stewart, Murray State head football coach, said his family loves living in Murray because of the strong community. ily here,” Stewart said. “So when your girls get sick and you have to go to work, we can’t call our mom and say ‘Can you watch Stella for us?’ You just have to make it work.” The Stewart family has been able to make it work. As Stewart said, friends in the community have always been there to help out when the family has needed it, whether it is watching their kids or tak-
ing them to school. Stewart said the community has always been there. Stewart said even with all the help from the community it is always hard to be there for his family all of the time. “It’s time consuming,” he said. “But you have to make it work - you have to have a great staff and you have to trust your staff. I think that is one thing that I have
tried to improve on from year one to year two is trusting those guys and knowing that even if I don’t say it they just know it’s going to happen and they have a plan for it.” Stewart said that trusting his staff more has made it easier for him to go see his family. “It’s OK to leave sometimes,” Stewart said. “Every once in awhile its OK to leave
Tuesday before practice and go have lunch for 30 minutes at the house just so you can say hello and then come back, the building is not going to collapse just because you aren’t in it.” Stewart said the football office will look more like a nursery from time to time and said he loves it that way and thinks it is good for the team to see how family oriented he and his staff are.
Football
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The News
September 8, 2016
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