Preseason Football Report
New attitude, same goals for Comegy, SIAC champions
8/17/01
By Ben Thomas
Montgomery
Advertiser
TUSKEGEE - Five years seems like an eternity for the Tuskegee football team.
Fresh off an NAIA National Championship, Rick Comegy took over a Golden Tiger
program in 1996 that had basically no expectations, practiced only at night
and included just a handful of players that fit Comegy's tough work ethic.
And now.... Tuskegee is trying to build on a 12-0 season, three straight
trips to the Pioneer Bowl and a Black College National Championship. "When I
first came, I knew Tuskegee was a winning school tradition-wise so I never
doubted that we would be a winner," senior fullback Chad Williams said. "But
I never thought we'd go 12-0. That's the ultimate." The success of the last
three seasons, which has included 31 victories and two Southern
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles, has helped mold a totally
different attitude at a school that went just 2-9 in 1995. "There's a big
difference. I think when I first came guys would work hard, but they didn't
want to go that extra mile and take it to another level," said senior
linebacker Kelvin Powell, the reigning SIAC Defensive Player of the Year.
"Now, people want to win and we're going to do whatever it takes to do just
that." That was the prevailing state of mind as Tuskegee held its annual
media and picture day at Cleve L. Abbott Stadium Wednesday morning. The
Golden Tigers no longer go into games hoping to win, they expect to win. They
no longer shoot just for another SIAC title, they shoot for another national
championship as well. And they're no longer the hunter. They're the hunted.
"We know a lot of people will be shooting at us. But so be it. We like the
pressure," Powell said. "As an older guy, I try to make sure the young guys
don't listen to the crowd and the media. "The other team is not going to come
out and lay down because you were the national champions last year. In fact,
that's going to make them play harder and we'll have to play harder as well."
Comegy doesn't see his players working hard as a problem ... at least not
anymore. He knows the majority of his players are just as motivated as he is.
That shows every day in practice. "It's a more 'I'll bite you attitude,' a
more fired up type of thing than it used to be. They're ready to play,"
Comegy said of his team. "It's not like I have to get out there and kill
these guys and beat them into the dirt to make them mean. They'll strike.
"It's not like the years when I first came when I couldn't take a chance on
giving a kid (a day) off. I had to take them out or we'd lose the edge. Now,
I know we can take a day off or I can give them a rest here or there because
now I know when they come back, they will be healthier. It's something that's
already built in." The schedule again is a tough one. The Golden Tigers open
with Winston-Salem State, the same team they defeated to win the national
title in the Pioneer Bowl in December. The rematch is scheduled for Sept. 1
in Tuskegee. "These guys want to be champs. They want to win the conference
first and they would love to be crowned again," Comegy said. "I know the odds
are against us to go 12-0. I know that. And, if you include last year and say
24-0, it does seem a little unreal. But if we look at it as 12 games, that's
attainable. We don't have to play 24 this year. We just have to play 12. With
some luck and if we get by that first game, we might be able to make a run on
it."
Ben Thomas, an assistant sports editor for the Advertiser,
can be reached by phone at (334) 261-1522 or by faxing him at (334) 261-1548.
His e-mail address is bthomas@montgomeryadvertiser.com.
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