Vote for Greg McGhee for HSRN Player of the Week

Remember to VOTE for Howard’s freshman quarterback Greg McGhee as Heritage Sports Radio Network Player of the Week. He was 22 for 29 with one interception. McGhee threw 248 yards and three touchdown passes.
Photos by Mark Coleman. VOTE @ HSRN.COM Deadline 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 14 at noon EST.

Examiner: McGhee lifts Howard at RFK

The loudest roars of the afternoon, Saturday at RFK Stadium, came during the wave and at halftime for the bands of Howard University and Morehouse College. As for the inaugural Nation’s Football Classic between the Division I (FCS) Bison and Division II Maroon Tigers, there was never a dull moment.

In an entertaining game full of big plays and momentum shifts, Howard rallied for a come-from-behind 30-27 victory before 18,409.

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Washington Post: Howard vs. Morehouse

Howard University defeated Morehouse College 30-27 at RFK Stadium in D.C.

PHOTOS: AT&T Nation’s Football Classic

Howard Beats Morehouse in the AT&T Nation’s Football Classic

Team photo following the week against Morehouse College in the Inaugural Howard Morehouse AT&T Nation's Football Classic. By Justin D. Knight

Washington, DC—September 10–Greg McGhee threw for three touchdowns and the defense came up with the big plays down the stretch to lead Howard University to a thrilling 30-27 win over Morehouse College in the  inaugural AT&T Nation’s Football Classic at RFK Stadium before 18,049.

A 6-3, 200-pound freshman from Pittsburgh, PA, McGhee completed 22 of 29 for 248 yards while adding another 46 yards on the ground.  All totals were career highs.

The Maroon Tigers (1-1) jumped on top early when sophomore quarterback Donnay Ragland connected with senior wide receiver Derrick Hector from 18 yards out at the 7:42 mark of the first quarter.

The Bison (1-1) answered three minutes later when McGhee engineered an 81-yard drive that took eight plays and used 3:14 off the clock.  The drive was capped off with a 39-yard TD pass to senior wide receiver Willie Carter down the left sideline.  It was McGhee’s first career TD pass.

Howard got an easy score two minutes later when the Morehouse center snapped the ball out of the end zone to make it 9-7 at the 2:23 mark.

But the Maroon Tigers responded less than a minute later when sophomore running back Winston Brodrick scored from a yard out following the first of four Bison turnovers.

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Debate Recap: Be it Resolved!

Howard University and Morehouse College debate teams rumbled at the inaugural Mordecai W. Johnson and Benjamin E. Mays student exhibition debate on Friday.

Billed as “The Game before the Game,” the match up was one of a number of academic events leading up to Saturday’s AT&T Nation’s Football Classic at RFK Stadium.

The debate exhibition played to a packed house of college students, administrators, professors and students from area school districts.

After opening remarks and musical selections from classical harpist Jeff Majors and the Morehouse College Glee Club Alumni Ensemble and the Howard University Gospel Choir, the four-person debate teams took their seats at tables placed at the opposite ends of the stage.

The debaters addressed whether collegiate athletes should be paid and should cyber-bullying be treated as a criminal offense. The back-and-forth over athletic pay for college students brought forward intensity on both sides.

Morehouse, after winning a coin toss, opted to advocate that athletes deserved pay.

Franklin Kwame Weldon, a Morehouse double-major in economics and Spanish, led his team’s attack by noting that college athletics generate hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

“Students get nothing for their hard work and dedication,” Weldon said.

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Weldon said student athletes often put in two-a-day practices and long summer hours. “How is it equitable?” he asked.

The Morehouse team also centered their argument on developing a new college athlete pay system as a way to decrease corruption in college athletics. But the team’s most controversial argument was Weldon’s description of today’s athletic system as a form of slavery.

The Howard debate team, led by Abraham Williamson in the exchange, challenged the slavery argument put forward by Morehouse.

“If this is slavery, these would be the most comfortable slaves in history,” Williamson said.

The Howard team repeated a list of perks that student athletes received the best dorms, the best on- and off-campus jobs, free tutors and in some cases free parking. Most importantly, they noted that student athletes were obtaining a discounted education.

In his retort, Weldon chided Williamson for distorting his point about slavery. “It’s a metaphor,” he said. “I’m saying there are similar elements, not people in chains.”

The Howard debate team was made up of Williamson, Yosef Wise, Allen Reynolds and Gavette Richardson. The Morehouse team members included Weldon, Chris Fortson-Gaines, Austin Williams, and Kenneth A. Newby.

The inaugural student debate celebrates two historical presidents of Howard University and Morehouse College. Mordecai Wyatt Johnson became the first elected President of Howard in the 1920s; previously he had served as a Professor of Economics at Morehouse. Benjamin E. Mays was the President of Morehouse in the 1940s; previously he had served as Dean of Religion at Howard and as Morehouse debate coach in the 1920s.

– Sholnn Freeman

Photos: The Game before the Game!