Instantly he was looking at his profile on NFLdraftscout.com.
“It had me rated No. 89 at running back,” Wright, a 5-foot-10, 210-pound senior at Texas Southern University, said from the Houston campus this week. “It was cool. Just means there’s room for improvement.”
Wright needs a dazzling final college season to be taken seriously at the next level, and he’s off to a good start after rushing for 143 yards on 25 carries in last week’s season-opening 37-34 loss to Prairie View A&M.
It’s the kind of performance that has come to be expected of Wright, who helped TSU win the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) in 2010. Ninth on the school’s all-time rushing list, he entered this season needing 1,177 yards to pass Thomas Sieh’s record of 2,934 set from 1995-98.
Wright, who rushed for 1,212 yards in 12 games as a junior, is playing for a new head coach after Johnnie Cole, the Dunbar grad who recruited him, was fired in April in the midst of an NCAA investigation. Defensive coordinator Kevin Ramsey was named to succeed Cole, but the turmoil continued when Ramsey fired four assistants, and the program was stripped of 15 scholarships after a bad showing on the NCAA’s Academic Progress Report.
“(Cole’s firing) was tough at first, but when Coach Ramsey got the job, it was an easy transition,” said Wright, a general studies major. “I can talk to him on a personal level. We’re pretty cool.
“Anything we’ve needed to perform, he was always with it, from day one.”
An extra benefit is that Wright can grow his hair longer now. Cole, uncle to former two-sport Dunbar standout Norris Cole (Wright’s quarterback for a year in high school and now a member of the NBA’s Miami Heat), had a strict hair policy. Ramsey does not.
But if Wright ever needs another haircut, he’s all set. An uncle, Mannin Patterson, moved to Houston about the same time he did and opened a barber shop.
“I love TSU,” Wright said. “I’m glad I came down here.”
Campus tour
• Eastern Michigan senior linebacker Marcus English (Trotwood-Madison) was named Mid-American Conference West Division Defensive Player of the Week for his 10-tackle, one-sack performance in a 14-7 defeat of Alabama State. English recorded 3.5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage as EMU held Alabama State to minus-13 yards rushing. Good exposure for English today at noon; the Eagles are at Michigan.
• Kurt Brackman (Milton-Union), a redshirt junior placekicker, is 5-for-5 on field-goal attempts and 12-for-13 on extra points through two games for Slippery Rock. Brackman, with 27 points, leads all kickers in the 16-team Pennsylvania State Athletic Association.
• Jena Braden (New Knoxville), a freshman setter at Radford University, ranks ninth in the Big South Conference in assists per set (5.42).
If you have information about area athletes competing in college, please send an e-mail to smcclelland@DaytonDailyNews.com
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