Mike Peters, The ExaminerBALTIMORE -
Roderick Wolfe always had faith in himself, knowing he could make a difference on the football field. Four years later after leaving Edmondson-Westside High, he’s done it.
The 6-foot-4 190-pound receiver will enter his senior season at Morgan State as one of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference’s best players after making a team-high 29 catches for 498 yards and six touchdowns last season, fourth-most in the conference. But with two of those receivers — Bethune Cookman’s Eric Weems and Hampton’s Marquay McDaniel — in an NFL training camp, the stage is set for Wolfe to emerge as the conference’s most prolific offensive threat.
“Roderick is the one who stretches the field for us,” Coach Donald Hill-Eley said. “We know the defenses are going to have to prepare for him. We don’t think there’s anyone in the conference who can cover him one-on-one.”
Hill-Eley might be right. Since arriving at Morgan State in 2004, Wolfe has improved every season. After averaging 14.6 yards per catch as a freshman, Wolfe made 21 receptions for 383 yards — and average of 18.2 yards per reception as a sophomore — before having an even better junior season.
Wolfe has developed into exactly what Hill-Eley envisioned — a versatile scoring option who has prevented defenses from focusing on stopping the running game,. Chad Simpson rushed for a team-high 795 yards and nine touchdowns as a junior last season.
“[Roderick’s] a big target, and he’s a sure catch,” said junior quarterback Mario Melton, who completed 70 of 148 passes for 924 yards and 9 touchdowns last season. “ I know that if I need a first down, I just go to my playmaker. That’s what you want: a go-to receiver who you can count on and who will never let you down.”
Photo: Morgan State senior receiver Roderick Wolfe made 29 catches for 498 yards and six touchdowns last year.
But there is something Wolfe has yet to do at Morgan State: win.
Wolfe, who scored 21 touchdowns as a high school senior, chose to accept a scholarship to Morgan State when it appeared on the verge of establishing itself as one of the MEAC’s best teams. After Hill-Eley guided the Bears to consecutive winning seasons in 2002 and 2003 — their first consecutive winning seasons since 1970-71 — Morgan State has managed 12 victories in the last three seasons, including a 5-6 record last year.
“I thought that maybe if I came up here,” Wolfe said, “I could help turn the program around and hopefully get the city behind us like we should have had for so many years.”
Now, it’s his last chance to make it happen. So Wolfe is precise about what he wants to accomplish in what could be his last season of organized football.
He wants to lead his team to victory as the greatest player who ever caught a football in a Morgan State uniform. With 1,056 receiving yards, he is well-behind Kelvin Dickens, who finished his career in 2005 with a school-record to 2,355 receiving yards. Jessie Humphrey holds the school-record in single-season receiving yards with 1,071, set in 1993.
“I think it’s my year to break the record,” Wolfe said. “But my main goal right now is to take it one game at a time and hopefully help coach Hill get that undefeated record he’s been looking for.”
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