Florida A&M's Holmes & Players Participate In MEAC Media Day

NORFOLK, Virginia (July 26) –­ FAMU head coach Earl Holmes stepped to the podium at the MEAC football luncheon just moments after it was revealed that his team was picked to finish fifth in the conference by the league’s head coaches and sports information directors.  It would have been easy to spend his five minutes dwelling on how inaccurate the prediction was from his standpoint, but the young coach displayed an uncommon poise for a first year coach.

“Greetings from the highest of seven hills in Tallahassee, Florida.  I’d like to say thanks for having us here.  On behalf of Dr. (Larry) Robinson, our AD Mike Smith, Faydre (Hawkins Brown) and our staff,” Holmes said.  It was a classy move, indicating a level of maturity from a rookie coach.

The good news of the day was the Rattlers placing 11 players on the preseason All-MEAC squad.  Along with making the first team, quarterback Damien Fleming was selected as co-offensive player of the year.  Still, for the staff he’s assembled, for the recruits he’s brought in and for the returning players, it was a hard pill to swallow.  But, he had a crafty comeback.  “Looking at the predictions they’ve got us ranked fifth.  That’s fine.  One thing about predictions and projections, you can say what you want to say, but at the end of the day you’ve got to play the game.  We all love to play the game, that’s why we’re all here,” he said.

Fleming and safety John Ojo were at the press conference and luncheon to represent the Rattlers.  Fleming is picked to have a banner year as the Rattler signal caller, while Ojo is under the radar.  Attaining a medical hardship from the NCAA allows the Spring 2012 graduate to begin work on his master’s degree, while playing for the Rattlers.

Fleming is excited about the fast approach of the season.  “I’m just excited to get this year started.  We’ve been going against each other all Summer in seven-on-seven and one-on-one, so I’m just really excited to put the pads on. I want to see some guys hit each other, even though I don’t really get to see any of that until the season starts,” Fleming said.



The media interviews allowed the players to take a quick glance at some of the top players in the MEAC.  That brought even more energy to the day.  “Just to see some of these guys, some familiar faces, we came up short against some of them last year…I mean it’s all about revenge this year,” Fleming said.

Ojo was humbled by the chance to go out on a more positive note than ending his career at FAMU with an injury.  “I’m just excited man and thankful to God I got another year to play.  I think for of all it starts with our discipline.  Bringing in new coaches is going to help with that, and our offseason strength and conditioning I think is going to help us.  I think we look forward to having a successful season by strengthening ourselves in those areas,” Ojo concluded.

Holmes did excite the crowd in his address at the luncheon.  His analysis of the level of disrespect was addressed in quite a tactful and witty utterance.  “Being from FAMU, we all love homecoming.  In fact, I’ve got four homecomings this year.  We play South Carolina State for their homecoming, Morgan State for their homecoming, coach Pete (Adrian), I play you for homecoming, so I guess Florida A&M is just the homecoming team.  That’s okay, I’m a young guy and a good guy.  But, like I tell everybody and I told these coaches, Holmes coming,” Holmes said.



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