Football: Let's get physical: Morgan-Welsh stronger at MMA (08-31-06)
By Ryan Sonner (Daily Staff Writer)
WOODSTOCK — Cam Carte has his demands and they must be met.
If not physical, you're toast. Gone. See ya later.
"If you're going to play here," Massanutten Military Academy's first-year football coach said, "you've got to [be physical], because I'm a tackle-to-tackle kind of guy. You either do it or you won't be the starting tailback."
Yannick Morgan-Welsh got the message.
The junior spent the offseason redefining his running style. Formerly a speedy scatback, he transformed himself into a fullback playing with a tailback's body.
He lifted more weights, ate more peanut butter sandwiches and added 22 pounds to his 6-foot frame. Morgan-Welsh went from thin and quick to big and thick.
"This year, I'll try to prove everyone wrong and run up the middle," the Woodbridge native said. "I'll show them I'm a diverse back."
Carte said he was taken aback by Morgan-Welsh's commitment to offseason training.
"When other kids were taking free time, he had a training sled and he was pulling 40 pounds behind him up and down the field," said Carte, who taught Morgan-Welsh in summer school. "He was ruining my field, so I had to get him on the practice field."
Carte was so impressed that he took Morgan-Welsh to a football combine held at the University of Pittsburgh. In attendance, of course, was Panthers coach Dave Wannstedt.
Morgan-Welsh didn't disappoint, running a 4.7 40-yard dash. Carte said Wannstedt was shocked when he learned Morgan-Welsh had just completed his sophomore year.
And what a year it was.
Morgan-Welsh took the spotlight from senior Zack Mondres, a three-year starter, and rushed for 1,273 yards and 12 touchdowns. More telling was his 9.4 yards per average carry.
"It was special," he said. "It was a gift I was given. I have to use it wisely and not be cocky. I want to be real humble about everything."
To understand why, one needs only to look back a few years, when Morgan-Welsh first arrived at MMA.
"He has had his moments here at the academy and he'll tell you that," Carte said. "At one point, he was on a second gift here, but he's really turned himself around. He's a team leader on and off the field."
Morgan-Welsh helped carry the Colonels into the playoffs for the second season in a row. Making a third consecutive trip will not be easy — not with the entire Capitol Area Conference intent on stopping Morgan-Welsh.
That won't be easy, either.
"The first day of practice, he was trying to unhinge people," Carte said. "I was very pleased."
Morgan-Welsh was one of seven area running backs who rushed for more than 1,000 rushing yards last year. Duplicating that feat is certainly a goal, but it ranks a distance second.
"The goal is to win a state championship," he said. "If I can do something special for the team and myself at the same time, I'll do it."
