Edward Marlowe || Staff writer
For Head Coach Chris Hatcher and the Racers, it’s been a busy summer.
Last week, Racer Football announced the arrival of three FBS transfers, ending weeks of speculation and quieting the buzz of the fast-spinning rumor mill surrounding the upcoming season.
The new additions, junior running back Jamaal Berry, sophomore defensive back Cadarious Sanders and junior linebacker Darrell Smith, were introduced to the team during last week’s scrimmages, and Hatcher said it would take some time to get the new players acclimated to the playbook and into the starting line-up.
“You’ve just got to teach them and coach them as you would with a freshman,” Hatcher said. “It’s just that you have a shorter period of time to make that happen. How much they’ll be able to help us early, I don’t know, but we’re gradually incorporating them and we’ll get them more reps as they go.”
From the outside looking in, one would think landing such highly-touted recruits from bigger schools would be a difficult process, especially for Murray State. However, Hatcher said scouting out talent from all areas is part of improving a football team and the luring of recruits is an intensive, drawn-out process.
“We’re always recruiting guys like that, and this year is really no different,” Hatcher said. “It’s just that some of these guys are maybe a little bit higher profile. Last year, as camp went on, we picked up Jarius Williams and Qua Huzzie as transfers that maybe didn’t get as much headlines as these guys do.”
When asked if bringing in new players hurt anybody’s feelings on the depth chart, Hatcher said he tells the team the same thing year in and year out.
“We’re going to try and recruit better than what we’ve got every year,” he said. “You don’t want to play for a team that doesn’t do that. If they’re good players, then everybody is going to like them and if they’re not good players, no one is even going to know they’re on the team.”
The Racers open the season against the No. 7 Florida State University Seminoles Sept. 1 in Tallahassee, Fla.