Karsceal Turner – I Got Next!
The Motto for Bethune-Cookman University’s 2013 football campaign can be perceived in one of two ways: 1. it could mean “never satisfied,” as in Fans want the team to advance further than a playoff berth, followed by a blow-out in the first round. 2. It could mean B-CU’s loyal fans, and devoted boosters and alumni are “never satisfied,” even though the Wildcats have never enjoyed such prominence atop the FCS football rankings.
In 2010 they ran the table in Jenkins inaugural season at the helm. Their lone loss was to arch-rival FAMU in the Florida Classic; they still hosted a New Hampshire Wildcats team who cleaned their clock 45-20. In 2011, they finished 5-2 and missed the playoffs entirely. Clearly they wanted to avenge themselves.
And so it was in 2012, this team finished 8-0 in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) play a season ago. After advancing to the first-round of the playoffs, they succumbed to a Coastal Carolina team who plastered them 24-14 in their own backyard.
Perhaps the reader misses the intricacies of this pattern. Let us explore the mind of a fan, alumni or booster who is now complacent after enjoying such success these past three seasons. There is such a thing as complacency. There is such a thing as sitting back on one’s laurels.
Since his arrival on campus, Brian Jenkins placed his sights on a National Championship. Anything less is unacceptable, even back-to-back MEAC championships and consecutive Playoff appearances.
The Bethune-Cookman Wildcats enter the 2013 season at No. 23 in The Sports Network FCS Preseason Top 25; it was announced Tuesday by The Sports Network office in Philadelphia, Pa. This is the first time the Wildcats have been a member of TSN’s preseason poll under head coach Brian Jenkins.
The Cats have been predicted to win the MEAC, voted on by head coaches and sports information directors around the league. Senior running back Isidore Jackson was voted Preseason Co-Offensive Player of the Year, while senior linebacker Jarkevis Fields was selected Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. Those two play-makers are only two returning starters from a team which has been together nearly four years.
In addition, Bethune-Cookman football players Nick Addison, LeBrandon Richardson, and fields have been named to the USA College Football Preseason All-America Team for the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). All three Wildcats were selected to the second team on defense.
All these preseason accolades are fine and well. However, when all is said and done kiddies, the only thing that will matter to B-CU loyalists is a win at homecoming, and another win against arch-nemesis FAMU. Anything less just isn’t civilized.
Brian Jenkins feels the same about a National Championship.
Although a member of a different conference, the road to that championship begins when Bethune-Cookman opens the 2013 slate at Tennessee State as part of the John Merritt Classic at L.P. Field in Nashville, Tenn. The Tigers of TSU received 151 votes in the preseason poll, figuring them at No. 30, respectively. TSU also spanked the Wildcats in Daytona Beach last season.
Look for me on the sidelines and in the stands cause I Got Next!!
