GMC News

– By Keich Whicker – The Union-Recorder
(April 21, 2004) Situated at a table in the Georgia Military College president’s conference room, senior high school standouts Calvin McMullen and Reggie Mosley couldn’t keep from smiling Tuesday morning as they inked the papers that will take them both to play football at the University of Minnesota at Crookston for the Golden Eagles next fall.

Both said they had a feeling they didn’t play their last competitive game back in November, and that they were intent on going to the next level together.

“I had a feeling I’d be playing somewhere, I just didn’t know where,” Mosley said. “We sort of said if one went, then the other had to go too. So, when one of us signed the other followed. We kind of had a pact.”

Exactly how the pair ended up at UMC, who plays in the NCAA Division II’s Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, came about largely because of one man, according to McMullen.

“We pretty much owe everything to Doug Stewart, a friend of my family’s at church,” he said. “He got in touch with the school and sent them a tape, and when they liked what they saw, they got in touch with us.”

Asked whether they had any concerns about leaving the familiar warmness of the south and heading all the way up to one of the nation’s most northern states, both said they didn’t look forward to the cold, but did look forward to going to school in another part of the country.

“It’s going to be a challenge adjusting to the cold,” McMullen said. “We’ve got to get used to that being from down here.”
Mosley agreed and said he sees the move northward as a good experience.

“Sometimes it’s good to get away from people you know and explore the world and meet new people,” he said.

“It doesn’t bother us,” said McMullen, about the distance between Crookston and Milledgeville. “It bothers our mothers, not us.”
Another person it bothers is Derrick Allen, GMC’s head football coach. He has to play next season without two players he called “irreplaceable.”

“I’m losing irreplaceable players,” he said. “Calvin (McMullen) is one of the best athletes in Class A, and Reggie (Mosley) is the same.”

After a pause, Allen added, “These are tremendous athletes, and you can’t just replace them.”

Speaking about his players as people, Allen said UMC couldn’t be getting a better pair of student-athletes.

“They’re both excellent students and people of great character,” he said. “They’re two of the finest young men I ever coached.”
Allen went on to describe McMullen and Mosley as being vocal leaders on and off the field, and a critical part of the GMC program for the past four seasons.

“They’re both leaders on and off the field,” he said. “Both led by example, and both were vocal leaders. They were four-year starters and were pretty much the heart and soul of what we were doing last year.”

Between now and Aug. 5 – when the two players report for camp – Mosley and McMullen plan put the workout videos they received from their new coach with weight training and other exercises to good use.
“I’m going to do lots of lifting and lots of running,” McMullen said. “I’m going to stay in the weight room, and I’m going to get plenty of food.”

But as far as food is concerned, both McMullen and Mosley did admit to being worried about missing the southern cuisine they grew up with.

“The one bad thing is they don’t have grits,” Mosley said. “As a southern boy, I’m kind of used to having grits.”

“They don’t have sweat tea either,” McMullen chimed in.