By Roscoe Nance
North Carolina A&T State quarterback Lamar Raynard doesn’t dazzle opponents with his arm strength, even though his passes are easy to catch and have a tight spiral, nor does he baffle them with his elusiveness. All Raynard does is win.
The fifth-year senior, who has already earned his degree and is enrolled in graduate school, is 26-0 as the Aggies’ starting quarterback after leading them to the 2017 Black College National Championship with a 12-0 record. But he wasn’t aware of his personal unbeaten streak until midway through last season when someone mentioned it to him.
“About the seventh game last season someone said, ‘you know you haven’t lost a game?’” Raynard said. “I was like, ‘For real? Let’s try to keep it going.’ I don’t think about it. I just try to come out and have fun with my guys. I just go out and play,”
Raynard is the 2018 MEAC Preseason Offensive Player of the Year after capturing that award last season and being a finalist for the Deacon Jones Award that goes to the top player in Black College Football. He is on the verge of breaking numerous school records entering the Aggies’ season opener Saturday against Jacksonville State in the Guardian Credit FCS Kickoff at Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Ala.
He needs 1,942 yards to become the Aggies’ career passing leader, 195 completions to become the all-time leader in that category, 2,590 yards to become the all-time leader in total offense and 12 touchdown passes to break the career mark. He has completed 60.5 percent of his passes and is on pace to end his career as the most accurate passer in school history, and he needs 11 touchdowns to break the school record for touchdowns responsible for. He has thrown 48 touchdown passes and run for eight in his career.
But records are not on Raynard’s radar. His focus is on the Aggies repeating their magical 2017 season.
“The goal is to go 1-0 each week,” he said. “If we accomplish our goal, we’ll be undefeated. It really depends on us. I feel nobody can beat us. We can only beat ourselves. If we play North Carolina A&T football, I feel like we’ll be unstoppable.”
Raynard has grown tremendously since coming to A&T. He was a high school Wing-T quarterback in a run-heavy offense that featured Marquell Cartwright, the Aggies’ All-MEAC running back. Still, he threw a 38-yard touchdown pass in the final minute of the championship game that gave Andrews High of High Point, N.C., the Class 2-AA state title, and he threw 65 touchdown passes in his two seasons as a two-year starter.
“Marquell was a dominant runner and they were putting nine in the box, and we had a great wide receiver,” Raynard said, downplaying his prolific touchdown production. “They couldn’t guard him. I would just throw it to him.”
Nevertheless, first-year A&T coach Sam Washington, the defensive coordinator when Raynard signed, made a bold prediction when Raynard arrived on campus.
“I looked him in the eye and told him, ‘You’re going to take us places you’d never dream of. You’re going to make us champions,”’ Washington said. “I saw it in him; his ability; his leadership, his willingness to learn; his commitment; his dedication; his work ethic. All those things make real champions.”
Raynard is the most experienced returning quarterback in the MEAC. That should give the Aggies a leg up on the field as they defend their championship. But he isn’t about to rest on his laurels. He has a voracious appetite for studying film. He has a phone app that enables him to watch tape, and he averages of two-and-a-half hours a day pouring over videos.
“I’m in a pretty good position, but I’m still trying to get better each day,” he said. “You can never know too much. I want to get better with my feet and my decision making. Quarterback is about decision making. You have to make good decisions at all times when you’re on the field. The better you know the offense and the better you know what the defense you’re playing against is doing, the better decisions you will make. You don’t want to go out there blind. If you don’t know how to read the defense or what the defense is going to run on third-down-and-long, it’s a problem. When you watch film, you see the defense’s tendencies and what they like to run. The more you watch film, the better you get at that, and that’s how you make great decisions.”
Raynard’s burning desire to improve is another reason Washington calls him “a jewel.”
“I have a saying,” Washington said. “Stay green. When you’re green, you grow. The minute you think you’re ripe, you decay. He did that. He has remained green throughout his career, and he continues to improve.”