Brinkley and Wilhite to coach at SEMO
Of the St. Louis American
There will be three St. Louis area football products moving on to the next level in their respective careers.
Former Normandy High standout running back Laurence Maroney will leave the University of Minnesota after his junior year and make himself available for the National Football League Draft.
Former University of Nebraska roommates Lorenzo Brinkley (Hazelwood Central) and Kenny Wilhite (Oakville) will be reunited as assistant head coaches at Southeast Missouri State.
Both were hired this week by Tony Samuel, who was named SEMO’s new head coach last week. Brinkley was the head coach at Beaumont High for the past three years while Wilhite was a college assistant at NCAA Division II Kentucky State University. SEMO is a NCAA Division I-AA school.
Maroney made his intentions known just minutes after Minnesota’s 34-31 loss to Virginia in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 29. Maroney finished with 109 yards on 26 carries in his final game with the Golden Gophers.
The decision to skip his senior year came as no surprise to anyone around the program. Many draft experts consider the 5’11” 205-pound Maroney to be a potential first-round draft pick, with some predicting that he could be the second running back taken behind Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush of USC.
“If you’re a first-rounder, it’s like, why stay?” said Maroney to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “I feel the only thing you can do is hurt your chances next year by getting hurt.”
Maroney’s decision closes a brilliant three-year career at Minnesota, where he became the third back in Big Ten Conference history to rush for more than 1,000 yards in three consecutive seasons. He finished the season with a school-record 1,464 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns.
In his career, Maroney had 660 carries for 3,933 yards and 32 touchdowns. He averaged six yards a carry in his career. He leaves Minnesota in second place in the school’s all-time list in rushing yardage and all-purpose yardage.
Lorenzo Brinkley and Kenny Wilhite were teammates on a Nebraska team that played for a national championship in 1993. The defensive backs coach on that team was Samuel, who kept tabs on his former players over the years.
While Wilhite has been coaching at the collegiate levels for years, this will be Brinkley’s first college job. Brinkley, 34, was one of the area’s top young coaches while at Beaumont. His most successful year came in 2003 when he led the Bluejackets to a 7-3 record and a Public High League title. One of his major responsibilites will be recruiting the St. Louis area.
“I’m so excited, it’s getting to the point where I’m getting nervous,” Brinkley said. “It has always been a dream of mine. “I’m looking forward to coming back to recruit St. Louis. It should be good for a lot of kids because it’s close to home.
Wilhite was a former All Big 8 Conference defensive back at Nebraska. He joined the coaching ranks after a successful career in the Canadian Football League. He was a former graduate assistant at New Mexico State under Samuel, who was the Aggies’ head coach from 1997-2004.
