Freedom giving former high school, college football stars another shot
Plenty of familiar names highlight the roster of Myrtle Beach’s new indoor football franchise, highlighted by a former Big Ten Co-Player of the Year and handful of homegrown heroes.
Freedom quarterback Daryll Clark, who threw for one touchdown and ran for another in Sunday’s season-opening win over the Carolina Dynasty, was 22-4 as a starter at Penn State, and holds several Nittany Lions records, including being the the school’s all-time leader in touchdowns.
He was named the Big Ten Co-Player of the Year by the Chicago Tribune in 2009, but went undrafted in 2010 and signed with the Calgary Stampede of the CFL.
Clark also had stints in the UFL and Arena League, but hadn’t played football in nearly four years since he was with the Omaha Nighthawks. He moved to the Grand Strand a couple of years ago for his job with Verizon Wireless.
“I had gotten to the point where I was about to go back home (to Ohio), then I got a call from the owner saying that he was about to start a new team, so that kept me around,” Clark said. “So I’ve been working out, throwing, training, trying to get down the timing along with the rest of the guys, and here it is … We are playing.”
Running back Alkeem Sherman is among a group of former Conway High standouts reunited on the field with the Freedom. He too hadn’t played football in nearly four years after graduating from Newberry College in 2012.
“Four years without playing football is hard when you’ve been playing your whole life. When you get a chance to play again – it’s just fun to be out there,” Sherman said.
Other former Tigers on the Myrtle Beach roster include Eric Huggins, Jonathan Sharpe, Jason Livingston, Tim Fowler and Messiah Dixon.
“We all played together at one point in time,” said Sherman, who scored a touchdown in Sunday’s win. “We got Eric Huggins, who went to Oklahoma, and me and Jonathan (Sharpe) were real, real close. We got Timmy (Fowler), he was a freshman or sophomore when I graduated from Conway. He just got out of college. It’s fun to see him grow to how big he is now.”
Other Freedom players with local ties include former Loris player Denzel Strayhorne, Marco Vereen from North Myrtle Beach, and Ronnie Moses, who played at Carolina Forest and Coastal Carolina.
Freedom coach Ryan David said playing on this team isn’t just about getting a chance to play football again.
“What our goal is, is to get them to the next level, every last one of them,” David said. “I told them that the first day that we met … I don’t want to see them next year, because that will mean they are in the CFL, the NFL, the Arena League, stuff like that.”
Notes
▪ There were a few minor glitches during the season opener. The overhead scoreboard added ones in the front of the scores, so it looked like both teams had scored over 100 points. There were also issues with the playing surface, which resulted in a few trips over open seams that had to be re-taped during breaks in play.
▪ Kickoff was delayed 15 minutes to allow fans extra time to get tickets and get seated. Freedom Director of Football Operations John Gill did not have an exact attendance total, but said over 1,000 tickets were sold.
▪ Myrtle Beach plays again at 7:05 p.m. on March 28 in a league game against the Savannah (Ga.) Steam in a league game at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.
This story was originally published March 8, 2016 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Freedom giving former high school, college football stars another shot."