The football players were not exaggerating.

The 15 Memorial student-athletes whom Port Arthur ISD Superintendent Mark Porterie spoke with Thursday before promoting Brian Morgan to head coach really did want a head coach who was so strict, they wouldn’t smile until he smiles.

“Just someone to want us to win state,” wide receiver Teajawon Mack, who will be a senior next season, said of who the players wanted. “It doesn’t come very easy, so you’ve got to do things you’ve never done before to get what you never had. We never had a state championship or really a strict team, so we need a strict coach to get us to that next level.”

Memorial came close to advancing to the 5A Region III championship last December, losing 33-29 to Temple after a go-ahead touchdown with 22 seconds left.

In Memorial’s first offseason workouts under Morgan’s helm Friday, though, the environment hardly resembled a strict environment under his watchful eye.

“Coach Morgan, he never was a loud person, but you always knew he was there,” Mack said. “He never really told us too much. He was always a coach who taught us the right way. He’s a very vocal coach when it comes to learning and on the field, he never took too much slack off of us.”

Morgan spoke to the team in the fieldhouse at the start of the athletic period before taking the Titans to the field for short drills, only demanding that they “compete” at their position. The drills were spirited, most of the players showing smiles as they were eager to take the field with their new head coach.

“The environment changed,” senior-to-be safety Jacob Washington said. “We just came with a different attitude ready to work because we know he’s going to get us where we need to be, and we just had a lot of energy today.”

Morgan used Friday’s workout to give the players a chance to “get some energy out” and compete against each other. Drills outside of spring training and preseason/regular season practices are limited to a football, cleated shoes, passing and punting machines and physical education attire under UIL rules.

The new head coach plans to conduct full spring drills in May with a spring game to be held, but Morgan would like to have a full staff hired before he can do that. Assistant coaches T.K. Harrison, Jarrett Thibodeaux and Rashard Colquitt were on hand for Friday’s workout, although no departures have been confirmed, and all seemed welcoming of Morgan’s charge.

“I think he is going to do a great job,” said Harrison, who was offensive co-coordinator under Kenny Harrison, who left last month to become Humble Summer Creek’s coach. “I think he’s very clear about his expectations and what he wants to do, and the kids seem excited about someone who has a clear vision. The kids seem excited, and he has a lot of energy. It looks like we’re going to have a pretty good time.”

Washington knows what to expect from his position coach-turned-head coach, whose specialty through much of his career has been special teams as a former Thomas Jefferson and Grambling State kicker.

“He was my position coach last year, and now, he’s the head guy, so I know how he works,” senior-to-be safety Jacob Washington said. “He don’t want no playing around, he just wants to work like all the time so he can help us grow older and get where we need to be.”

I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews