Guilford College fills out football coaching staff and Emmanuel Byers from Ragsdale to coach for Quakers this season

The old #1 from Ragsdale is back in town….Emmanuel Byers will coach football at Guilford College this season….Byers wore #1 and Doug Brown #5 back in their Ragsdale Tiger receiving days…..Emmaunel also played some backup QB while with Ragsdale…..

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Guilford College rounded out its 2011 football coaching
staff Thursday. First-year head coach Chris Rusiewicz added six new
assistants and announced Chris Barnette ’07 will take over as the Quakers’
offensive coordinator. Two newcomers, Zach Zullinger and Steve Terlesky,
come to Guilford after coaching with Rusiewicz at Ursinus (Pa.) College. The
other new coaches are James Brochu, Emmanuel Byers, Marty Collinson and
Thomas Reese.

Now in his fifth season on Guilford’s staff, Barnette takes over his alma
mater’s offense from Dan Baranik, who took the head football coach post at
Fishburne Military Academy in July. Barnette has contributed to the most
prolific offensive era in Guilford’s football history as both a student and
coach. He caught a school-record 266 passes for 2953 yards and 30 touchdowns
in his four-year career and was named a 2006 All-American by the American
Football Coaches Association and D3football.com. Barnette earned his sport
management degree in 2007 and started coaching the Quakers’ receivers the
same year. One of his proteges, Hagen Miller ’10, broke Barnette’s school
receptions record and led NCAA Division III in catches per game in 2007.
Four Guilford wideouts have earned All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference
(ODAC) honors under Barnette’s tutelage: Joe Joyner’07, Kevin Vaughn ’08,
Justin Parker ’11 and Ben King’13. The Semora, N.C., native was an
all-conference receiver and quarterback at Person High School for coach Mark
Lunsford. His brother, Jamie, quarterbacked North Carolina State University
from 1994-99.

Zullinger will coach the Quakers’ special teams and defensive line in his
return to the ODAC. He graduated from Guilford league-rival Hampden-Sydney
College with a history degree in 2007 and played four seasons on the line
for coach Marty Favret’s club. The Manassas, Va., native helped the Tigers
to a 29-11 (18-6 ODAC) record in four seasons. After college, Zullinger
spent a year assisting Randolph-Henry (Va.) High School’s gridders before
joining Rusiewicz on head coach Peter Gallagher’s staff at Ursinus in 2008.
For three years, he coached the Bears’ defensive linemen and served as the
team’s strength and conditioning coordinator. Zullinger helped Ursinus to
the 2009 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Southeast Bowl and a
share of the 2010 Centennial Conference title.

Terlesky also has a defensive background and will coach the Quakers’
safeties in Guilford’s 4-2-5 formation. He directed the defensive backs,
defensive ends and linebackers in three seasons at Ursinus. One of his
mentees, Chris Rountree, was named the ECAC Rookie of the Year and ranked
eighth among 2009 NCAA Division III interception leaders. A college tight
end, Terlesky spent two seasons at West Virginia University before finishing
his playing career at NCAA Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
He played on coach Don Nehlen’s West Virginia’s Insight Bowl (1998) and
Music City Bowl (2000) teams and was a member of two NCAA playoff teams at
Indiana. Terlesky received his bachelor’s degree in physical
education/teaching education from West Virginia in 2004 and spent four years
as an assistant football coach at Upper Dublin (Pa.) High School, his alma
mater, before moving to Ursinus.

Brochu coaches Guilford’s linebackers after completing a three-year stint on
coach David Cutcliffe’s staff at Duke University. The Blue Devils posted
their most wins in 15 years in Brochu’s first season (2009) and had two
students earn All-America honors in his tenure. Prior to accepting the Duke
position, he served as a graduate assistant football coach at Northern
Illinois University. The Americus, Ga., native was a member of Coastal
Carolina University’s first football team in 2003 and earned a business
management degree there in 2006. He played in 32 of 33 games over three
seasons and helped coach David Bennett’s Chanticleers to a 25-8 mark and two
Big South Conference titles. Brochu was a scholastic standout at Sumter
County High School where he was a three-time all-area pick and four-sport
letter winner.

Byers , a former Ragsdale High School and University of Virginia player,
will coach Guilford’s running backs this season. The High Point, N.C.,
native started four seasons for coach Tommy Norwood at Ragsdale and was one
of the state’s top recruits as a senior. He went to Virginia where he played
receiver and returned kicks for the Cavaliers from 2004-06. Byers helped
Virginia win the 2005 Music City Bowl and appeared in 29 career contests. He
earned his degree in psychology in 2009 and served as an assistant coach at
Ragsdale the same year.

A familiar name in local high school circles, Collinson makes his college
coaching debut as Guilford’s cornerbacks coach in 2011. Collinson spent 33
years as a scholastic teacher and coach in nearby Randolph and Davidson
counties. He served as head football coach at South Davidson High School
from 2005-2008 and assisted coach Charlie Gregory’s Randleman High School
staff when the team captured three state titles from 1981-83. Collinson led
Randleman’s wrestling and boys’ track and field teams to Piedmont Athletic
Conference-6 championships in 2011. The Asheboro, N.C., resident wrestled
three years and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke
in 1978 with degrees in biology and physical education. He earned a master’s
degree in physical education from North Carolina A&T State University in
1984. Collinson and his wife, Sandra, have one adult daughter.

Reese starts his coaching career leading Guilford’s receivers. He graduated
from Wingate University in May with his degree in physical education. The
Mars Hill, N.C., native played three seasons as a reserve quarterback under
coach Joe Reich and helped the Bulldogs to a 24-9 record in that time. Reese
earned South Atlantic Conference Commissioners Honor Roll recognition and
was a member of the school’s Sport Sciences Club. He enjoyed an all-star
football career at Erwin High School and captained both the football and
track teams in high school.

Guilford opens the regular season Sept. 3 at Greensboro College in the
15thannual Gate City Soup Bowl.

2 thoughts on “Guilford College fills out football coaching staff and Emmanuel Byers from Ragsdale to coach for Quakers this season

  1. One of my favorite all time Ragsdale players. As great a receiver as he was he was a lockdown cornerback too. He and Doug Brown made a great tandem on both sides of the ball.

    Dang just remembering how good those teams were with Byers, Brown, Wes Pope, Toney Baker. Still hard to believe that crew didn’t win a title.

    Hey Andy – also not sure if you heard or reported it here yet but I read that Luke Heavner just made the UNC football team as a walk on.

  2. I remember one night Emmanuel was playing backup QB for Ragsdale after playing receiver most of the game and Ragsdale was leading Southern Guilford at SG 76-14…..Also remember Ragsdale hosting Crest in the 3-A semifinals one year and the Crest fans showing up at 4pm to start getting their seats and there were about 50-75 fans already there at 4pm….

    Best chance for the title was in Toney’s freshman year….Had a chance earlier with Shawn Bennett in there at RB and DB nnd with Kyle Pope at TE and Wes Pope back there at QB…..

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