Marietta's Meyers named November OAC Scholar-Athlete of the Month

Nov. 1, 2005
TWINSBURG, OH - Marietta junior free safety Lonnie Meyers (Cumberland, MD./Fort Hill) has been named the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Scholar-Athlete of the Month for November.

In its eighth year of existence, the OAC Scholar-Athlete of the Month honors an exceptional student-athlete on a monthly basis. Criteria for the award consist of the student-athlete being a sophomore, junior or senior status, competition in a sport that is in-season, sportsmanlike conduct and carrying at least a cumulative grade-point average (gpa) of 3.0.
 
The value of Lonnie Meyers’ presence on the Marietta College football team cannot be measured in numbers.
 
Meyers is seven games into his junior season as the Pioneers’ starting free safety. His leadership qualities, alone, make him a standout in the defensive backfield.
 
"Lonnie knows all the team’s tendencies and we give him a lot of freedom on the field to put us in the right defense and get everybody lined up," Marietta College defensive coordinator Tony Jennison said. "He is irreplaceable with his intelligence and his knowledge of the game."
 
Coming out of high school in Cumberland, Md., Meyers did not intend to play college football. He enrolled at Marietta College in the sports medicine program.
 
"I filled out the information card about sports and the coaches got a hold of me," Meyers said. "That sparked my interest, so I decided to stick with it."
 
Meyers started seven games during his freshman year and has been a fixture on defense ever since. No matter what his individual stats may show, Meyers feels confident about his contribution to the team.
 
"My thinking is that if the offense gets to my level, then the front seven aren’t doing their job," Meyers said. "I don’t have a problem if I am not getting to hit people as much and the big guys up front are."

Meyers ranks among the top on a squad of over 125 members in grade-point average.
 
"Lonnie came in here without a whole lot of fanfare as a freshman — we didn’t know much about him," Jennison said. "But he just kept making plays and we could never get him off the field because he was that good."
 
"He is such a student of the game — he knows the offense and the defense so well, so we adjusted him to free safety because we thought he would be a better fit where he could become more in control. Basically, he has become the leader of the defense."
 
Meyers has also found ways to display his leadership off the gridiron. He has helped the MC football team put on its local youth football camp and has participated in the team’s e-mail mentoring program over the last two seasons.
 
Immediately following the end of the football season, Meyers, who is active in the Marietta College Student Athletic Training Organization, will begin his position as a student athletic trainer with the women’s basketball team.