Clark Atlanta quarterback David Wright has the Panthers off to a fast start
The trust Clark Atlanta University transfer quarterback David Wright III has built with first-year head coach Teddy Keaton dates back to their time at Allen University, where last year they led the football team to its best record since the program was reinstated in 2018.
Now the duo has propelled Clark Atlanta to its best start since the 2017 season.
Clark Atlanta’s football program finished the 2023 season winless. This season, with Wright under center, Clark Atlanta is 3-0-1 so far, and Wright currently leads NCAA Division II football in passing touchdowns (14) and passing yards (1,311).
When Keaton accepted the coaching position at Clark Atlanta in November 2023, it was a no-brainer Wright would follow, he told Andscape.
“When I was a freshman at Allen he [Keaton] trusted me to be the starter,” Wright said. “I tell everybody to buy into what Coach Keaton has to offer us. We come out there and execute. Everybody has to do their job for us to go out there and win.”
Wright, the reigning Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year, threw seven touchdowns in Clark Atlanta’s season opener against Fort Valley State University. In only four games this season, he has already thrown 14 touchdowns, compared with the 19 total he threw a season ago.
On Sept. 21, he threw for 374 yards and four touchdowns as the Panthers upset Division I opponent Bethune-Cookman University 38-37 after trailing 31-7 in the first half.
“I think it was personal to him. The level he played at in that game is what people will want to see,” Keaton said. “You know, he didn’t get recruited to play Division I, so when you get a game like that, that’s a chance for them to showcase your talents about who you are as a signal-caller.”
Though it was Keaton’s first Division I win at Clark Atlanta, he and his coaching staff are keeping their players focused on the rest of the season.
“That was a big win [last] weekend,” Keaton said. “Sometimes after an emotional win of that magnitude, you have to be very careful about how you get the kids back on focus and making sure that we understand that we have another game to play. But I thought yesterday when they went out and practiced, they practiced really well. … I think they’re hungry for something that has not been done here at Clark Atlanta ever.”
Wright said the success he and the team are having this season is the result of their offseason preparation. Several other players followed Keaton from Allen University to Clark Atlanta. During spring and summer workouts, Wright spent time working with his new teammates and built chemistry with the teammates who transferred with him.
“[I’m] able to take what they give me and not force the ball to anybody,” Wright said. “Watching more film and just working with my team, I’ve been taking what [the defense] gives me, and we’ve been coming up with more touchdowns.”
Wright’s motto “Bet on Me” is tattooed on his right leg. Betting on himself is what helped him overcome being scarcely recruited out of high school.
“When I first met him, he got a tattoo on his leg and said, ‘Bet on me.’ I love that,” Keaton said. “I always look at [the tattoo] and I say that means that’s a man very confident. … He believes in himself.”
Keaton and offensive coordinator Marvin Cunningham describe Wright as a naturally gifted quarterback with a strong arm. The biggest area Cunningham initially believed Wright needed to work on was reading defenses.
“He just threw the ball around, didn’t understand defense and didn’t understand what was being presented to him on the other side of the ball, so he was just kind of winging it and just kind of making plays,” Cunningham said. “This year, he understands the dynamics of the defense. … We knew once we get his thought process to equal up with his talent, then we knew the product we were putting on the field was going to be pretty good.”
When Wright tore his ACL during his sophomore year in 2022, he spent most of the season sitting in the press box with his offensive and defensive coordinators, watching and dissecting defenses from conference opponents. He believes all the knowledge he acquired helped him earn conference player of the year honors when he returned for his redshirt sophomore season in 2023.
“[The game] slowed down a lot after I got hurt and was able to watch it and coach up some of my players,” Wright said. “I notice that it’s a lot that you can’t see from playing on the field. From sitting in the stands or sitting in a press box [and] actually looking at the other defenses, it’s easier to see the defense from that way.”
Wright is a lead-by-example type of player. He said he makes sure he comes to practice ready to go and work hard because he knows his teammates are watching him.
“I played this game in this conference for three years, so I know what to expect,” Wright said. “I just get everybody else ready to expect the same things.”
Wright has not only built a strong rapport with his teammates on offense but his defensive teammates as well. While adapting to a new coaching staff at a new institution, Keaton said, having older players such as Wright help guide the team has been instrumental in instilling a new culture.
“I think the maturity level of him has showed up now. … He’s starting to step up a little bit more and say things that at one point in time he wouldn’t say or he wouldn’t open his mouth and do,” Keaton said. “But now I think he’s fully took ownership of his role. Whether he wants to be a leader or not, he is the leader. Everybody’s going to go as he goes.”
Although happy with the fast start, Wright and the team have loftier goals for this season. They want the program to finish with a winning record for the first time in more than a decade and accomplish something Clark Atlanta hasn’t done in three decades.
“Last year, coming from a 0-10 team, nobody expected us to come in here and start the season off 3-0, so it feels good,” Wright said. “We just trying to go 1-0 every week and keep winning. We want to win a conference championship.”