A Tribue to the Class of 2008

By Connect Mason Sports Director Damien Sordelett

Four years ago, four high school graduates moved into the Student Apartments. Their collective goals were to achieve things that had never been done at George Mason University.

Four years later and just days removed from walking across a stage in the arena where memories were made before thousands of fans, one thing can be said for certain.

“I would consider us one of the best. We accomplished a lot in four years,” said Will Thomas. “That’s where I put us: one of the best classes ever to come through George Mason.”

No one will argue that Thomas, along with Folarin Campbell, Jordan Carter and John Vaughan, achieved things that would have never seemed possible four years ago.

Together, they were members of the team that went to the Final Four in 2006, in the process winning the first NCAA Tournament games in the history of Mason basketball.

Together, they ended a seven-year-drought and provided Mason Nation with a CAA Tournament championship to cap off what they felt as a class was the missing link to their history as Patriots.

But, most importantly, May 15th and 17th will culminate in what will be a chapter of their lives that saw them grow more as friends and brothers than as teammates on the court.

“We’ve been roommates for four years and we’re going to be friends for life,” said Campbell following their home finale against William & Mary. “We just had so many fun times, and just hanging out with these fellas, you’re going to laugh every moment.”

Whether that fun is hanging out in the Johnson Center (outside of getting mobbed by fellow students) or just being college students and doing what college students do – going to the mall, hanging out together and being young – that will be what they cherish most.

“When we’re around each other, there’s never a dull moment, we’re always laughing and joking with each other,” said Vaughan. “We just have a lot of good memories together. There’s no really like one memory. Everything we’ve done together has been a great memory.”

One memory that will of course stand out in their minds and in the minds of everyone that was gathered around a television screen on March 26, 2006 when the Patriots secured a trip to Indianapolis with their victory over UConn. It was after the final buzzer that Vaughan and Carter ran off the bench to find their roommates in celebration.

That memory, and the media frenzy that followed, allowed those guys to bond even more as they were able to enjoy a trip that no mid-major had ever enjoyed before. It is the same memory that their coach will never forget as well.

“That’s something now that people ask. The cliché has become: ‘Who’s the next George Mason?’ I think Will Thomas, Folarin Campbell, Jordan Carter – this class is very responsible for that,” said Mason coach Jim Larranaga following the team’s first round loss to Notre Dame in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

“And if you look at the three seniors who are going to be graduating, very much like two years ago when we graduated Tony Skinn, Lamar Butler and Jai Lewis, and I don’t mean graduated from the team, I mean graduated from the university with their degrees in hand. These three seniors, Jordan, Folarin and Will, they’re all going to graduate very soon, in May or June. To know how much they’ve given to me, to our program, to our university, is immeasurable.”

To measure what the recruiting class of 2004 has accomplished would only strengthen Thomas’ claim to being the best class ever. Three of them – Campbell, Thomas and Vaughan – were named to the CAA all-rookie team in 2005. The four were members of the team that was co-regular season champions in 2006, the same year they went to the Final Four. And then, to cap that off with the school’s first CAA Tournament title since 2001, truly makes this a special class.

However, while all four will be graduating this May, one name was left out of Larranaga’s praise for the group.

Vaughan did not play in the 2005-06 season after tearing an ACL during a preseason practice and he will return for the 2008-09 season. The agony of not being able to play was seen on his face during the season, which was more painful than the injury itself.

“It’s just fun being around these guys for four years; we’re like a band of brothers,” said the redshirt junior from Laurel, Md. “Obviously, it’s a little emotional, a little bit for myself, to come in with them but not leave out with them. These last four years have been a great four years of my life.”

That brother mentality grows among friends during the four years of college. But for these seniors, to go through the wars of the Colonial Athletic Association season and be in the eyes of scrutiny for four years, has only brought them closer together.

“We had a lot of fun together; we’ll be friends forever,” said Thomas of Baltimore, Md. “I know me, John and Jordan, we don’t have any brothers, so it’s almost like we’re brothers; just coming in together, living together and being together for these past four years has been great.”

“The group is always crazy, always energetic,” said Carter of Indianapolis, the only member of the class who is not from Maryland.

Each one of them was able to have fun together and get along, which did not come easy as freshmen learning the habits of the others. While each had their own niches: Thomas being a neat freak, Vaughan being the crazy one of the bunch and the trio of Campbell, Vaughan and Carter being video game heads – the thing that was bonded was brotherhood.

And there was one common thread that all four seniors said during their interviews: together. They came to Mason, they played, they had fun, they conquered the CAA and they will receive their degrees.

Together.