Most teenage girls dream of a shiny BMW or a brand new, flashy Lexus for their sixteenth birthday. Morganne Grimes, however, received a more subtle form of transportation — a horse — for her sweet 16.
Senior captain of the Mississippi State University soccer team, Grimes has ridden horses since she was 10 years old, learning early to seek out her passions rather than the spotlight.
“I’m kind of a little bit of a country girl on the inside. At home we have chickens and goats, and that’s just a different side that I do miss,” Grimes, whose current horse is named Chief, said. “I’ve tried to teach my friends (how to ride horses), but it never works out. It’s one of those things like soccer where I feel like I can do it, but I wouldn’t know how to tell anyone else to do it.”
No matter what “it” stands for in the soccer world, Grimes is right — she can do it. Grimes has led the back line of the Bulldog defense for four years and even started every game her freshman year. As a defender, she rarely receives the praise or “wows” fans with record-breaking stats, but Grimes prefers behind the scenes work rather than the spotlight.
“I always grew up hearing ‘Forwards win fans, but defense wins championships,’” she said. “If you don’t know too much about soccer, you definitely see the flashy side, and you see the amazing goals — and if you don’t score, you can’t win, so the goals are just as important. I’m not trying to downplay that at all. I think that’s a huge aspect. I feel like from the defensive side, I get a lot of respect from the team playing my position, and that, to me, is so much more important than recognition from the fans.”
While scoring goals is key to winning, the goal-scorers know just how valuable the defense behind them is. 
Senior forward Elisabeth Sullivan has played with Grimes all four years and said she could not accomplish all she does offensively without Grimes behind her.
“When Morganne’s on our back line, it automatically makes me feel comfortable knowing that she’s back there and going to work her hardest. That’s one thing I love about Morganne is she always gives 100 percent no matter what, and she’s respected for it,” Sullivan said.
Just one semester after beginning her career at MSU, Grimes’s teammates chose her as captain of the team, a feat Sullivan considered a “huge deal.”
“For a freshman to be the captain of an SEC team — that’s really awesome,” Sullivan said. “She immediately took that role and was able to lead in the back with the players we had then, and she especially leads the players we have now. She leads the back line great, and everybody looks up to her.”
First year head coach Aaron Gordon immediately noticed Grimes’s leadership ability and humility when he arrived in Starkville. Gordon said he brought Grimes into the conversations about new changes on the team and valued her help for the new coaching staff.
“Her quality of working hard every day and being outspoken and being just a good person gives her a lot of respect with her teammates,” he said. “Being a captain is sometimes a lonely job because you’re the conduit between the team and the coaching staff on a lot of different things, but she’s done a great job communicating with the staff and the team.”
Currently in her fourth year as captain for the Dogs, Grimes has developed a mother-like role on the team. 
Sullivan explained that Grimes makes sure the team shows up on time to everything, even to something as simple as warmups.
Grimes said she has learned the importance of listening as the girls on the team, or “soccer sisters” as they call themselves, come to her with problems or opinions.
“You can be a leader and tell people what to do, but if you’re not listening to what the team wants — that’s what’s most important,” she said. “Sometimes I think I take on that role (of a mom) more than I should. I definitely get concerned, and I get worried about everyone. I try not to be overbearing because everyone is in college, and I’m not their mom, but I definitely do have a sense of protection over the girls for sure.”
Another student-athlete,who kicks footballs rather than soccer balls, has benefited from Grimes’s motherly way, as well. 
Football senior kicker Taylor Earhart, Grimes’s boyfriend, has witnessed her hard work and responsibility off the field — in the accounting realm.
“She’s the smartest one of our whole group, and everyone is always asking Morganne ‘What’s this? What’s that?’ She kinda takes the mom role with our accounting group,” Earhart said. “She studies all the time, and she makes me study. If it wasn’t for her, I don’t know if I would make it through accounting. She’s a hard worker, and anyone could vouch for that and say she works her tail off in accounting as well.”
After this year, Grimes plans to stay at MSU to go to graduate school for accounting. 
She said she will attend every home soccer game and continue to encourage the players during 5 a.m. practices if she happens to walk by. 
But with more time to pursue other passions, maybe the players should expect to see Chief in the stands, too.
 

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Ian Prester

Grimes's leadership, passion trots beyond soccer field