When asked if the Texas College game this Saturday could be the Rams’ first win of the season, head coach Joe Prud’homme said, “We are certainly approaching it that way.”
Both teams are 0-5 this season, and Texas College, located in Tyler, has suffered at least one crushing defeat, losing to Hardin-Simmons University 74-0 in early September. Last year the Steers were 0-8, according to centralstatesfootball.com.
So it looks, at least on paper, like the Rams are is poised to record their first victory since World War II.
“This will be the Rams’ first win, I promise. Everybody get ready,” said running back Brandon Reeves.
So how are they getting ready? Here’s how.
They’re watching film.
“We started the film breakdown of Texas College last week,” Prud’homme said, “and have been working on a game plan that will play to our strengths and take advantage of certain areas.”
The team has been using what they’ve seen in film to improve at situational decision making, Prud’homme said.
“We have been working on the finer details of the offense,” he said.
They’re changing the game plan.
The Rams will have a few new plays this Saturday. The team has used what they’ve seen about Texas College to play to the Rams’ strengths and capitalize on the Steers’ weaknesses, Prud’homme said.
“We will be working on a very specific game plan that we feel will be successful,” he said.
If the Rams stick to the game plan Prud’homme has prepared then the Rams can beat the Steers, running back Da’vonte Mitchell-Dixon said.
“Our main goals are to execute our plays, limit mistakes, and get this first W for Texas Wesleyan,” Mitchell-Dixon said.
The Rams have been trying to intensify their practices in order to translate that intensity to game day, Reeves said.
“We’ve been trying to get practices more hype in the mornings to have more of a spark throughout the periods,” Reeves said. “We’ve taken the physicality up a notch.”
They’re staying humble.
The Steers are hungry for a win but so are the Rams, Mitchell-Dixon said.
“They’ve had close games all season with a lot of teams they faced so we have to be hungrier than them,” Mitchell-Dixon said.
Despite their record, Texas College is a good team with a lot of players, Reeves said.
“But with the preparing we’ve been doing in the weight room and on the field,” Reeves said, “I feel we’re going to bring a W back to campus Saturday as a team.”
The Steers have improved a lot since last year and they’re extremely athletic, Prud’homme said.
“They have lost their last two games in the final minutes,” he said. “So, they are very hungry.”
The Rams and Steers play Saturday at 7 p.m. in Tyler.
Head coach Joe Prud’homme stands on the sidelines during the Rams’ game against McPherson College in September. Photo by Little Joe
The Rams fell to the Langston University Lions 34-0 on Saturday, but head coach Joe Prud’homme saw some improvement, despite the score.
“The run offense, special teams and overall defensive improvement were the strengths,” Prud’homme said after the game, which was played in Oklahoma. “The defensive line especially was a strength.”
The Rams (0-5, 0-2) increased their run game from five rushing yards in the first game of the season, against McPherson College on Sept. 2, to 78 rushing yards against Langston, according to ramsports.net.
Despite not scoring on the Lions, who were ranked No. 11 in the NAIA before the game, the Rams still did several things better than in the past.
Running the ball.
The offense did well running the ball against Langston, and would’ve done well passing as well except there were too many turnovers, Prud’homme said.
“The offense ran the ball well, but we had too many turnovers when we had created some good opportunities. But overall we improved some on offense,” Prud’homme said.
The offense did a good job moving the ball, but they need to work better as a team, running back Da’vonte Mitchell-Dixon said.
“When it comes to turnovers we want all of them to be prevented. We have to protect the football,” Mitchell-Dixon said.
The offensive line could get better if they can learn to execute as a unit, quarterback Kane Hardin said.
“I was really proud of the way the o-line played,” Hardin said. “They fought hard and I thought they played pretty well. We just have to execute effectively as a unit.”
Defending against offensive drives.
“The defense improved quite a bit, we made a few mistakes, but the overall improvement was significant,” Prud’homme said. “We gave their offense some problems and some bad plays as far as sacks and tackles for losses.”
The defense took care of business on the majority of their plays, linebacker Dewaun Colbert said.
“I feel we went out and executed but had a couple busted plays on our part which they took advantage of and scored on,” Colbert said. “But I feel as long as we clean the little things up we’ll be good.”
The Rams kept Langston’s big plays to a minimum, linebacker Vincent Stephenson said.
“As a defense I think we played the pass much better,” Stephenson said. “They had a lot of athletes at receiver and we did a good job preventing them from being a big factor. We also kept big plays to a minimum.”
Growing up.
The Rams as a whole have made improvements and gained experience from facing tough competitors all season, Prud’homme said.
The team plans to use these games as lessons and build on the experience for future games, Mitchell-Dixon said.
“Our team as a unit improved and learned from this game,” he said, “and we’ll use to that energy we have on Texas College.”
The Rams will play Texas College in Tyler at 7 p.m. on Oct. 7.
Linebacker Dewaun Colbert making a tackle against the McPherson Bulldogs in the first game of the season.
Photo by Little Joe
Linebacker Vincent Stephenson (36) assists in a tackle against Millsaps College. Photo by Little Joe
This case study should be entitled “why lawyers are paid well.” There is so much going on and none of these issues are totally black and white. They seem black and white at first but after another look, it becomes a grayer area.
Libel requires that there was a statement of fact that is published that is of and concerning the plaintiff that is defamatory that is false that causes damage or harm and for which the defendant is at fault (Trager, Ross & Reynolds, 2018, p. 150). When Julia called Brian Makeaname everything she told him was slander because it was true and she knew it was not true. Once Makeaname wrote down her story and showed it to someone else it counts as being published. He is already biased toward the school and the football program it would seem since he had already planned to use her story into an expose of the way that coaches cover for their players. Makeaname was also reckless by not trying to corroborate her story with anyone else. He should have been skeptical when she declined to name any of the other women, players, or report it to the police.
Makeaname could have protected himself from being sued for libel if he had had her report it to the police and then reported on the police report instead of just trusting Julia’s word. If Makeaname had tried to corroborate what Julia said with the police or even just asked if there were other cases like Julia’s he would have found out that she had made three accusations that were proven false before.
Makeaname stated a fact: Lynn Lear was gang-raped by eight guys that belong to the football team and the fraternity. The story was published and printed by Big Deal Mag. The article was of and concerning the school, the players whose names were printed, and the coaches accused of covering up for the players.
The statement was defamatory because it was false communication that harms another’s reputation and subjects him or her to ridicule and scorn (Trager, Ross & Reynolds, 2018, p. 156). The statement was later proven to be false and Makeaname did not even try to double check Julia’s story.
The story caused real harm. It caused the 20 players that were listed to be expelled, the coaches had secret job offers withdrawn and the school lost $2 million in funding and support of the university and its athletic programs. The members of the fraternity and football team could also claim emotional distress depending on what state they’re in. Since they were kicked out of school and probably are behind on their path to graduation they could have a pretty good case against Big Deal Mag since the story was the proximate cause of their expulsion. 20 students were named but only eight were implicated in the story but it does not say which eight students so all 20 could sue Big Deal Mag saying that they were suggested as a suspect for gang rape which damaged their reputation and caused them to be expelled from college. College is expensive and they most likely were not refunded because they were expelled so in addition to the emotional distress they faced they also lost money by paying for classes they could not finish.
It could be argued that since Julia Nome was given a pseudonym and the scenario she described did happen just not to her that it wasn’t libel. However, Makeaname would have to prove that he actually spoke to someone that experienced this. He could have asked the police if they had any reports of gang rapes on campus and reported on the police reports but he did not. He interviewed Julia and did not do much investigating outside of that.
The criteria for reckless disregard keep in mind the reliability of the source, the urgency of the story and the time available to check facts, the number of sources and the believability of the story (Trager, Reynolds & Ross, 2018, p. 170). Makeaname was not publishing a time urgent story. He had time to check the information before it was published but he chose not to. Julia Nome was not a trustworthy source. Even though he was friends with her and probably knew her for many years she told the police three different stories that were all proved to be false. Makeaname also only used one source. He only used Julia Nome. He could have tried to find other sources on his own or talk to the police about it but he chose not to. He should have had reservations about publishing this story since Nome wanted to be published under a pseudonym but still “feared retribution.”
He should have been a little skeptical about publishing an article with really large accusations like this with one source when the story was so radical. Gang rape seems like something that happens on TV. A good rule of thumb is if it could be the plot of a “Law & Order” episode then the story requires multiple sources and double and triple checking of facts. The editors of Big Deal Mag also should have made Makeaname double check his facts and add more sources. It’s dangerous to post a one source story that involves accusations because if one person is lying then the whole story is false. By adding in at least two other sources helps protect the reporter, the publication and the parties involved in the story as well.
Michael Mater later wrote a similar story for Little Big Town Mag six months after Brian Makeaname’s story was published. Makeaname did his due diligence and corroborated stories with the police. Mater could not be sued for libel because he published facts that were corroborated by police and so he cannot be proved to have a reckless disregard for the truth like Makeaname. Mater learns that his police sources have obtained a search warrant for the coaches’ offices and the fraternity house. Mater jumped at the chance and took some photos. Mater should not have gone in with the police officers because now he can be sued for trespassing. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution does not protect the right of the press to trespass (Trager, Ross & Reynolds, 2018, p. 311). People have a right to know the news but they also have a right to privacy. The boys in the Fraternity house had a reasonable expectation of privacy because that is their home. The search warrant also did not protect Mater it only protected the police officers entering the area. The presence of the reporter does not serve any purpose and there are other legal ways to gather news. They could have asked to see the warrant to report on what was being searched instead of trespassing to take photos. Since the photos were obtained illegally the fraternity brothers and the coaches could sue Little Big Town Mag. The reporter being there is a separate unauthorized intrusion; the warrant only extends the right to lawfully enter and search to law enforcement, not the press. In Wilson v. Layne, the Supreme Court of the United States decided that inviting a reporter to execute a search with law enforcement violates the Fourth Amendment to the constitution (Trager, Ross & Reynolds, 2018, p. 311). The protections ride-alongs typically provide like preventing abuse, improve news reporting of police, or protect suspects is too far removed from a reasonable search to override someone’s Fourth Amendment rights.
The University could prove that these two stories damaged the reputation of the university because after the publication of the stories the university lost $2 million in funds and donations and this would create a large enough reason for the university to want to sue for damages. They would have a pretty good case because the reporters did not do their job correctly.
This case has a lot of issues surrounding libel and newsgathering. If the reporters had just followed generally good news practices they could have protected themselves and their publications from lawsuits from the university, the alleged rapists, and the coaches that were accused of covering for their athletes. However, since Mater trespassed and Makeaname published a libelous story with a reckless disregard for facts they left themselves open for lawsuits.
Bibliography
Trager, R., Ross, S. D., & Reynolds, A. (2018). The law of journalism and mass communication. Thousand
The Rams’ season so far has not been easy, and it’s just about to get tougher.
The team is 0-4 and this Saturday faces a very tough opponent in the Langston University Lions, who last week beat Bacone College 36-6; the win kept the Lions perfect for the season at 3-0, and they also moved up several spots in the 2017 NAIA Football Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, to No. 11, according to langstonsports.com.
The Rams will have a much better chance at getting a win if they can execute plays to the best of their ability, head coach Joe Prud’homme said.
“[The Rams need to] play one play at a time and focus on executing all of the little things,” Prud’homme said. “If we do this we will be in a much better place.”
The Rams have to focus on several things on Saturday.
1. Focus on the details.
It’s important to focus on Langston’s team but it’s also important for the team to remember it’s still a football game, Prud’homme said.
“Play one play at a time and focus on executing all of the little things,” Prud’homme said.
2. Be prepared.
“[Langston University is] very athletic and experienced,” Prud’homme said. “We need to limit their explosive plays.”
The team has been focusing on the type of routes Langston typically runs, linebacker Vincent Stephenson said.
“Our scouting report has shown that Langston has a strong defense,” Stephenson said, “and their offense tries to get tricky with their formations and plays.”
The Lions have a reputation as an experienced team with a lot of talent, running back Da’vonte Mitchell-Dixon wrote in a text message.
“I’ve heard they’re really good,” Mitchell-Dixon wrote. “But every team can be beat. They have on shoulder pads just like we do.”
3. Play harder and smarter.
The team has been studying how Langston plays football to prepare for their plays, Mitchell-Dixon wrote.
“We’re looking at how Langston lines up,” Mitchell-Dixon wrote, “and what they do to put us in the best position to win.”
The Rams aren’t just focusing on Langston though. They’re trying to perfect their plays and up the intensity, Mitchell-Dixon wrote.
“[It’s going to take] executing our plays and going 100 percent on everything,” Mitchell-Dixon wrote.
The Rams aren’t reinventing the wheel. They’re just trying to be the best that they can be, Stephenson said.
“We haven’t changed practice,” Stephenson said. “We continue to have the same approach, high in both concentration and effort.”
The Texas Wesleyan Rams play the Langston University Lions on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Oklahoma. The game will not be live streamed. For more information, go to ramsports.net.
Da’vonte Mitchell-Dixon runs with the ball during the Southwestern Assemblies of God University game. Photo by Little Joe
The Rams fell 42-7 to Southwestern Assemblies of God University at Farrington Field on Saturday.
The game was the team’s first against a Central States Football League opponent and afterwards head coach Joe Prud’homme said part of the reason for the loss was a lack of intensity through all four quarters.
“We played well for a long time,” Prud’homme said. “We didn’t play well long enough.”
SAGU (3-1, 2-0) scored seven points in the first quarter, 14 in the second and 21 in the third, according to ramsports.net. The Rams’ only touchdown came in the fourth quarter, when quarterback Colby Reed hit Marquette Kennedy from 11 yards out.
While the loss was disappointing, there were bright spots. The Rams had more time of possession than SAGU, and reduced their penalties from 11 for 148 yards in their first game of the season to eight for 93 yards, according to ramsports.net.
“Overall, we were better at giving up less penalty yards,” linebacker Vincent Stephenson said. “As a defense, we defended run much better this week and are continuing to improve in most aspects of the game.”
Here is what Prud’homme and quarterback Kane Hardin say the Rams need to do to improve.
Defend against big plays
The Rams can’t win if the defense gives up big plays, Prud’homme said.
“We can’t give up big plays and expect to have success,” he said.
The Rams did stop SAGU’s run game pretty well, Prud’homme said.
“Their quarterback threw for seven touchdowns last week,” he said, “so we did slow him down a little bit. Just gave up plays at the wrong time. If you take away their big plays they’re not driving the field on us so that’s a positive.”
2. Avoid turnovers.
The offense didn’t do as well this weekend. Four turnovers led to the Lions scoring 21 of their 42 points, according to ramsports.net.
“We didn’t do very great on offense,” Hardin said. “We struggled. We just have to keep our heads up, it’s a learning process and we just need to get better every week.”
3. Keep growing.
The team will continue to get better with time as the team gets older. The majority of the roster holds true freshmen, redshirt freshmen and some sophomores while the Rams’ opponents start mostly juniors and seniors, Prud’homme said.
“We still have a ways to go,” he said. “We’ve just got to grow up.”
The Rams travel to Oklahoma to take on the Langston University Lions on Saturday. Kickoff is 2 p.m. The Lions beat the Bacone College Warriors 36-6 on Saturday, according to langstonsports.com.
Jermarcus Jones runs the ball. Jones had 15 carries for 40 yards. Photo by Little Joe.Colby Reed punts for the Rams. Reed punted 7 times for a total of 251 yards. Photo by Little Joe.The Rams take the field shortly before the coin toss in the SAGU game. Photo by Little Joe.
The Rams are coming home Saturday afternoon, and the game marks another milestone in their return.
When the team plays Southwestern Assemblies of God University at 2 p.m. at Farrington Field, they will be facing their first conference opponent since the program was revived this season.
“I’ve been emphasizing the fact that this our first conference game,” head coach Joe Prud’homme said, “and that this is what we have been preparing for.”
SAGU, 4-6 in 2016, is an experienced team and they won’t lose because of their own mistakes, Prud’homme said.
“They have strong lines and are always in position to make plays,” he said.
The Rams are trying to perfect their game plan since the game against the Lions is the first conference game, defensive end Ucheoma Oparaochaekwe said.
“This is the first conference game so from here on out it’s going to be important for us to get things together,” Oparaochaekwe said.
SAGU is in Waxahachie and has historically been a big rival of Texas Wesleyan University, Oparaochaekwe said.
“If I remember right, I think a couple of their guys were talking some stuff on twitter,” Oparaochaekwe said, “and the short distance from them is sure to make this a much more personal game than our others.”
Conference games mean a lot more than pre-season games because they affect the team’s standings, running back Da’vonte Mitchell-Dixon said.
“This is very important when it comes to conference championships,” Mitchell-Dixon said.
This what the Rams have to do to win on Saturday.
1. Focus on the little things.
“I’m focusing on getting our guys to pay attention to all of the small details,” Prud’homme said, “and not let up at any time.”
The Rams aren’t worried about facing SAGU, Mitchell-Dixon said. They’re focusing on perfecting their execution.
“I don’t see any concerns at all,” Mitchell-Dixon said. “As long as we execute as a team we should be able to get the job done and take our first win.”
2. Reduce penalties.
“We cut down dramatically on penalties last week, which was an area of improvement,” Prud’homme said, “which will still be emphasized.”
The Rams just want to execute their plays to the best of their ability against SAGU, starting quarterback Kane Hardin said.
“We’re just trying to go out and execute,” Hardin said. “We’ve shown flashes of it in all three games; we just want to put it together and play a great game overall. We’re just focused on executing ourselves and playing the best game we can play.”
3. Defend against big plays.
The defense, which has given up 114 points in the season’s first three games, has to step up their game and stop big plays from scoring, Prud’homme said.
“Defensively, we need to eliminate the big plays and easy scores,” Prud’homme said.
The team has focusing on perfecting their plays, Dewaun Colbert said.
“We’ve been focusing mostly on just executing plays,” Colbert said, “getting more turnovers as a defense and minimizing mistakes.”
4. Finish offensive drives.
The Rams need to finish offensive drives and continue to improve their run game, Prud’homme said.
“We have to be mistake free,” he said. “Drive the ball on offense and finish with touchdowns. We need to be more opportunistic when we have chances to score.”
5. Stay accountable during practices.
The team has been focusing on holding each other accountable during practice, Oparaochaekwe said.
“We feel like at some point that accountability was lost between the team. The coaches made it a focus to get back on track, and make sure everyone’s doing what they’re supposed to do,” he said.
The team has putting in a lot of work at their 6 a.m. practices, Mitchell-Dixon said.
“We’ve been doing everything possible to put ourselves in a great position to win,” he said. “We practice good, we’ll play good.”
The team isn’t necessarily concerned about what SAGU is going to do, Hardin said.
“We’ve just been trying to really master our craft and get better at we do,” he said. “There’s no big adjustments or anything, we’re just trying to be the best we can be.”
Quarterback Kane Hardin throws a pass during Wesleyan’s game against McPherson on Sept. 2. Photo by Little Joe
The Rams fell to the New Mexico Highlands University Cowboys 42-7 on Saturday in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
The team wasn’t pleased with the way the game went and felt like they repeated some of the mistakes they made the week before in their 29-13 loss to Millsaps College, head coach Joe Prud’homme said.
“Our defense gave up too many big plays,” Prud’homme said Saturday. “Our special teams weren’t as sharp today as they were last week.”
Once again, the Rams had a worse first half than second half. The Cowboys scored 35 of their 42 points by halftime, according to ramsports.net.
The Rams’ lone touchdown came in the third quarter. Archie Amos caught a Kane Hardin pass on third down and ran the ball 26 yards, according to ramsports.net. Jermarcus Jones ran the ball four more yards to set up a one-yard touchdown pass from Hardin to Anthony Caston.
The Rams haven’t been outscored in the second half all season, according to ramsports.net
The loss puts the Rams at 0-3 for the season; they play Southwestern Assemblies of God University at Farrington Field on Saturday.
Here is what the Rams need to do to get back on track.
Be more aggressive on offense. The team has done pretty well in the second half but they need to bring that intensity in the first half as well, Prud’homme said.
“Our offense ran the ball better. We need to finish drives,” he said.
Maintain the same intensity during the game as at practice, linebacker Vincent Stephenson said.
“I think we brought more focus and a better effort at practice this week,” Stephenson said.
The team needs to work together throughout the whole game, not just in few quarters, he said.
“We also need to pick up the energy on the sideline no matter if things are going right or wrong,” he said.
Stick to their assignments and listen to their coaches, Ramsland said.
“We need to listen to the coaching staff and play with our hearts. We need to get better at squeezing the ball and blocking who we’re assigned to,” he said.
The defense needs to stick to the game plan and work more cohesively throughout the game, Stephenson said.
“As a defense, we need to work on sticking to our assignments trusting the player next to us,” he said.
Be more consistent, Prud’homme said.
“We have to put all three phases together and be more consistent overall,” he said. “We reduced our penalties considerably and that was a positive.”
The team does really well in some quarters but blows plays in others, he said.
“We also need to work on being more consistent from quarter to quarter,” Stephenson said.
Come ready to win, Ramsland said.
“We didn’t come to play. It was our worst game yet,” Ramsland said. “We have to execute and adapt to the other teams.”
The intensity the Rams normally have just wasn’t there, Stephenson said.
“I think we came out flat to start,” he said. “We did not look like ourselves in the first half of the game. Our intensity was not the way it was during the first two games but it will not happen like that again.”
Vincent Stephenson (36) making a tackle in the game against McPherson on Sept. 9.
Photo by Little Joe
Jason Ramsland (93) sets up for a play against McPherson’s defense on Sept. 9. Photo by Little Joe
The Rams are getting ready to travel to Las Vegas, New Mexico to play the Cowboys from New Mexico Highlands University on Saturday.
In last week’s 29-13 loss to Millsaps in the season’s home opener at Farrington Field, the Rams showed improvement in several areas over their season opener, according to head coach Joe Prud’homme.
This week the Rams want to play their hardest, said linebacker coach Michael Rosas.
The Rams plan to beat the Cowboys by:
Pushing through the second quarter.
The Rams have to fight through the second quarter and stay calm and focused, Rosas said.
“For whatever reason that’s been the bane of our existence right now,” he said. “If we can manage the second quarter and get through it, then I think we’ll have a better opportunity of doing what we need to do this week.”
The team has given up some big plays in the second quarter in both the McPherson and Millsaps games, he said.
“I think it’s just an idea of getting more familiar with everybody out there,” he said. “It’s something about the second quarter where maybe the field position gets flipped and there’s some pressure situations that we’ve had to deal with.”
Eliminating basic mistakes.
The biggest improvement the Rams can make is perfecting basic plays, he said.
“I mean, the biggest thing is just eliminating mistakes,” he said. “I mean if you look at last week, Millsaps specifically, they came out and ran the same play at us a couple different times. The first time we were right with making that play and making that adjustment, but just being disciplined enough to get out there and do it again.”
Playing the best personnel for the situation.
“I think personnel is one of the biggest focuses right now, and trying to find out who is going to put us in the best position to win,” said cornerback Jordan Sutherlin.
The team has been trying different people at each position during practice to find out the best combination of guys to play against NMHU, said defensive end Ucheoma Oparaochaekwe.
Defending against big plays.
The Rams are installing a lot of new plays since last week didn’t give them the outcome they wanted, Sutherlin said.
“We just kept getting beat deep on the same play,” he said. “It wasn’t a bad game overall for us. But it was basically three big plays that messed up the whole game. We’re changing some stuff up so hopefully that doesn’t happen.”
The team allowed a big play during the second quarter against Millsaps that can be fixed by perfecting some basic fundamentals and keeping calm during high pressure plays, Rosas said.
“At the end of the half the punt snap got snapped out of the end zone [by the Rams],” he said. “There was a safety there. And then, on the ensuing kickoff [Millsaps] got decent field position, then in the final minute they were able to get into field goal position and that’s five points that you’d love to get back. [Millsaps] made the most of that opportunity. Maybe its experience, whatever you want to chalk it up to. But I think it’s just trying to be better in those specific situations.”
Combatting the Cowboys’ offense.
Most of the Cowboys are bigger than most of the Rams. The Cowboys have receivers that are 6 feet 4 inches and 6 feet 5 inches, and most of the Rams’ linebackers are around 6 feet tall.
“They’re really shifty running backs,” Sutherlin said. “That’s going to be a little hard for our linebackers. They’re slow, they’re not that quick, that’s something we hold against them.”
The Rams have been watching film on NMHU to learn their favorite play combinations, he said.
“They run a lot of mesh to kind of try to get us to run into each other,” he said. “Right now, we’re just working on stuff to just let it pass by and basically letting them to come to us instead of running all over the field.”
Offensively NMHU is one of the more vulnerable teams the Rams will face, Oparaochaekwe said.
“They’ve got some big guys but they don’t know how to move,” he said. “I feel like our defense is fast enough to where we can really expose that. But I feel like out of any team we’ve played so far this is the team that we should be the best against.”
The game can be livestreamed through NMHU’s StretchInternet portal that can be accessed through the game schedule at ramsports.net
The game is at 2 p.m. Saturday, in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
Tickets will be for sale at the gate. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for senior citizens and children five and up; there are also family packs.
Jordan Sutherlin says the Rams are looking for the best players to put the team in a position to win. Photo by Little Joe
The Texas Wesleyan Athletic Training Staff passed out a “Concussion Fact Sheet for Faculty” at a campus wide faculty meeting before class started.
“The original idea actually came from one of our students Tammy Titlow who was doing a project for an English class,” Dr. Pamela Rast said, the Athletic Training Program Director.
Titlow came up with the idea for the proposal for a video project where the students were not allowed to speak and had to explain the proposal through cue cards, Rast said, a professor and the chair for the department of kinesiology.
“It was something that at Texas Wesleyan we could really do because we are smaller,” Rast said. “We as faculty get to know our students so we know when there is something off with one of our students.”
Wesleyan’s smaller size is an advantage because at a bigger school the professors don’t know their students as well which makes spotting subtle concussion symptoms almost impossible, Rast said.
The main reason for the cards is that so many athletes don’t report concussions so they can continue to play and many others don’t realize they have a concussion.
“[The athlete] may not develop symptoms of concussion right away,” Rast said. “It might be something that happens kind of over time. So, if a faculty member recognizes some of these signs or symptoms… now we have a mechanism by which that faculty member can get in touch with the athletic training staff to call that athlete in, and ‘let’s just take a look.’ It’s all about that athlete’s safety.”
The addition of football brought 125 young men to campus that are at risk for a concussion, and this addition prompted the creation of the concussion fact sheet, Rast said.
“Even though we are NAIA,” Rast said, “we have adopted some of the NCAA best practices for concussion management, and also in those practices is not just return to play but also return to learn. We have two members of our faculty that are familiar with concussion that are return to learn case managers.”
When an athlete has a concussion and they are out of class for a while or returning to a normal class schedule one of the return-to-learn case managers will communicate with the athlete and the faculty so everyone is clear on the athlete’s status, Rast said.
“There is a number essentially where if you’re a professor… it’s going to be a direct phone call to the athletic training facility,” Rast said. “We’ve given a list of the athletic trainers that are working with each sport so that that faculty member can call the athletic training facility and talk directly to that athletic trainer that is working with that team.”
If the team specific trainer can’t be reached then the faculty can call Dr. Rob Thiebaud and Dr. Pamela Rast, return to learn case managers, and they will notify the correct trainer, Rast said.
“Once the athletic training staff is notified that there is suspicion,” Rast said, “then those health care provides will get in touch with the athlete… do some basic testing that would identify whether this individual may have a concussion.”
Testing for a concussion doesn’t require fancy equipment or a trip to the hospital the athletic trainers administer some special diagnostic tests Impact and SCAT 5 to determine if the athlete needs more care, Rast said.
“Those individuals have gone through a baseline test called an impact test,” Rast said, “what would happen is after an individual has been diagnosed with a concussion, then that baseline test is compared to an additional test several days into their recovery and then again another several days into their recovery.”
The athletic training program aims to get athletes physically well not just so they can compete but so that they get back in the classroom as quickly and safely as possible, Rast said.
“Our main concern as faculty, obviously, is that our students receive a good education,” Rast said, “and that we put them in a situation where they can be successful academically. We want to make sure that we’re not stressing their brain too much or stressing their brain too little.
There is always new research about the brain and concussions being published, and there has been more information come out about how concussions can affect an athlete in the classroom, athletic director Steve Trachier said.
“They could have headaches or light sensitivity to the eyes or difficulty concentrating or remembering things,” Trachier said. “It’s important that professors understand that this is a real thing, and that they be able to work with the students and accommodate them when they might be experiencing some of these effects.”
The athletic training department had this idea and the athletic department is in full support because protecting the athletes is the most important thing, Trachier said.
“I think its driven by the athletic training department I think that Dr. Rast’s department will be the most knowledgeable in brain injury brain trauma and the effects of that,” Trachier said.
Football, men’s soccer and women’s soccer are the most at risk for concussion, Trachier said.
“When you participate in sport,” Trachier said, “there’s always a chance that you fall hit your head whatever so it’s always been there.”
The coaches, and athletic trainers are continually learning how to best diagnose a concussion, make sure that players don’t reenter a game, and what to do to best treat a concussion, Trachier said.
“Once again, we’re trying to take every precautionary measure we can to make the game safer,” Trachier said.
“I looked at it from the perspective of it was a proposal for an English project,” Tammy Titlow a senior liberal studies major, “but we’re so focused on our smaller smarter here and what can we do to take care of our athletes.”
Some of the research Titlow used for her project stated that parents would’ve gotten their children care if they had known the symptoms of concussion, Titlow said.
“[The athletes] come to school here, there isn’t a parent here, their buddy on the football team isn’t going to tell them to go report. So, I looked at it as ‘who’s next?’”
Since Wesleyan is smaller faculty can communicate with most of their students daily and pick up on any behavioral changes, Titlow said.
“So, we’re the caring person,” Titlow said, “we’re the one that’s going to reach out to the student and say, ‘something’s not right. Let’s go get you looked at,’ and so that’s how I approached the whole project.”
Throughout the years, the NCAA has been working on ways to prepare for concussions in sports. Infographic by Shaydi ParamoreThe graphic shows the most common symptoms that can be found in athletes. Infographic by Shaydi Paramore
While the Rams’ home opener on Saturday at Farrington Field did not result in a victory, head coach Joe Prud’homme was excited about the improvements he saw in his team.
The Rams lost to Millsaps 29-13 before a crowd of 4,518, according to ramsports.net, and afterward Prud’homme praised his team for playing with a more mature mindset and making fewer penalties and basic mistakes.
“I thought the defense made plays when they needed to,” Prud’homme said, “and I thought the special teams were better. Yeah, we had the one bad snap, but I saw improvement and that’s what we’re looking for.”
Also, Prud’homme said, the offense moved the ball better and the defense stuck to their assignments better.
The Rams racked up 16 first downs and 212 total offensive yards, all but nine of which were passing, according to ramsports.net. The Majors had 354 total offensive yards.
The Rams’ first score came in the third quarter as Bryce Nye hit a 30-yard field goal that had been set up by a 78-yard Donovan Davidson kickoff return, according to ramsports.net. Later in the quarter, quarterback Kane Hardin hit Erik Richards for a 24-yard touchdown pass.
Hardin had another impressive game, completing 18 of 33 passes for 183 yards; he had one interception, according to ramsports.net.
Here are five things the Rams did well:
Playing with more maturity.
“I thought we were much more mature in this game,” Prud’homme said. “We didn’t make the big plays to kill ourselves. We did allow some big plays that hurt us.”
Running the ball.
“We thought our persistence in the run game, running the ball on offense was good,” Prud’homme said.
Running back Erik Richards agreed, saying that the run game was much better than during last week’s McPherson game.
“We were moving the ball up the middle and that’s a big part of the offense that we need,” Richards said.
Execution.
The team just needs to start doing the basics well early on in the game, Hardin said.
“In the second half, once we got settled in we did some good things,” he said. “We just have to execute some fundamental things, but we did that in the second half.”
Throwing the ball.
The offense overall did a better job moving the ball down the field this week, Richards said.
“I think we came together better as an offense,” Richards said. “We got the ball rolling a little more. Our drives didn’t end with three outs every time like they did last week. I guess overall we just moved the ball down the field a little better.”
Playing with more confidence.
Prud’homme has wanted the team to stay calm and collected on the field since he first started recruiting, he said.
“They looked calmer to me,” Prud’homme said. “We’re just working on, ‘Hey, it’s not the end of the world. We’re building something here so that’s kind of what that’s all about.’”
The Rams travel to Las Vegas, New Mexico next week to play the New Mexico Highlands University Cowboys at noon on Saturday, Sept. 16. The game will be shown at portal.stretchinternet.com/nmhu, which can be accessed through the season schedule at ramsports.net.
Erik Richards runs the ball for the Rams against the Majors. Photo by Little JoeThe offensive line waits for the snap against the Majors in the home opener. Photo by Little JoeThe Rams travel to Las Vegas, New Mexico this week for their third game of the season. Photo by Little Joe
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