Head football coach Joe Prud’homme knows what the Rams need to do to beat the Millsaps Majors on Saturday.

“We need to get into a rhythm,” Prud’homme said after last week’s season-opening loss to McPherson College. “If we can get into a rhythm and prevent big plays and not turn the ball over or have stupid penalties or any penalties for that matter.”

Prud’homme said he appreciates the support Texas Wesleyan has given the team so far this season, and he realizes that last week was the first time that most of his squad had ever played college football.

Still, he said, the Rams have to improve a lot on last week, and playing smart is a big part of that.

“[The Rams] have a long way to go and a short time to get there,” Prud’homme said. “We can’t give them anything. We can’t give them any big plays. We can’t blow assignments.”

The top five ways the Rams can improve:

1. “Field position,” Prud’homme said. “Getting better field position through special teams and offensively move the ball a little bit.”
2. Making sure there are no more of the sort of botched center-quarterback exchanges that happened in the McPherson game, said running back Jermarcus Jones.

“We need to work on our snaps. If we do that we put us in a great position to win,” Jones said.

3. The Rams need to be calmer in their execution throughout the game, Prud’homme said.

“Having a little more calm, composed approach instead of getting so overly excited,” Prud’homme said. “Because they were very excited. Just go into it with just more experienced, mature mindsets.”

4. “We need to work on executing and locking in,” running back Da’vonte Mitchell-Dixon said. “If we play like a unit, we’ll win like a unit.”
5. “Control the game a little more with time of possession,” Prud’homme said, “and just keep the ball out of their hands a little bit more. I think if we do those things we’ll be alright. But field position is huge; we had horrible field position the other night.”

What the Rams know about Millsaps:

1. The Majors have an excellent coaching staff, he said.
2. “The team is very experienced,” he said.
3. “[Millsaps] executes at a high level,” he said. “We have to be very sound in what we do and how we do it.”
4. The Majors may not have won a lot last year, but they were always in the game. The team’s 2016 record was 3-7, but that’s a little misleading, because four of those losses were by a touchdown or less, according to gomajors.com.
5. The Majors are loaded with talent. Four players were selected to First Team All-Sooner Athletic Association, one was selected to Second Team All-SAA and six were SAA honorable mentions, according to gomajors.com.

Prud’homme realizes he has a growing program, and he wants Wesleyan to be proud of the team he’s creating.

“We’re just extremely young,” Prud’homme said, “and just hang in there with us and we’re going to grow and get better.” 

After the Texas Wesleyan Rams lost their first game of the 2017 season to the McPherson Bulldogs, head coach Joe Prud’homme was asked what the team needs to work on.

His answer was succinct.

“Everything,” Prud’homme said shortly after the 43-14 loss in Kansas on Saturday. “A lot of plays we normally make in practice just weren’t there. I think nerves had something to do with it.”

The Rams did not really start to play well until the fourth quarter, but in the first half they had “just too many mistakes” to recover from, Prud’homme said.

The team scored both of its touchdowns in the fourth quarter. First, receiver Erik Richards ran 28 yards after catching a Kane Hardin pass. A few minutes later, Hardin hit receiver Donovan Davidson across the middle on an 82-yard play for the second touchdown.

“Amazing,” Hardin said. “There’s no words to describe it. It was awesome the way it played out. Erik Richards was the receiver that caught it and if there was a guy to deserve that first touchdown, it’s him.”

Hardin said he is ready to be back in Fort Worth practicing and gaining experience with the team. Prud’homme said the team will be practicing at 6 a.m. Tuesday at the Polytechnic High School field.

Most of McPherson’s roster carries juniors and seniors. Almost all their starters are upperclassmen. Wesleyan’s roster holds mostly freshmen and redshirt freshmen with a few sophomores and juniors.  

“We just need to keep doing the things we’re doing and perfect our craft.” Hardin said. “We kind of beat ourselves at times on Saturday. I don’t think nerves really affected it. Our guys were ready to go. We just need to execute better.”

The first half of the game was rough for the Rams but they played more cohesively in the second half, said linebacker Vincent Stephenson.

“As a team, we all need to become more disciplined,” Stephenson said, “and stick to the assignments the coaches give us. We had a lot of good plays, they were just scattered. On defense, we continued to fight even when our backs were against the wall. The defense really came together in the second half.”

Every member of the team gave it their all and the coaches called plays that put the players in good situations, he said.

“The coaches made calls that put me in the position to make plays,” Stephenson said, “and I made as many as I could.”

The Rams want to show Wesleyan fans that the first game isn’t the defining moment of their season, Stephenson said.

“I think nerves played a small role in the game today,” Stephenson said, “but that happens in any team’s first game of the season. I don’t think nerves are what did it though, I think we beat ourselves.”

The team is ready to practice and prepare for Saturday’s  home opener against Millsaps College now that they’ve gotten the first game under their belt, said running back Jermarcus Jones.

“It’s been 76 years since Texas Wesleyan has had a team, so I feel there were some nerves because we wanted to do good,” Jones said.

The team held its composure and kept fighting even when the game got difficult, Jones said.

“When we didn’t have blown plays, we executed well,” Jones said. “We need to work on our snaps and eliminating penalties. If we do that, we put ourselves in a great position to win.”

Jones said he had some good plays, and with a little more practice he’ll be ready to lead the Rams to a victory.

“It’s a lot of things I could’ve done better,” Jones said. “I have to come out strong in practice next week to improve my performance for next week. I hope we can move past this and put on a show,” Jones said, “and show what Texas Wesleyan Football really is all about.”

The Rams’ home opener is 2 p.m. Saturday; the team takes on the Millsaps College Majors at Farrington Field, which is at the corner of University and 7th Street. Tickets are available at ramsports.net and are $10 general admission, $5 for faculty, staff and children under 12.

The Rams take the field for the first time since 1941. Video by Karan Muns

After all the hype, and all the waiting, Texas Wesleyan’s first football team in 75 years is ready to finally take the field.

The Rams will take on McPherson College in McPherson, Kan. on Saturday afternoon, and the team is practicing hard and watching film of the Bulldogs nearly every day.

“We’ve been looking at telecasts you can find on the internet,” head coach Joe Prud’homme said, “things of that nature; you know as far as any real high quality film to go off [there’s not any] and it’s also a year old. So you’re looking at it schematically personnel wise it is tough.”

McPherson, 1-10 last season, has an excellent quarter back, junior Ed Crouch, Prud’homme said.

“He’s a threat to run or throw, and if you don’t tackle him you’re in trouble,” Prud’homme said.

McPherson may not have had a good record in 2016, but the team has no shortage of good players, and the Rams are prepared, Prud’homme said.

“They’re odd-man front at times,” Prud’homme said of the Bulldogs’ defense. “They move around a lot so there’s not just a set thing they’re going to do, which is to be expected. So, as long as we can pick up and communicate and have our rules in place, we’ll be okay.”

The Rams are leaving Wesleyan Friday morning to head to Kansas; being able to spend the night in Kansas will allow the players to rest from the trip and bond together as a team, Prud’homme said.

“We just haven’t played anybody else, so that makes it different,” Prud’homme said. “Any time you play somebody different it automatically makes the team come closer together, because now they’ve got a common goal.”

The team has been focusing on themselves lately and reviewing mistakes made at practice in meetings, Prud’homme said.

“We’ve been doing a lot of self-evaluation,” he said. “I mean we film ourselves; we film practice; we have meetings on every practice. So we’ve been focusing on ourselves a little bit more than them.”

The team has been rough around the edges but it’s exciting to see it all come together, Prud’homme said.

“I think that they’ll be tremendously excited, but they’ll also be nervous,” Prud’homme said. “My hope, my goal is that they play calm and composed.”

The goal for the McPherson game is to keep calm and ultimately win, Prud’homme said.

“I do want them to play with a controlled emotion and I want them to be calm,” he said. “I think that the teams that are mature and maintain composure tend to win games at the end. That’s kind of what my goal for these guys is, that they are the kind of team that competes and puts themselves in the position to win in the fourth quarter.”

The Rams and their coaching staff really appreciate all of the support that the Wesleyan community has given the team.

“We are optimistic about our chances,” Athletic Director Steve Trachier said, “but it is an exciting time for the university. You can sense the excitement in the air that football has generated.”

Football is going to be a very good thing for Texas Wesleyan, he said.

Redshirt freshman running back Davonte Mitchell-Dixon said the Rams are reviewing film of the Bulldogs to prepare for their non-traditional defense.

“Some techniques and stuff they use their defense is a little different than a 4-3 defense,” he said. “We’ve been trying to get ready for them specifically.”

The team watches two hours of film three or four days out of the week to correct mistakes and get prepared for the upcoming game, Mitchell-Dixon said.

“So in a film session we pretty much go over what we did at the practice we did in the morning,” Mitchell-Dixon said. “So we’ll go through team during practice in the morning and if you had any mistakes or problems adjusting to what we were doing they’ll go over tips and how to fix what you did.”

The team has been running after every practice to stay in shape and prevent injuries throughout the season, said Mitchell-Dixon, a mass communication major.

“It’s just an ongoing thing so at practice we get like a four-minute break to get water, get situated and then back doing drills and drills and drills,” Mitchell-Dixon said.

The team takes minimal breaks at practice to get used to the fast pace of a real game, he said.

“For a new team, I think we’re ready,” Mitchell-Dixon said. “I don’t think we’re going to have the outcome every other team thinks we’re going to be having. I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen. I think we’re going to have a really good season this year.”

The defense has been studying a lot of McPherson’s plays and creating new plays to make sure they know what to do in each situation, cornerback Warren Coltong said.

“We’ve been doing team install, really going over what [McPherson’s] offense is going to be doing like what routes the receivers are going to be running, what linebackers are going to blitz, and which holes there are going to be,” said Coltong a redshirt freshman mass communication major.

Overall, the team feels ready to compete and is ready to see their hard work pay off, Coltong said.

“I feel like our coaches are putting us in the best position to win, and hopefully, our game plan works,” Coltong said.

The game will be streamed via ramsports.net; go to the schedule, find the McPherson game, and click watch.

The Rams practiced at Farrington Field on Wednesday morning to showcase their skills and run plays to prepare for the first football game since 1941, head coach Joe Prud’homme said.

The Rams will practice at Farrington Field this week and begin practicing at Polytechnic High School from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. next week, Prud’homme said during the Texas Wesleyan Football Media Day, which drew representatives from several area television stations, radio stations and publications.

“I like the schedule,” Prud’homme said. “ I don’t like that we’re not in the heat. I wish we were in the heat, that’s the only thing that bothers me.”

The return of football has done amazing things for Wesleyan, Texas Wesleyan University President Frederick Slabach said.

“The students are very excited about it and so that’s the best thing,” Slabach said. “There’s just another opportunity for great student life, but our alumni are also very excited about it. It’s a benefit both on campus and for our alumni off campus.”

The Rams kick off the season against McPherson College in McPherson, Kansas on Sept. 2. The Rams will play their first home game against Millsaps College on Sept. 9 at 2 p.m.. Their final regular season game is against Oklahoma Panhandle State University in Goodwell, Oklahoma on Nov. 11.

Slabach is optimistic about the Rams’ first season since 1941. He wants the athletes to be competitive on the field and focused in the classroom.

“This year I think we’re going to win some games,” Slabach said. “I just hope that we’re more focused on just being competitive on this first round out and less worried about exactly how many games.”

The athletes getting an education is the number one priority for the coaches at Wesleyan, Slabach said.

“If you’re talking about Wesleyan football, I want you to feel a sense of pride,” Prud’homme said.

The main focus for this season is to be competitive and improve as a team, he said. “[I hope] we’re in every game, and we have a fighting shot in the fourth quarter, and we have an opportunity to close the deal.”

The goal for the next five years is for the program to be a tough competitor in the Central States Football League, Prud’homme said.

“I think we’ll be in the conference championship conversation every year after five years,” Prud’homme said. “I do believe that we’ll be in the playoffs conversation every year… I believe we’ll be on the map.”

The Rams will put pads on Thursday and this will give the coaches and the team a glimpse at what the season will look like, Prud’homme said.

“Football is hard to watch when you can’t hear it … Basketball coaches love the thump-thump in the gym I love the crack-crack on the field,” Prud’homme said.

Football is possibly the best way to bond as a college in Texas, Athletic Director Steve Trachier said.

“Nothing brings a community together like a football game,” Trachier said. “It’s not just the game itself; it’s a community effort. I’m incredibly excited about starting a football program because of what it’ll mean to the university in terms of opportunities for people to socialize and become more connected with the university.”

A football team will also draw more athletes for other sports and more traditional students, Trachier said.

“I think as we continue to grow the athletic department football is an integral piece of that, and it’s going to be a big draw for bringing in athletes for other sports and bringing in students,” Trachier said.

The team has been working out and conditioning on their own all summer to prepare for team practices and the upcoming games, said linebacker Dewaun Colbert.

“On the defense side of the ball, we did pretty good. We’ve got the freshman coming in and learning, and we’ve got the returners coming and helping them. I mean right now we’re on the road to be great,” Colbert, a redshirt freshman business major, said.

The freshman and returners have been working together to create chemistry and learn plays quickly, said quarterback Kane Hardin.

“A lot of the freshman are stepping up and filling a great role. They’re doing great and learning quick, learning on the run. It’s going smooth lately,” said Hardin, a redshirt sophomore mass communication major.

The team hasn’t been preparing for any teams specifically, Hardin said. They’re just trying to be their best.

“It doesn’t really matter who we’re playing we’re just trying to master our own craft,” Hardin said. “We’re trying to be the best we can be.”

The team is excited to put on pads Thursday and start going full speed again, said running back Jemarcus Jones.

“I think we’re ready to put the pads on tomorrow,” Jones, a redshirt junior business management major, said. “It’s going to be hot, but we have to get ready because most of our games are during the midday. I feel like it’s going to help us get ready for the games coming up.”

The Rams are eager for the first game and to be in front of a crowd again, said linebacker Vincent Stephenson.

“I can’t wait to actually be on the field,” Stephenson, a redshirt junior business management major, said. “We’ve been working so hard to get everything together as a team and everything is looking good.”

Season tickets can be purchased for $45 general admission, $22.50 faculty and staff, and children $22.50 on ramsports.net. Single game tickets are $10 general admission and $5 kids 12 and under. Parking is free.

After more than seven decades, football returned to Texas Wesleyan on Saturday.

Held at Farrington Field, the Blue & Gold game drew an estimated 2,500 people, and head coach Joe Prud’homme was happy with what he saw.

“I thought it was a little sloppy but I thought all in all it went really well,” Prud’homme said.

The scrimmage consisted of two 30-minute halves. The offense wore gold and the defense wore blue; the kickers and quarterbacks wore white.

“[The crowd] was pretty good,” Prud’homme said. “You know we didn’t give them a whole lot of scoring to get too excited about. All in all, I thought it was a really good first time through. I saw a lot of good things. I saw a lot of effort. I saw a lot of people flying around, and it was fun to get out here.”

Prud’homme said the game was a great way to watch the players in a live setting and get a better understanding of the team as a whole.

“Some guys went up higher on the depth charts and we had some guys drop a little bit, and then we’ve got more guys coming so we won’t know anything really until August,” he said.

Twenty-eight incoming signees were announced at halftime; they will begin attending Wesleyan in the fall.

Quarterback Justin Arth said the team was excited and eager to begin the spring game.

“It felt great to run out of the tunnel for warmups and see people in the stands rooting for us,” said Arth, a freshman business management major. “And as the stands filled, it seemed like my confidence grew as each person walked in the stands before kickoff.”

Arth said he is looking forward to playing in the fall and was lucky that his mom, Michelle Arth, was able to fly in from Atlanta to see him play.

“I think the team as a whole did a great job with the intensity and competitiveness desired by the coaching staff while still taking care of each other and putting on a show the fans will want to come see in the fall,” Arth said.

Arth was on the offensive gold team that won the game 14-0. The defensive blue team would have only been able to score if they had intercepted the ball.

“I know as an offense we can always improve on consistently moving the ball and putting the ball in the end zone,” Arth said.

Freshman linebacker Mark James said that while the team gave a good performance, there is still work to be done.

“For the most part, I think it went pretty well,” said James, an education major. “I don’t think that was like a first game, since that was a scrimmage. But yeah, you could say it was like the first-game experience with the crowd and the people there.”

James said he is hopeful for the team’s future.

“I’m not too feeling bad about it, because there’s still the future,” he said. “We still got time to get better, and we just gone take that time to do what we need to do. We see our flaws and we just gone perfect it this summer.”

For the fans, the afternoon was an opportunity to see friends and relatives on the field. Freshman criminal justice major Tyler King said it was exciting to see some of her friends play.

“It was cool getting to watch them and see what they have been working on,” King said. “They’ve been working toward this for a long time.”

King said attending the spring game really added to her college experience, and that it was an interesting first look into what football means for Wesleyan.

“It was fun getting to hang out with everyone and getting to experience the college football experience,” King said.

Tarmela Jones, the aunt of freshman defensive linebacker athletic training major Andrew Walker, said she thought the team could use a little cleaning up, but they did pretty well and have a lot of potential.

“They didn’t look bad, they just need to be polished,” Jones said. “Of course, [it’s different] from what we normally used to seein’ in the bigger leagues, but they’re good. They just need some work and they’ll have a lot of supporters.”

But at least one spectator had no connection with Wesleyan, and hadn’t even planned on being in the stands.

Johnathan Bermudez was on his way to run in Trinity Park and saw that something was going on at Farrington Field. While he said he had never even heard of Texas Wesleyan, he ended up watching the entire scrimmage and enjoying his little detour.

“I enjoyed the game, it was a really nice day out,” Bermudez said. “It was a scrimmage so, you know, it wasn’t like a football game, but it was pretty fun, beautiful to watch. When the ball was thrown into wind, the quarterback was having a tough time, but I think overall, everyone was played pretty well, especially for a spring game.”

The Rams open the 2017 season at McPherson College in McPherson, Kan. on Sept. 2. The home opener is Sept. 9 at 2 p.m. against Millsaps College at Farrington Field.

Tickets for the 2017 season are on sale now. Season tickets are $45 general admission and $22.50 for children 12 and under and are for all five home games. Single game tickets are $10 general admission and $5 for children 12 and under. Parking is free. Tickets can be purchased at ramsports.net/tickets.

Additional reporting by content producer Matt Smith. 

Texas Wesleyan women’s golf team is one of the best in the nation, but that’s not enough.

The Lady Rams, which have been ranked in the top 10 in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics most of the season, are hungry for their first national championship, sophomore finance major Alex Schies wrote in an email.

“We’ve been practicing every day, with having qualifiers every Tuesday and Thursday for the top 5 spots, to help prepare us for the pressure,” Schies wrote. “Outside of that, we practice on our own on the weekends.”

The team got off to a rocky start this season, falling to No. 13 in final poll of the fall, but since then there has been steady improvement, Schies wrote.

“We did well at our most recent tournament and beat five of the seven top 15 teams, so that gave us a major boost to No. 10,” Schies wrote. “We have one more tournament, hosted by Oklahoma City, then we have conference at the end of the month and hopefully a bid to nationals at the end of May.”

The team was ranked No. 10 on April 7 in the 2016-2017 NAIA Women’s Golf Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, according to naia.org. The NAIA national championships are May 23-26 in Florida.

The team has been resilient and worked through difficulties all year during practice and tournaments, Schies wrote.

“We have worked hard this year and never given up,” Schies wrote, “no matter what happens to us in a tournament. Every time we’ve gotten knocked down, we’ve come back at the next tournament and proven ourselves.”

The team is motivated by the knowledge that the players have the talent and skills it takes to win at nationals, Schies wrote.

“We know how close we are and what we are capable of doing,” Schies wrote. “We want to make sure we solidify a spot for nationals, so then once we get there we can then prove ourselves. Last year we got one of the last spots, but finished fourth, and if we wouldn’t have been delayed we were in position to win it. So that definitely motivates us, knowing we can do it.”

The team has a saying to keep them motivated and encouraged on the green, Schies wrote.

“We usually say ‘Vamos cabrones,’ meaning ‘Let’s go Rams’ in Spain,” Schies wrote. “Elena [Romero] is from Spain, and she taught us that. Every team has something unique at tournaments and we wanted something unique, so Elena came up with this.”

Schies is excited to see where the rest of the season takes them because of the toughness and resilience this team has.

“I’m proud of us, like I said earlier, no matter how hard of a day any of us have had on the golf course we don’t give up and we continue to get better,” Schies wrote. “We’ve shown a lot of progress this year and hopefully we continue to get even better.”

The team has only one goal, Schies wrote.

“Win a national championship, for sure.”

The team prepares in a very simple way, wrote freshman psychology major Trudy Allen: Practice, play, practice, repeat. Every day.

The team encourages each other to be better golfers every day, Allen wrote.

“Overall we have been doing pretty good,” Allen wrote, “and it helps that we are all motivated and pushing each other to play better than the previous round.”  

Allen wrote that she is motivated by the possibility of winning a national championship.   

“I golf more now than I ever have before because I know I have potential to be really good and help my team be even better,” Allen wrote. “Potential motivates me. I feel we are so close to being really really great. When we come together as one, that’s when we will be at our best. “

The team is doing so well because everyone has the same mind set at this point, Allen wrote.

“I think we are getting to where we should be,” Allen. “Everyone is working hard because we all want to be the best that we can be. We can’t be the best without hard work and dedication and all of us know that.”

Allen wrote that she tries to help the team the only way she really can, by practicing her own skills.  

“My goal during this season is to just practice as much and as hard as I can for the upcoming tournaments we have,” Allen wrote. “You can’t control how anyone else plays but you have the power to be the best you can with just practice. Lots of practice.”

Dynasty.

What else can you call the 65 national championships Texas Wesleyan’s table tennis program has won in the past 15 years?

Wesleyan’s domination of college table tennis continued earlier this month, with the program winning five of a possible six titles at the 2017 TMS College Table Tennis National Championships; the wins included the team taking its 13^th coed team championship, according to ramsports.net.

In addition to the coed team title, Wesleyan won women’s team, men’s single, men’s doubles and women’s doubles at the tournament, which was held April 7-9 in Eau Claire, Wis.

The tournament included 250 players from more than 40 universities. Both the coed and women’s teams won their titles for the second year in a row.

Jishan Liang, who on April 8 became the sixth player to win one of the program’s 11 national men’s singles titles, said he “will treasure this moment for a long time.”

“I’m so proud of my university, and I feel as if I am part of a very big family,” said Jishan Liang, who on April 8 became the sixth player to win one of the program’s 11 national men’s singles titles. “My teammates and everyone in my university are so perfect, and I really mean it. I appreciate this so much.”

Liang said that his teammates inspire him to continue to work hard as part of a champion-caliber team.

and players and we all push each other to be better,” said Liang, who along with Zhe Fang captured the men’s doubles title. “Wherever we go to play, we need to keep our level and try to get better so we can perform well. I love table tennis and feel lucky to get a support of university to study and play table tennis.”

Yue Wu said that this year’s competition was “very strong.”

“We had a couple of Olympians participating as well as world champions in different events,” said Wu, who along with Chen Wang won the women’s doubles title. “Going there, I was not sure what to expect but I knew that I need to try my best.”

Wu and Liang personify a largely international roster that includes players from, among other countries, China, Brazil, Jordan, Nepal, and England. At the same time, there are a few Texans, including Bedford’s Adrian Rodriguez.

Texas Wesleyan’s football team is ready.

Ready to play in front of fans. Ready to tackle. And ready to figure out who the team’s leaders will be.

Ready, in other words, for April 22 and the Blue & Gold Game, an intrasquad scrimmage at Farrington Field that head coach Joe Prud’homme says is the apex of the team’s spring workouts.

“Everything we’re doing is kind of geared towards that,” Prud’homme said. “You know, just base offense, base defense and then just trying to have a real good scrimmage.”

There will not be any special teams participating in the scrimmage because they are still perfecting those skills, Prud’homme said.

“[I’m] trying to give everybody pretty much an equal amount of playing time [at the scrimmage] just so we can get everybody evaluated and look at them to give everybody a real shot,” Prud’homme said.

The competitive nature of the players keeps them sharp, Prud’homme said. The competitiveness encourages them to work harder and be better.

“There’s no getting lackadaisical or complacent,” Prud’homme said, “which is great if you’ve got that going in practices all the time and in game situations you do nothing but get better and better and better. And that’s what we’re trying to do.”

The spring game will be a great tool to help the coaches evaluate the players and identify areas to improve, Prud’homme said.

“We’re excited,” Prud’homme said. “I’m very pleased with their effort and I’m real happy with all the support. Everybody just seems to be ready to see some football and we’re ready to do it as well.”

The men’s basketball team winning the NAIA national championship set an amazing example that Prud’homme hopes to model the football program after.

“They won because they out-willed the other team; they outlasted the other team; they out-toughed the other team,” he said. “They played great defense. They did all the little things and intangibles that you have to do to win. And they did that from the beginning of preseason all the way through their season. The way they just came together and trusted each other. They just basically wanted it worse than anybody else.”

Many of the football players are in “survival mode” but they become more confident in their abilities the chemistry will become even better than it is now, Prud’homme said.

“You kind of feel that piece coming together,” Prud’homme said. “But also, you get to that point when you know exactly what you’re doing on the field to where there’s no hesitation. Then you get stronger in those other areas.”

The team is not only preparing for the spring game, Prud’homme said. They are also trying to install all of the basic skills the team will need to have for a successful season this fall.

“Some people probably think that football is a situation where you just learn it and you do it and that’s what you do,” Prud’homme said. “There’s a lot of things that can change when you come to the line of scrimmage. There’s a lot of things that change between when you take that first step and that second step. All of a sudden things change and you’ve got to be able to adjust and learn to communicate that.”

There is a lot of communication involved on and off the field that the fans don’t always see but is necessary to the game, Prud’homme said.

“There’s a learning curve involved and their attitudes are great,” Prud’homme said. “They’re very positive. I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys.”

Justin Arth, freshman quarterback, said the team misses being in front of a crowd and all the excitement that goes along with game day.

“I’m looking forward to making plays against this defense,” said Arth, a business management major.

The players are excited to get back to full hitting and testing their abilities in a game setting not just in practice, Arth said.

“These guys hit hard. We saw it a little bit today, it being the first day in pads, but we’re ready for it,” Arth said at the end of March, right after the team’s first practice in pads.

The players are working hard in practice by  “thudding” instead of full-on tackling so that they can prevent injuries, Arth said.

“Thudding is basically wrapping up with light contact when we are in pads. It’s not full-on hitting and tackling, but it’s still contact,” Arth wrote in a text message.

The team is preparing by working on base offense and defense plays and incorporating seven-on-seven in practices to instill confidence in the players, Arth said.

“I mean we’ve gotta be confident in ourselves and confident in our abilities,” Arth said. “And have that confidence that kind of spreads over to everybody and raises their game up as we step up our game too.”

Freshman middle linebacker Dewaun Colbert said the team cannot wait to step out onto the field and be able to go full speed and tackle again in front of a game-day crowd.

“I mean that’s me. I love to be in the spotlight,” Colbert said. “I love the crowd and all the fans and everything.”

Colbert said he uses his natural confidence to inspire his teammates to play better and challenge themselves.

“That’s one of the reasons I chose to play middle linebacker, because it’s the captain of the defense,” Colbert said. “And I like to run things and be the center of attention. Not to be too cocky but that’s just me.”

The team hopes to use the scrimmage as a way to find out who the leaders of the team are really going to be, Colbert said.

“I’m looking forward to being live and actually being able to hit because right now we’ve just been thudding up. So in the spring game, it’s gonna be a good time to see what guys really have that defensive mentality that go and get the ball,” Colbert said.

There will be several activities before and after the scrimmage, including a pre-game cookout on campus, pre-game events held by Student Life at Farrington Field, Alma Mater and fight song practice, and autographs from the players and coaches on the field after the scrimmage. For more information go to txwes.edu.

Balancing class and athletics can be challenging but good study habits make a big difference, softball pitcher Lauren Wernet said.

“We usually practice at least three times a day and it’s Monday through Friday. My guess is about 20 hours per week but usually we start playing games too,” said Wernet, a junior athletic training major.

Wernet is one more than a dozen Wesleyan athletes to make this year’s Dean’s List. Students must have a GPA of 3.5 or higher to make the list, according to txwes.edu.

The athletes have to balance practice and game schedules, off-season training, and he workload of a full-time student.

They say they do it through a combination of a good support system of family, friends and other athletes, as well as forming good study habits and time management skills.

Wernet and other athletes on the softball team, for example, usually have games on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, but that schedule can change week to week, she said.

“If it’s a really good game it’s probably around three hours. If it’s kind of a blow out game it’s at least two hours,” Wernet said.

It can be difficult to get good grades because of missing class, she said. At the beginning of the season the team misses a few Thursdays and a Fridays because of the tournaments they play in. During conference play they miss at least a Tuesday and a Friday each week.

“I have friends in the program that help me out a lot. So, if I miss class they’re always there to pick me up with notes,” Wernet said.

Athletic training has very supportive faculty and they work well with students when they miss for athletics, Wernet said.

“Athletic training is good that. With athletic training, they have to be because you’re a part of the sports system. So, you work with the sports and it’s the same thing. It really helps when your teachers work with you a lot,” Wernet said.

Typically, softball players are expected to take at least 15 hours because head coach Susan Gower has high standards, Wernet said.

“I know that all the girls will attest that I’m always studying. I at least study three or four hours a night after practice. I don’t go to bed until around 11 o’clock,” Wernet said.

Wernet has made the Dean’s List three semesters in a row and she attributes that success to having a good support system and being proactive.

“I guess I just formed good study habits in high school which helped out a lot and knowing that I need to get something done instead of hanging out with my friends,” Wernet said.

It’s an important to set your priorities and make sure your school work is done before you hang out with friends, Wernet said.

“They [friends] know where you’re at with your education and that your education means a lot more than just other things in life. I think it’s just good study habits and just having good friends to push you,” Wernet said.

Baseball player Julio Ibarra said the team usually practices three hours a day six days a week and plays around three games a week.

“Every day I study around 1 or 2 hours a day because I like being ready before the next class. So basically, I review the content before going to class,” said Ibarra, a first baseman and junior athletic training major.

Ibarra takes around 16 hours a semester and must miss class almost every Friday due to away games.

“This is my first semester at Texas Wesleyan, but this is the first time I made [the Dean’s List]. I’ve been here for two semesters so hopefully I can get another one next semester,” Ibarra said.

Ibarra is from Venezuela and attended Pratt Community College in Kansas prior to coming to Wesleyan.

“I picked this school because after I finished my sophomore year at my junior college I had very good stats in baseball. I was trying to go to a good school that was good at baseball but at the same time trying to be in a school that offers my career,” Ibarra said.

It’s hard to keep good grades and perform well on the field at the same time because it’s hard to separate the two, Ibarra said.

“If you do bad in the field then you’re more likely to take that to your class,” Ibarra said. “Or backwards, if you do bad on the test and then you have a game the same day, you’ve got to be able to be tough and be able to change your mind very quick in order to be able to perform well.”

It’s challenging to maintain a high GPA and keep up with all the games and practices, he said.

“It is hard because you have to sacrifice a lot of your social time to be able to be on the Dean’s List. Especially when English is not your first language you’ve got to work harder than everybody else,” Ibarra said.

Ibarra is excited to attend Wesleyan because of the warm Texas weather and Wesleyan being a top-tier university.

“I was very blessed to find a school that has a very good athletic training program and that also has a good baseball program,” Ibarra said.

Soccer player Yohan Shirazi said he has to maintain his grades while playing at least three games and practicing up to 10 hours per week.

“During season, it depends on how many away games so we maybe [miss] three or four times a week,” said Shiraz, a junior exercise science major and center midfielder or center back.

Shirazi takes at least 13 hours a semester and he has made the Dean’s List five times.

“Outside of class I would say I study three or four hours outside of class a day so like 15 hours a week,” Shirazi said.

It is important to keep up with studying and homework while avoiding distractions, so studying in the library really helps, Shirazi said.

“On the buses bus trips you’ve always got to study. When I’m here I’ve got to stay up late nights. There’s a lot of distractions, obviously and you get really tired,” Shirazi said.

Texas Wesleyan’s football team held its first practice in full pads at Farrington Field Wednesday to prepare for the scrimmage April 22 and next season, head coach Joe Prud’homme said.

“[Practice] went pretty well,” Prud’homme said. “I wasn’t sure what to expect because this is the first time any of them have been in pads for us in that setting. I was actually pleasantly surprised because we threw a lot at them in a hurry. They adjusted well; they soaked it up pretty well.”

The team adjusted to working in pads quickly, considering it was their first day, Prud’homme said.

“There’s a whole lot to learn and a whole lot to do and a whole lot to execute that you haven’t been doing,” Prud’homme said. “You’ve been doing it in shorts and T-shirts with no pressure on, now all of a sudden pads are on. And it’s live; it’s fast; it’s for real. They just have to think a little bit faster on their feet but all in all it was a very good first practice.”

There’s always room to improve in every situation and in every game, Prud’homme said.

“I thought the energy was good. I thought the intensity was really good,” Prud’homme said. “Our coaching staff did a great job planning it and putting the plan together and then the execution of it because there wasn’t any dead time or down time. If there was, it was by design there was nothing that was just dead air.”

The team will play the April scrimmage and all home games next fall at Farrington Field, according to Ann Davis, director of communications. The field, at 1501 University Drive, is where the Wesleyan team played its last home game in 1941.

Prud’homme said Farrington Field has “a really good feel to it.”

“I think [Farrington Field] is a great venue for us,” Prud’homme said. “Is it old? Yes. Is it historical? Absolutely, it’s the last place that Texas Wesleyan played their games which I think is really cool. It’s also right in the heart of downtown Fort Worth right next to the 7th St. District. It’s just kind of wrapped around the history of the program that was there before. It’s really special.”

Freshman quarterback Justin Arth described Wednesday’s first practice in full pads as being energetic.

“We started off with stretches,” Arth, a business administration major, said, “and then we went straight into blitz pick up which is pretty much just defensive guys sprinting at you in full pads and you’ve got to make a read on who to throw it to then we went into 7-on-7 and then a little bit of hitting and that was pretty much it.”

Practicing in the heat didn’t faze the team since they have been practicing outside since August, Arth said.

“We could always run more to be in even better shape,” Arth said. “I felt pretty good about it. Nobody was bending over wheezing too much.”

The team practiced for a little over two and a half hours running plays and hitting for the first time this school year, Arth said.

“Two months ago they sized us for pads and they basically asked if we want this brand of pads or that brand of pads and then each position group has their own style of pads too so we just kind of chose based off of our sizes which pads we wanted,” Arth said.

Different positions require specific pads, Arth said. A lineman needs thicker pads than the quarterbacks or special teams players that wouldn’t see as much hitting.

Freshman middle linebacker Dewaun Colbert said he is excited to be back in pads and on a turf field.

“We did inside hole and a couple of other things,” Colbert said. “We went over different plays but most of the time we’re on the same page as offense. We’re either going against them or we’re working with them. We’re in pretty good shape. We could run more or whatever but we’re good for the heat; we’ve been in the heat enough to be ready for it.”

Freshman quarterback Kane Hardin said being able to  hit each other was fun.

“It was the first day of pads,” Hardin said. “We got a little team action. We got to go against each other, finally. It was just a good day overall.”

As a start-up program there’s always something that can be improved but the team has great energy, Hardin said.

“We’ve been working out in the heat for a while now but with the pads it’s a little different,” Hardin said.  

The team is working on perfecting basic skills right now and practicing basic plays as well as conditioning, Hardin said.

“We’re just working on overall stuff. Offense is just working on our playbook; defense is working on their stuff, nothing specific,” Hardin said.