Third-year Jacob Epps is a two-sport athlete playing both football and baseball at Oberlin. He suits up at wide receiver and defensive back in football and plays third base for the baseball team. Epps is also co-chair of the Black Student-Athlete Group. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How did you end up playing for both teams? Did you arrive on campus ready to play for both teams, or did you join halfway through? 

Originally, I came to play football and was getting acclimated to how it felt to play one college sport. My first year felt like a lot, so I didn’t think it would be possible for me to do two. However, with the coaching change and the new football schedule, I felt more relaxed and was really able to adjust to my new schedule. It just made my second year playing football a lot easier. I began thinking, “What if I returned to baseball? What would that look like?” It got to the point where I was wondering if I would regret it if I didn’t. One of the biggest things that made me hesitate was that the Black History Month Ball was on the same day as the first baseball game, and I really had a lot of fun the year prior. But I talked to my parents, and they convinced me to do it because they reminded me of what I had said before I got here — that I wanted to leave this school without any regrets. I knew that if I didn’t play baseball as soon as possible, I would regret it later in life, so I decided that right after football ended, I would talk to my head coach for football and the baseball coach to let them know that I was interested and wanted to try this. They were all on board, so right after football season, I gave myself a week break and got right into it. 

Does the football team practice during the spring offseason as well? How does that affect your baseball schedule?

I had a very hectic spring schedule. It sounds crazy, but the two sports are very cooperative when the schedules are aligned. For football, we have spring practices which are at five in the morning on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Then, baseball practice would be held in the afternoon. I would wake up Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at five in the morning, go to football practice, and then go to classes. Then, in the afternoon, I would do baseball lifts, and we would start our baseball practices close to the evening. It was intense, but I was able to do it, and I work better when I have a lot to do. 

How does the BSAG fit into your whole journey as an athlete? How did you get involved initially to eventually become co-chair?

Before I even found that BSAG was a thing, I wanted to do something related to Black students. I wanted to be on a Black student council or be a part of something that looked out for the community and planned things Black students would enjoy so they couldn’t feel alone. I met fourth-year Greg Lane, a fellow football player and now a close friend of mine, and he told me about BSAG and how he was on the board and the mission. The funny thing is that I wanted to be president as soon as he said that. I needed no further information — I was already ready to go. That was mostly because I knew I wanted to give Black athletes on campus a community and safe space where they didn’t feel alone, especially at a PWI where it’s easy to feel alone.

I went to a couple of meetings in the spring just to see how things were. From that moment, I knew this was what I wanted to do, so the year after, I got on the board. I was originally the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee liaison, but I became the Black Student Union liaison, which was a new position,  because I also wanted to be on the BSU simultaneously. In that position, I could step up and learn to lead in my own way. So, I learned how the BSAG board works in preparation for my first time as co-chair this year. But again, my drive is to give back to the Black athlete community here and give them a sense of support and safe space on campus. 

Could you speak to some of the challenges of being a Black athlete on campus? How does BSAG help? 

One of the challenges here is that you don’t see a lot of familiarity. There are a lot of white people here, and it feels a little isolating. And that could be anywhere, it doesn’t just have to be at a PWI.Being on the football team, where there are a lot of Black athletes, it feels good to have that community. You feel much better when you see someone who looks like you. But when I got to the baseball team, there weren’t many Black players. It made me realize how many teams might lack that Black athlete connection. My whole goal in BSAG is to ensure they know they have a support system and a sense of family with the other Black athletes.

Now that you’re officially a BSAG co-chair, what’s something you want to accomplish in the next year for Black student-athletes? 

I want to reach out to many Black athletes and have a lot of events where we can come together so that they feel that safe space. One of my goals is to make sure BSAG is heard. I want to make sure that it’s out there and that there’s not one Black athlete who goes here and doesn’t know what BSAG is. Even if they don’t want to be a board member, [making sure] that they’re part of it in some way [is important] because I think the common misconception is that you have to do a lot of work to be a part of BSAG, which is a huge misunderstanding. It’s so much more than that, and the people that originally organized this wanted more for it and wanted a sense of family. That’s what I hope to give to all the Black athletes here.