football – The Oberlin Review

Football Quarterback Looks to Pass the Torch

November 8, 2019

The Oberlin College football team suffered through one of its worst seasons in recent memory in 2016, going 0–10. However, for followers of the Yeomen, there was a bright spot. Then first-year quarterback Zach Taylor was able to excite fans with his dynamic play, accounting for 2,284 total yards and 16 total touchdowns. This impressive season would be the beginning of one of the most accomplished individual careers in Oberlin history. Unfortunately, now in his fourth year, Taylor has been p...

Von Wooding Moves Up in OC Record Book

November 1, 2019

All Talk: Varsity Athletes Go In On Trash Talk

Khalid McCalla, Contributing Sports Editor

October 11, 2019

College athletics are highly competitive and every athlete is unique in how they respond to and handle the tense moments that arise during competition. One method is a favorite among many: trash talk. While from the outside, players who trash-talk may appear to be letting the moment overwhelm them, for many, it can be a way athletes ground themselves and, at times, gain a competitive advantage. The reason a player trash-talks is just as varied as how a player trash talks, with different players preferring different approaches. “I usually try to refrain from trash-talking during lacrosse games because, [personally], I find it distracting to have verbal altercations with an opposing player,” said Josephine An, a C...

The Last Ohio Team to Beat OSU? Oberlin

September 20, 2019

One of the four announcers on ESPN’s Sept. 7 College Gameday segment held up a crisp hundred dollar bill and posed the question, “Who is the last team from Ohio to beat Ohio State?” He was met with silence. One announcer answered, “Miami?” The other announcers laughed, and all agreed that no Ohio team had ever beaten the football powerhouse. The Buckeyes are a legend in American football and have amassed eight national championships since their establishment in 1890. The universit...

Bonner Scholar Athletes Contribute To Oberlin, Both On And Off The Field

September 20, 2019

When imagining the typical college experience, volunteering for night shifts in churches to help care for individuals in need is not the first thing that comes to mind for most. But for College fourth-year Nae McClain, this was part of a normal day during her first two years as a Bonner Scholar at Oberlin. She balanced not only her academic and athletic responsibilities, but also dedicated 140 hours per semester to community service. Working in the church until 6:30 a.m., she would return to her r...

Competition, Athleticism, or Something Else Entirely: What Makes A Sport?

Khalid McCalla, Contributing Sports Editor

September 20, 2019

Across the globe, people are playing, watching, and interacting with sports on a daily basis. Most children are put on a sports team from an early age and, for some, that initial love of sports never fades. However, despite the fact that sports as a concept is an integral part of society, both at Oberlin and in the world, there is still no general consensus about what a sport really is. There is the mainstream list that includes football, basketball, soccer, baseball, and a few others that are legitimized as sports by the presence of high-profile major leagues and million-dollar television deals at the collegiate and professional levels. However, a larger portion of potential “sports” exist on the outskirts of the conversation...

In The Locker Room with Devin Wilkins, Football Player, Ordained Minister

April 12, 2019

West Philadelphia native Devin “Dev” Wilkins is a senior Philosophy major at Oberlin College and a defensive back on the varsity football team. However, when he’s home in Philadelphia over the summer, Wilkins works as an ordained minister who legally marries couples at Philadelphia City Hall. After being introduced to the job through his mother’s friend, Wilkins has seen people from all walks of life pass through City Hall with one thing in common: They are in love, and wish to m...

Women Remain Underappreciated in Athletic World

Khalid McCalla

March 8, 2019

ESPN’s annual World Fame 100 List, a definitive compilation of the world’s most famous athletes, determines its order through criteria like social media followers, yearly net-worth, and Google Trend scores. The top of last year’s list consisted of many familiar and expected names — NBA star LeBron James, tennis legend Roger Federer, and soccer greats Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Cristiano Ronaldo are all featured in the top five. Many different sports, races, and nationalities were represented in the list; a solid representation of the make-up of the sports world within the United States and beyond. Numbers are fed into an equation, which assembles the list. However, a problem arises when you take a closer l...

First-Year Football Player Launches ObieEats Business

Jason Hewitt, Staff Writer

March 1, 2019

Between classes and football practice, College first-year Raul Segredo has little time to spare. Recently, his list of commitments grew when he launched his own business, ObieEats, through Oberlin’s LaunchU program — an 11-day entrepreneurship summit over Winter Term that teaches students the ins and outs of entrepreneurship through information sessions and workshops. ObieEats is a food delivery service similar to Uber Eats — you pick a local restaurant, place your order, and ObieEats picks it up and brings it to you. Segredo said he understands how inconvenient it is to go out to buy a meal in Oberlin’s harsh winter weather conditions, and wanted to provide an alternative to students and residents a...

Frisbee and Football: An Unlikely Love Story

Jane Agler, Sports Editor

February 15, 2019

Unlike what its name might suggest, the Oberlin Flying Horsecows Ultimate Frisbee team should be taken seriously. According to USA Ultimate, its A team had a 25–12 record last year, sweeping the Ohio Valley Division III Regionals without a single loss and ending the season with a respectable 2–4 appearance at the Division III College Championships — colloquially known as Frisbee “nationals” — in Rockford, IL. Making it to the championships was noteworthy itself, but now the Flying Horsecows are hungrier than ever and hope to do it again. This time, they hope to finish with a higher position in the final standings. “One of the reasons why we might not have done as well at nationals [last year] i...

Jenkins Rises to Occasion, Leads Yeomen to Victory

November 9, 2018

In the third quarter of Saturday’s football matchup between the Oberlin College Yeomen and the Hiram College Terriers, the crowd gasped as College junior and star quarterback Zach Taylor fell to the ground clutching his leg. Taylor, who had just become Oberlin’s career total yards leader with 7,096 yards a week earlier, broke his fibula and was unable to re-enter the game. In a crunch and desperate to take home the win, the Yeomen put in first-year backup quarterback Tommy Jenkins, who has talent c...

In The Locker Room with Justin Godfrey, Defensive Lineman and Northeast Ohio Native

October 12, 2018

College junior Justin Godfrey, a Westlake, Ohio native, is a defensive lineman on the football team and studies History and Classics. During his time at Oberlin he has used his familiarity with Northeast Ohio and passion for Cleveland to attract prospective students and help out-of-state students become comfortable on campus. Godfrey worked for the College of Arts and Science’s Admissions team over the summer, is a co-captain of the football team, a member of Athlete Bible Study, and a for...