Students may have noticed several empty seats in their classrooms during the week of Sept 2 through 6. During that time, Radford’s football team was off in Washington and Oregon. They attended college tours at Pacific University, Lewis and Clark University, Western Oregon University, and Oregon State. The trip served as a great opportunity for coaches and players, especially those that may be heading towards the next level.

Aperaamo Augafa, known as Coach Amo is one of the many coaches of Radford’s football team. Visiting colleges gave him and other coaches the chance to take notes on how to advance their players. He described how the experience affected his coaching style. He said “I guess it reassured our goals as coaches, to win and to have the same mindset going into games and practices.” Amo also explained that they incorporated new pre-game drills inspired by Oregon State.

While the trip was influential to coaches, it was the athletes who took in the experience the greatest. Junior Ezekiel Schulz, #21, is one of Radford football’s linebackers. He discussed what he learned from the several college tours and how he was informed on the recruiting process.

“A lot of the places we went to we got to talk to the coaches and the recruiting coordinators and they talked a lot about how to get recognized, the recruiting process and how to get in contact with coaches,” he said.

Being an upperclassmen, this information is critical when approaching the future and knowing what decisions to make and how to approach them

Senior Jacob Sullivan, #7, who is Radford’s receiver and also plays safety, reviews the general development of the team over the course of the trip since arriving back in Hawaii. “I think there was a newfound confidence mostly because of the way we played in the game at Skyview,” he said. He also discussed the growing sense of community among the players and how they discovered one another’s personalities off the field.

Overall, the entire experience was able to provide a stronger, closer, and well-informed environment for Radford’s football team from preparing for the next level to creating a closer knit community. It is without a doubt their performance taking off during this 2024 season hasn’t gone unnoticed.