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| Jay McGill, owner of three interceptions for Muhlenberg this season, has held The Oar more than once. Muhlenberg athletics photo |
By Greg Thomas
D3football.com
Some people say it may have been one of the oars Washington used to cross the Delaware. It may be a splinter of Paul Bunyan’s axe. Still others say Poseidon himself left it at Scotty Wood Stadium.
Or at least these are theories posited by Muhlenberg linebackers coach Eric Keiner about the origin of the Turnover Oar, a token that has become central to the Mules’ resurgent defense, their run to a Centennial Conference championship and the national quarterfinals.
So where did the Oar really come from? During training camp, senior linebacker Pat Palmer started yelling “ORRR” to alert his teammates that a turnover has happened. The word caught on and became the verbal turnover signal of choice for Muhlenberg. Keiner, a Navy vet and no stranger to the importance of marine navigation implements, had a moment of inspiration.
“I thought an oar was kind of fitting for our defense. You can have your ship, an idea of where you want to go, all of your supplies but without an oar or some kind of power to get you going, change direction, or stop, you can’t get where you want to go.”
One quick call to Keiner’s parents helped procure a suitable boat oar (parents, as always, are the true superheroes) and in just a couple of weeks and a quick cardinal and grey paint job later, The Oar became a staple on the Muhlenberg sideline.
“It started as a joke almost. In practice any time we would get a turnover we would just start yelling ‘ORRR’,” senior defensive end Quentin Ogren said. “We meant it as O-O-R as in Out Of Respect.”
Keiner noted that while many turnover props in college football are fleeting, the Mules wanted something with a bit more staying power. “We wanted something a little more lasting,” Keiner said. “So we decided that whoever got a turnover would get to sign the Oar and at the end of the season, whoever has the most turnovers gets to keep the Oar.”
Senior cornerback Nick Sirico said, “It’s cool because it’s a competition within a competition. We’re competing on the field, but we’re also competing with each other to see who can get the most signatures for the year.” Indeed, Sirico is in the running to take the Oar home as the team leader with four interceptions this season.
The Oar has become a rallying point for Mules on both sides of the ball this season. “I’m always amazed at the speed at which the Oar goes from the sidelines to the person that just got the turnover,” Keiner said. “It’s like Thor’s Hammer. The Oar knows somebody is worthy and it flies out and goes to them.”
“We get the offense cheering us on and having our backs when we’re out there,” said senior cornerback John Washington. “When we do get a turnover it’s not just somebody on the defense going to grab it,” Washington said. “Everyone wants to be the person to grab it and hand it off to the person that got the turnover.”
While the Oar is exciting, coach Nate Milne was a touch nostalgic for the previous turnover tradition. “[The Oar] is a lot cooler than the old tradition. The old tradition was when the offense scored after a defensive turnover I would give that person a handshake,” Milne said. “Apparently they think the Oar is a lot cooler than a handshake from the head ball coach.”
Letting go of old traditions and embracing new traditions is also an important piece of Muhlenberg’s evolution this season. After not playing their best football through the first half of the regular season, Milne points to the Week 6 bye as a turning point.
“The bye week really allowed us to really come into our own. It allowed us to have a blend of 2019 and then we became a team in 2021 during that bye week. I felt like guys were trying to plug themselves into another person’s role and trying to emulate the person that was there in 2019,” Milne said. “We had a team conversation that we’ve got to become our own team and start our own traditions. We had Hopkins coming up after the bye week and that two week period allowed our team to really focus. We knew that we would get better as the season went on, but that was the light bulb moment.”
Indeed it was. The Mules limited Johns Hopkins’ top-rated offense to just six points following the bye week, and cruised through the remainder of their Centennial Conference schedule. The Mules enter this week having shut out three consecutive opponents. The Oar has been getting plenty of attention in the first two rounds of the playoffs as the Mules have recorded seven takeaways in the tournament so far.
Creating takeaways is a skill and one that Muhlenberg has become very adept at. “It starts with having great defensive backs and everybody doing their 1/11th,” Ogren said.
Sirico credits his front seven for his opportunities. “We get those opportunities from the defensive line and linebackers putting pressure on the quarterback. It’s always easy when they throw it right to us DBs so we have the easy job,” Sirico said.
Washington credits his coaches as well. “We have coaches like (defensive coordinator) coach [Kory] David and Coach Keiner and the rest of the defensive staff have us prepared day in and day out. The little things that we do — drills like strip drill and tip ball drill — it becomes second nature when you get in a game,” Washington said.
Saturday, Muhlenberg travels to Mount Union in search of a return trip to the national semifinals. The players weren’t quite ready to put being in the quarterfinal round in perspective. ““How can we be in the final four? That’s the question for this week,” Sirico said.
“Coach Milne preaches all the time about how can we get that one more,” Washington said. “One more practice, one more play, one more game. It’s all about getting one more.”
On being one of eight teams remaining, Ogren said “It’s special but I know a lot of us aren’t ready to hang up the cleats yet. We’re focused on one week at a time and getting that one more.”