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When it comes to political expression, does the NFL have double standards?

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When it comes to political expression, does the NFL have double standards?

Following a victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa interrupted several teammates’ postgame interview with NBC’s Melissa Stark to point both index fingers at the front of his white baseball cap. The words “Make America Great Again” were stitched in gold capital letters.

Presumably, the goal was to show support for former president Donald Trump, who used the slogan as a campaign rallying cry. He won in 2016, lost re-election in 2020 and has adopted the message again this year in his bid for a second term.

Bosa has every right to support whomever he chooses. As the saying goes, it’s a free country. But the display — and the intentionality behind it — was curious considering the NFL has gone to great lengths over the last eight years to stop players from making political expressions at games.

In 2018, two years after Colin Kaepernick first protested police brutality against Black and Brown people by silently taking a knee during the national anthem, the league modified its pregame policy. In a vote that received 30 yeas and two abstentions, the owners required players to stand during “The Star-Spangled Banner” or remain in the locker room until its conclusion.

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The vote, and news that players could be fined or suspended for noncompliance, prompted an immediate grievance from the NFL Players Association, and the league and union ultimately agreed to a standstill that kept the new rule from taking effect.

Still, it was a surprising vote from the owners, not only because the protests basically diminished with only a handful of players still kneeling, but also because several owners told me the night before the vote that there was no need to reignite the controversy.

When the change was approved, I asked Packers CEO Mark Murphy about it.

“We can’t have Trump weaponizing our league,” he told me.

Trump had been particularly critical of the demonstrators, going so far as referring to them as “sons of bitches” and calling for the termination of their contracts. Never mind that Kaepernick had chosen his ultimate form of protest on the advice of former Green Beret Nate Boyer, who told him taking a knee would be more respectful than sitting during the anthem.

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Many could not focus on the message because of the messenger. My hope is that the same mistake is not made with Bosa. His actions are his actions. His personal beliefs are his personal beliefs. But if the goal of the NFL is to keep political expressions off its fields, then Bosa should face some type of discipline.

The NFL’s uniform rules state that players can be fined more than $11,000 for wearing unauthorized logos or branding, which would certainly cover a campaign slogan.

Failure to take some sort of action would suggest the presence of a double standard and raise the question of whether the league is more comfortable with a White player using its national spotlight to endorse a presidential candidate than it is with Black players demonstrating against systemic racism.

The league did not return emails and texts seeking comment.

As for Bosa, I’d have more respect for him if he stood 10 toes down in his beliefs. During his postgame meeting with the media, he literally switched hats and refused to discuss his demonstration.

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“I’m not going to talk too much about it,” he said, “but I think it’s an important time.”

This is not the first time Bosa has created a stir with his personal beliefs. Before being drafted, he regularly praised Trump, calling him and Ronald Reagan GOATs (greatest of all time). In 2016, he referred to Kaepernick as “a clown.” He scrubbed his social media accounts in the lead-up to the 2019 draft because they included posts that could be construed as insensitive or offensive. San Francisco general manager John Lynch specifically asked him about some of the posts before the draft, including one he “liked” that contained homophobic and racist hashtags.

He appeared remorseful at his post-draft news conference, saying: “I’m sorry if I hurt anybody. I definitely didn’t intend for that to be the case. I think me being here (San Francisco) is even better for me as a person, because I don’t think there’s anywhere, any city, that you could really be in that would help you grow as much as this one will. I’m going to be surrounded with people of all different kinds, so I’m going to grow as a person. I’m going to be on my own. I’m going to grow up, I’m gonna learn a lot of new things. It’s exciting.”

It sounded good, but now it appears he was acting for the cameras.

That said, my issue, for lack of a better word, is not with Bosa. He is who we thought he was. He’s not the only player to support Trump. Tom Brady, the golden boy of the NFL during much of his career, did interviews with a Trump hat clearly visible in his locker ahead of the 2016 election. Trump and Brady both mentioned their friendship, and Brady said a Trump win would mean “a putting green on the White House lawn.”

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The concern is whether the NFL might show it has a double standard when it comes to political expressions by players. Kaepernick gets blackballed for fighting for social justice, and Bosa gets, what? Ignored by the league and applauded by far-right supporters who otherwise demand that athletes, specifically Black athletes, stick to sports?

If the NFL chooses to fine Bosa, it would likely announce its decision Saturday, as part of its regular cycle for on-field fines.

Then again, double standards are business as usual in the country’s most popular and powerful league. Commissioner Roger Goodell is known for being heavy-handed with players and soft on owners. Michael Bidwill (Arizona Cardinals), Robert Kraft (New England Patriots), Jimmy Haslam (Cleveland Browns) and Woody Johnson (New York Jets) all have engaged in behavior that appears to violate the league’s personal conduct policy — which is supposed to hold owners and executives to a higher standard. However, none has been publicly disciplined by the commissioner.

I’m not holding my breath that any action will be taken against Bosa. The writing is on the wall, and it’s penned in Black and White.

(Photo of Nick Bosa: Michael Owens / Getty Images)

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Bronny James makes G League debut in South Bay Lakers’ blowout win

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Bronny James makes G League debut in South Bay Lakers’ blowout win

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Bronny James made his much-anticipated G League debut for the South Bay Lakers on Saturday night, posting six points, three rebounds, four assists, two steals, one block and five turnovers in 31 minutes in the Lakers’ 110-96 blowout win over the Salt Lake City Stars at the UCLA Health Training Facility.

James made two of his nine shot attempts, missing all four of his 3-point looks. He went 1-for-1 at the free throw line. The Lakers were outscored by one point with James on the floor.

“It felt pretty good to go out there and just play my game,” James said. “Not much difference. I was just playing basketball. It felt good.”

James looked more comfortable with the ball in his hands than he did in Summer League or earlier in the season, with both of his baskets coming from off-the-dribble jumpers. He still has a ways to go as a shooter, but he’s increasingly become more assertive. Defensively, he pressured ballhandlers, was active in passing lanes and seamlessly switched screens on and off the ball.

“I think he did a great job dictating on the ball,” South Bay Lakers coach Zach Guthrie said. “He got the first bucket of the game. I drew up the first play for him, but we didn’t get to run it because they won the tip. … He played great, he played unselfishly, he played within the flow of the game.”

The hype entering the game was unlike most — if any — G League games. The game sold out more than 48 hours in advance, with resale tickets starting at $200 and the arena filled to capacity with 676 attendees. The reason was obvious: The lone jersey being sold in the concourse was Bronny’s golden No. 9 Lakers jersey. The arena’s eyes were on his every move.

The courtside crowd included most of Bronny’s immediate family — his father, LeBron, his mother, Savannah, his younger sister, Zhuri and his grandmother, Gloria — along with teammates Anthony Davis and D’Angelo Russell, Lakers coach JJ Redick and Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka.

“I mean, this doesn’t normally happen after a G League game,” said Salt Lake City Stars coach Steve Wojciechowski. “Obviously, with Bronny there’s a boatload of excitement and there should be. It’s one of the great stories in basketball. He and his family, I know them incredibly well. … His story is bringing attention not just to South Bay, but the league in general and for the guys who play in the league.”

James was introduced last during the starting lineup introductions — often the spot reserved for the biggest star or best player — and drew the loudest ovation of the evening. The 20-year-old guard started at small forward as the Lakers opened with a three-guard lineup.

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“To have Bronny out there looking like how we did, I was just happy to see him get out there and show the world that he can play,” Lakers two-way guard Quincy Olivari said. “I think I’m a big advocate on pushing that he’s a great basketball player and that the criticism he gets is unfair. But to see him go out there, have fun … it was just great to see.”

Bronny James wins G League debut as South Bay Lakers dominate Salt Lake City Stars: Live updates and reaction

James, the No. 55 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, has appeared in five of the Lakers’ nine games, averaging 0.8 points (on 16.7-0.0-100.0 shooting splits), 0.2 rebounds, 0.4 assists and 0.2 steals in 2.8 minutes per game.

He has frequently drawn “We want Bronny!” chants this season, both at Crypto.com Arena and at road games. James’ first NBA appearance came during opening night on Oct. 22 in Los Angeles, where he and LeBron shared the court for a stint that lasted less than three minutes but made them the first father-son duo in NBA history to play together. In James’ second appearance, on Oct. 30 in Cleveland, he scored his first basket after the hometown crowd chanted his name and erupted in celebration when he entered the game.

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Redick has referred to James as “test case No. 1” for the organization’s new player development program. The Lakers’ plan is for James to shuffle between the official Lakers’ roster and the South Bay roster during the season.

“Our plans are always fluid based in real-time,” Redick said. “You base things in real-time. And the plan for Bronny to move between the Lakers roster and the South Bay roster, that’s always been the plan since Day 1. Rob and I have talked about that. LeBron’s talked about that.”

The South Bay Lakers play again on Nov. 15 against the Santa Cruz Warriors.

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(Photo: Adam Pantozzi / NBAE via Getty Images)

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How Penn State’s White Out — the stadium spectacle — ended up on Peacock

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How Penn State’s White Out — the stadium spectacle — ended up on Peacock

There was no made-for-television moment last spring as the Big Ten’s television draft unfolded. With a flurry of emails between CBS, NBC and Fox executives — plus a few follow-up phone calls to the conference to ensure contractual agreements were being met — each network consulted with its big board and planned how to best position its broadcast packages with its picks.

A network television draft for college football is every bit as sterile as it sounds.

“It’s just emails flying back and forth,” said Kerry Kenny, chief operating officer for the Big Ten Conference. “We benefit from all these partners working to make the Big Ten the best it can be, but at the end of the day, they’re all competitors. What’s good for Fox, what’s good for NBC, what’s good for CBS isn’t always good for the other network partners in that moment.”

The Big Ten is in the midst of a seven-year media rights agreement with Fox, CBS and NBC which began in July 2023. Penn State’s place in this agreement has been an interesting one in that so much of what fans have been accustomed to — like start times known for the White Out months in advance and the hope of playing Ohio State or Michigan in prime time for that White Out game — all look different now. Trying to protect Penn State’s annual White Out game and place it in a prime-time slot is harder than ever before.

This year, Penn State’s 16th full-stadium White Out will be played Saturday at 8 p.m. against Washington. The game comes on the heels of an emotional letdown after Penn State’s loss to No. 2 Ohio State. It feels strange that the annual spectacle with an envious atmosphere is being held this late in the season. It’s also odd that it won’t be found on traditional TV and instead will be streamed on Peacock.

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How Penn State ended up here is the byproduct of trying to ensure the game is held at night like Penn State fans desired and athletic director Pat Kraft lobbied for, while making sure the network partners get what they desire. No, Penn State wasn’t necessarily relegated to Peacock but instead was slotted into a window that met the night game request.

When the television partners met in the spring to draft who picks which games first, second and third this week, Penn State had already made it clear that it hoped to have a White Out game in prime time.

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Thanks to an 18-team conference that spans three time zones and has more network partners than previous media rights agreements, fans must continue adapting. Only once before, in 2015, has the White Out been held in November. The 8 p.m. start time wasn’t announced until last Saturday.

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Even the raucous, White Out environment that’s become the calling card for the Penn State fan base, a bucket-list item for sports fans and a made-for-TV spectacle, will be a little harder for fans to find Saturday with Peacock being a subscription-based streaming service. It’s the second time Penn State football has appeared on the platform, joining last year’s game against Delaware.

Still, in some ways, it might feel like a relegation, which comes just one week after State College was the epicenter of the sport, hosting ESPN’s “College GameDay” and Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff.” But, part of the reason why the game ended up on Peacock is thanks to NBC’s long-standing relationship with Notre Dame. Part of that deal allows up to two games per year to be played in prime time on NBC. Florida State-Notre Dame was designated for the NBC prime-time slot well in advance of the Big Ten’s draft, Kenny said. However, NBC’s slot wasn’t the only option. Had Penn State beat Ohio State last week, this weekend’s game could’ve been at 3:30 p.m. on CBS or in prime time on Fox.

“We always knew that with NBC’s first selection that week, November 9, the Big Ten selection, whether it was the number one pick that week, the number two pick, or the number three pick among the three broadcast partners that was going to always end up on Peacock,” Kenny said.

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Another new twist this season is that the White Out will also be available in 23 different IMAX theaters, primarily catering to audiences in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Washington — inconveniently, the closest IMAX to Happy Valley is more than 90 minutes away in York, Pa. Still, it’ll be the first college football game presented live in select IMAX theaters, perhaps shedding light on what this next frontier of out-of-venue sports viewing could look like.

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NBC tried a similar approach with the Olympic opening ceremonies this year in IMAX and also found success showing the 2024 NBA Finals in non-mainland China and the League of Legends championship in China and Korea. Depending on each theater’s food and beverage offerings this weekend, fans could drink beer, order dinner and experience the game in a different way — all without having to navigate Beaver Stadium postgame traffic.

“It’s the whole communal experience first of all and then we’ve specifically designed each of our theaters for the most immersive experience possible both from a visual and an audio standpoint,” said Mark Welton, global president of IMAX Theatres. “It really feels like you’re at the game. The crowd, the noise. … People are up cheering. It’s like kind of being in the stadium.”

Admittedly, the timing of the White Out, it being on Peacock and the possibility of watching it in IMAX all feels a little odd because Penn State’s biggest home game of the season — and one of the most important in Beaver Stadium history — was played last week at noon as part of Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff.” For all the fan criticism of a noon kick — and there was plenty — the Big Noon exposure machine did its job. Penn State-Ohio State drew 9.94 million viewers, an uptick from the 7.3 million viewers who typically watch when the game has aired in prime time.

Fans will still show up in droves Saturday for the White Out, but this season Penn State has rolled out so many variations of a White Out theme — a “White Out energy” game against Illinois, a helmet stripe game, and a stripe out — that the lead up to Saturday feels different. Even head coach James Franklin, who usually wears white to his Monday media session the week of the White Out, didn’t do so this week. The whole tenor of the week coming off a loss to Ohio State doesn’t have the usual hype that comes in the lead-up to the annual stadium spectacle.

Part of the challenge moving forward will be how willing the Big Ten is to help Penn State with the White Out while recognizing that the TV partners hold the cards.

Kraft connected with the Big Ten last spring around draft time to state his case about what the White Out means to Penn State fans, the sport and the local community. It’s often used as a marquee recruiting weekend for other Penn State sports beyond football. Fans prefer the game to be held at night so the visual spectacle of 100,000-plus fans wearing white shirts and shaking white pompoms pops against the night sky. Hotels are booked months in advance.

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Penn State knew Fox was making the Ohio State game Big Noon. It also knew the September home game against Illinois for homecoming would be at night. It could’ve either doubled up on homecoming and the White Out or done a noon White Out for Ohio State. Instead, it opted for Washington knowing that the start time would at the earliest be at 3:30 p.m. Penn State wanted time to make fans aware of the game theme — which it did in July — and wanted ample time to put all the usual marketing efforts behind it.

“Washington was unique because it’s a time of year where after daylight savings where a 3:30 game it gets dark pretty quick,” Kenny said. “We looked at that date and commissioner (Tony) Petitti and I spoke extensively with Pat about that.”

It’s never too early to peek ahead to Penn State’s 2025 home slate which includes games in Beaver Stadium against Oregon and Nebraska, among others. While a prime-time White Out against Oregon would seem like a shoo-in a few TV contracts ago, that’s far from a given now.

“We’re committed to making sure that this continues to find a way even in this new changing environment of college football that the White Out is a tradition that has some legs to survive and really thrive in the future,” Kenny said.

(Photo: Dan Rainville / USA Today)

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The kid from ‘nowhere’ setting records at Ole Miss

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The kid from ‘nowhere’ setting records at Ole Miss

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — They called him “Nowhere.”

He was 11 years old when he showed up with little to no warning on the football field behind Doss High School. It was one of the few times that Tim Richardson, who ran the local youth football league, didn’t have the skinny on one of the players.

“No one knew who he was,” said Richardson. “We didn’t know what to do with him.”

The coaches were so caught off guard they played the kid on offensive and defensive lines as a seventh grader. Once Richardson got him as an eighth grader, he realized the quiet, mysterious outsider was outrunning everyone else on the team, much too fast and athletic to linger in the trenches. Richardson moved him to receiver, quarterback, running back — any position where he could put the ball in his hands — unlocking the best player on one of the top youth teams in the country.

“I had him touch it about every other play,” Richardson said. “He might have had 35 touchdowns that season.”

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But even as a star player, with area high school coaches scouting his games, he remained the unknown kid who showed up out of the mist, a trace of something unsaid always trailing close behind him.

On the back of his jersey, instead of his name, they even put “NO-WHERE.”


Today, Jordan Watkins is a senior wide receiver for the Ole Miss Rebels, No. 16 in the College Football Playoff rankings. Last Saturday, Watkins set two Ole Miss single-game receiving marks with 254 yards and five touchdowns in a win at Arkansas. This Saturday, the Rebels and Lane Kiffin’s high-powered offense will take the field in Oxford, Miss., against the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs in search of a victory to bolster their chances of making the 12-team Playoff.

But before he became a record-setting starter on a top-rated SEC offense, Watkins was that kid from nowhere.

When Watkins was 8 years old, he sobbed as he watched his mom was driven away in the back of a cop car. He can still hear the officer telling him, “Don’t worry, your mom will be back soon.”

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He didn’t see her again for almost two years.

Paula Baker was a child of addiction. She started drinking at age 12, smoked weed as a teenager, used cocaine at 18 and got hooked on OxyContin at 21. She was a mother of two by then, having Jordan at 17 and his younger brother, Elijah, a few years later.

She did her best to keep the substance abuse out of the house and away from the kids, but eventually started trafficking drugs to feed her habit. At age 25, she got kicked out of her apartment in central Ohio, so she packed up her two boys and called a friend back home in Ashland, Ky., asking if they could crash at her place. They arrived in the middle of the night, Watkins and his little brother asleep in the back seat. Paula got arrested the next day, busted for making a deal to scrounge up money for a new place to stay, violating parole in the process.

“That was the bottom for me,” Paula said.

She wound up at the Western Kentucky Correctional Facility, where she spent more than 18 months. The boys stayed with their aunt in Ashland, five hours away on the opposite side of the state. They didn’t see their mom for her entire incarceration. Watkins would tell his friends that she was on a business trip.

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Paula was eventually paroled and granted a conditional release to The Healing Place, a recovery center in Louisville, where she was required to spend another 18 months. It was a couple of hours closer to Ashland, and her sister brought the boys to see her the week she arrived. They all sat together in the common room around a Christmas tree.

She had been sober for more than a year and a half by that point, but quickly realized she had no true understanding of addiction or recovery.

“I didn’t know addiction was a disease, or that I wasn’t a horrible person. But I heard these stories of recovery, and that’s what I wanted,” she said. “I didn’t want to live a chaotic life anymore.”

By May 2013, she had completed her recovery program and was working part-time at The Healing Place, saving up enough money to get a place with Austin Baker, her future husband, who had just gone through his own recovery program. She regained full custody of her boys and moved them from Ashland to Louisville.

Eleven-year-old Watkins struggled with the transition. Watkins’ father had never been a consistent figure in his life, and now he had to leave his friends in Ashland for a new city, to move in with his mom after more than three years apart, and with Austin suddenly in the picture.

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“He was mad, and I understood why,” said Paula. “He didn’t know what was going to happen, if I was going to end up back in prison. It was all new for him too.”

The football field was Watkins’ haven.

“You could tell when he showed up, it was an outlet for him,” said Richardson.


For the next few years, Watkins lashed out at home and picked fights at school, following a timeworn recipe of rebellious behavior.

“It took me a very long time to forgive my mom for going away,” said Watkins. “I hate that in retrospect, because I love my mom to death, but I was clearly acting out to show how much resentment I had toward her.”

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Richardson heard stories about Watkins causing trouble, but he never saw it on the field. Watkins would ask questions about route-running and schemes, but he mostly kept to himself, burying that anger.

Things started to turn during Watkins’ freshman year of high school. He was ineligible for the football team at his public school because of all the suspensions he racked up, so Paula and Austin enrolled him in a private school, barely able to afford his tuition.

“They had to sacrifice everything just so I could play football,” said Watkins. “I messed things up by being spiteful, but I saw what they were trying to do for me.”

He didn’t come to this realization immediately, or all on his own. There was a lot of therapy, as a family and individually. Watkins bucked against it at first, then was drawn to it, working with a therapist named David for a few years. The two of them would grab a bite to eat. Take walks. Visit the library to do homework.

“There are still a lot of people in today’s society that think therapy is for sissies, that as a man you have to be tough. I try to be open about the fact that therapy changed my life,” said Watkins. “David didn’t expect anything in return from me, didn’t need me to be someone I wasn’t. He was just trying to help me.”

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Once Watkins accepted that his mom and Austin were trying to help, too, the scars began to heal.

By his senior year at Butler Traditional High School, he emerged as a three-star wide receiver and committed to play for Louisville in the 2020 class. He liked the idea of his family being a 10-minute drive from the stadium, but after two years with the hometown Cardinals, he entered the transfer portal. Watkins received plenty of interest, but Kiffin — who has been open about his own journey to sobriety — sold him on Ole Miss.

“Coach Kiffin told Jordan if he wanted to go to the NFL, he needed to come play for him,” said Austin.

Watkins has 118 catches for 1,739 yards and 12 touchdowns midway through his third season with the Rebels. Paula didn’t love her son moving more than six hours away, but she recognized what it could mean for his future, that he was ready for a new challenge. And she was ready, too.

Paula has been sober for more than 14 years. These days, Watkins is a self-described “mama’s boy” who talks to her every day. He’s grown close with Austin, too, the first person Watkins called when he got the new College Football 25 video game featuring his own likeness, and whom he immediately FaceTimed when he hit a hole-in-one this summer, out of breath from sprinting to the green. Watkins will regularly send pictures to the family group chat of what he cooked for dinner on his flat-top grill.

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“I’ve always held onto that little bit of hope: If you wake up and keep doing it day by day, things get better,” said Paula. “And it’s true.”


Ole Miss wide receiver Jordan Watkins, pictured with his mother, Paula Baker, says therapy changed his life. (Courtesy of Paula Baker)

Ken Trogdon was giddy watching the highlights of Ole Miss’ win last week. The South Carolina alum and resident is a loyal Gamecocks supporter, but he’s become a fan of the Rebels through his connection to Watkins, whom he met earlier this year.

“Five touchdowns? I was so excited for Jordan,” said Trogdon. “He’s such a special young man.”

About 12 years ago, Trogdon, a healthcare administrator, founded HarborPath as a nonprofit organization that supplies medications to vulnerable populations nationwide. That mission soon intersected with the opioid and fentanyl crises, including efforts to distribute and inform people about naloxone — commonly known as Narcan — a drug that can reverse opioid and fentanyl overdoses. For the past few years, HarborPath has worked to get naloxone within arms reach of as many people as possible.

That’s what brought Trogdon to Ole Miss this past winter. HarborPath supplied Narcan to the William Magee Center, founded in 2019 in honor of a former Ole Miss track athlete who died of an accidental overdose. Anyone can stop by and pick up Narcan for free, no questions asked.

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Trogdon approached The Grove Collective, an Ole Miss-affiliated name, image and likeness organization, about partnering with Ole Miss athletes in social media videos to spread awareness. Watkins, a prominent football player who was comfortable in front of the camera, was one of the athletes The Grove suggested.

Chatting with Trogdon and Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch between filming sessions, Watkins shared details about his life before coming to Ole Miss in 2022. About his childhood and his mom’s struggles with addiction. About her time in prison and recovery centers, and how his stepfather, also in recovery, was twice revived with Narcan. About how his mom now works as a consultant in the recovery field with organizations just like HarborPath.

Trogdon was hoping for a charismatic football player to help message his cause. Instead, he got a player with “a personal connection to it like nobody else.”

When the Ole Miss videos were released in February, they generated 100,000 views on X on the first day. Trogdon said HarborPath is considering expanding the campaign to additional campuses, and that he could see Watkins being a national spokesperson for the organization.

More importantly, the Magee Center experienced an uptake of Narcan after the videos circulated, and Trogdon said the available medication was responsible for reversing an overdose on the Ole Miss campus.

It’s also become another outlet for Watkins, who has also worked with recovery groups back home in Louisville. And his mom will put him on the phone with kids who might be suffering those familiar pains of family addiction to offer perspective.

“It affects so many people, not just through personal use but because of those around them,” said Watkins. “I love being able to use my platform or experience to help.”

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Recovery is not a beginning-and-end process. It’s a daily undertaking, a plant that needs watering. But after 14 years, the roots have taken hold. This weekend, Paula and the family will make their regular 400-plus-mile trek to watch Watkins and the Rebels take on Georgia. Cheering on the quiet kid from nowhere.

“We’re not perfect,” said Paula, “but we’ve come a long way.”

(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic; photos: David Jensen / Getty Images; Courtesy of Paula Baker)

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