For most Ole Miss Football fans, the end of April is a quiet time of year — the Grove Bowl Games have come and gone, and the team will not return to action until the game against the Furman Paladins on Aug. 31. But for others, football is still in-season.
Freshman sports administration major Dallas Randall is a manager for the Ole Miss Football Team. For the Hernando, Miss., resident, being a football manager runs in the family. Randall’s grandfather was a manager for the Rebels when Ole Miss won its last college football national championship in 1962.
However, the application process for becoming a football manager as a student at the University of Mississippi requires more than just family ties. The team has about 30 managers, and when Randall applied, the positions had nearly reached capacity.
“There’s a lot of people that fill out applications and want this job. … I didn’t think I was going to get this opportunity. But I got lucky,” Randall said. “(The coaches) were nice enough to let a few more freshmen slide in.”
Randall helps set up the field before practice and cleans up after practice. This means he must wake up around 5 a.m. every morning and stay at the facility until practice concludes, which is typically around noon. Although Randall devotes many hours to the football team, he said he is used to budgeting his time. Randall played basketball and ran track and cross country in high school before coming to the university.
“It’s translated from high school,” Randall said. “I was a three-sport athlete, so I’m used to managing my time.”
Though Randall is only a freshman, he was fortunate enough to be on the field as Ole Miss played against Vanderbilt, Louisiana-Monroe and Mississippi State last season.
His favorite game last season was the Peach Bowl in Atlanta.
“That was probably the most memorable (moment) from this past season,” Randall said. “Getting to stay in the (team) hotel … it was an awesome experience.”
Since the team’s spring practice has concluded, this is a lighter time of year for managers, as players practice only a few times a week. During the late summer and fall, however, the team will resume practices every day. Though managers are not required to return to campus to help with summer practices, Randall said that he plans to do so.
During practice, Randall works with the safeties. Though he hopes to explore other position groups over the next few seasons, he says that he enjoys where he is now.
“I’ve met a lot of cool players (and) a lot of different personalities,” Randall said. “It’s fun getting to interact with them.”
Randall said his favorite part of being a manager is being able to build relationships with the players.
“Coming into this whole thing, I didn’t know if I was going to form friendships. I thought we were going to be more like coworkers, but now I’ve actually built connections with these guys,” Randall said. “Even after practice, we hang out.”
Randall said that working on the sidelines, often holding first down markers, has given him an up-close view of the Ole Miss Football Team.
“I actually get to see (Jaxson) Dart in action,” Randall said. “I see a lot of really cool plays. Not a lot of people get to see (what happens) behind the scenes.”
Randall offered a few words of advice to aspiring football managers.
“Keep pushing,” Randall said. “Networking is everything. A lot of people want this job. Don’t take it for granted.”
