Over the last few weeks the lives of college student-athletes, along with everyone else in the country, have changed dramatically. For student-athletes, seasons and spring practices have been canceled, classes have been moved to completely online and the students have moved off campus, living at home with family.
 
The move to completely online classes has put a new burden on academic staffs at colleges and universities across the country. Paige Mathis, Samford's Assistant AD for Academics, said it has been a big change for her and her staff.
 
"It's difficult," Mathis said. "We do what we do to help student-athletes and when you don't have the student-athlete actually there, it takes away a little of the relational aspect of it. But, we are trying to make it as personal as possible. We are doing video virtual meetings, so we at least get to see them, check on them and help them with anything they need help with, and just make sure they're doing what they're supposed to be doing."
 
Mathis said she heard this was a possibility during Spring Break, which was about three weeks ago. She said the only question at that time was when it would happen.
 
"I heard some other colleges were going to do it and so I knew it would only be a matter of time before Samford would," Mathis said. "I just didn't know how quickly they would adjust or how quickly they would move it to online. So, there was a little bit of a question of just the timing, but I definitely knew it was going to happen when schools started closing."
 
Mathis said the majority of the work to adjust to online classes was on the professors, getting the information online and deciding how exactly to structure the lessons. She said the professors had a few option as to how they would get the information to the students.
 
"The biggest thing for us is just getting the student-athlete to understand where the information is online and how their professor is going to carry out the class," Mathis said. "That could be meeting at the exact time of the face-to-face class, but just virtually, or it could be going to a pre-recorded lecture and then the student-athlete has to watch it in their own time or no lecture and it's just online power points, outlines and assignments."
 
Mathis said the professors have been close to a halfway split between live online lectures and placing the information online. She said more classes could be placing the lectures online as both the professors and the students have a lot more going on personally with the new situation than they did before and they might not be able to meet for classes at the same time every day.
 
"When you go home you have a lot of other people that need your help and other situations that come up," Mathis said. "So, I think they are going more towards just putting everything online as much as they can."
 
After two weeks of the "new normal," Samford's students are well into the second half of the spring semester. Mathis said she feels like the adjustment has gone well.
 
"For the most part, they have adjusted really well," Mathis said. "One of the good things about Samford is they don't offer a lot of online courses, so you still have that face-to-face relationship with your professors. So, I think it was a little bit harder for our student-athletes than maybe at another school. It's very easy for them to get overwhelmed, just with the amount of e-mails or notifications from professors and what they need to be doing. That's where we come in, just trying to break it down for them on what is due first and then go from there."
 
One Samford student-athlete who was used to online classes is rising senior quarterback Chris Oladokun. Last season, Oladokun transferred to Samford from the University of South Florida. He said USF had a lot of online classes, so that part was easy for him, but it was still a big adjustment, not being on campus.
 
"For me, it wasn't that different because USF, when I was there, a lot of the classes I took were strictly online," Oladokun said. "So, I was pretty used to online classes, but it was still sort of weird not seeing my teachers and not being at school, being home taking classes."
 
Oladokun praised the work of Mathis and her staff. He said she and her staff have helped the student-athletes navigate the adjustments that have had to be made during this time of change.
 
"Miss Paige has been great, she has really kept me up to speed with everything," Oladokun said. "Getting registered was the hardest part, because she had to get a hundred-plus guys registered, all in one day, and make sure no one missed. She has helped a lot with things like that and keeping me updated with what's going on academic-wise."
 
Oladokun said another key to adjusting has been sticking to a set schedule each day. He said since he was able to set a schedule, keeping up with everything had been much easier.
 
"The first week and a half, I didn't have a schedule," Oladokun said. "So I was just sort of going about my day like, oh, let me do homework here, just in different spots. And then, actually, BA (strength and conditioning coach Ben Ashford) sent out a template schedule to the whole team and said, if you put a schedule together, with academics and football, it will make your day a whole lot easier. So, ever since I've been following a schedule, it has been much easier."
 
Mathis said, in addition to the hard work of her staff and the student-athletes, the professors and administration have been instrumental in getting everyone adjusted to the current situation. She said the understanding that both groups have shown of what all of Samford's students are going through has helped tremendously.
 
"The professors and the administration have been really good to deal with," Mathis said. "It really has started with the administration and they have asked the professors to extend grace (time for assignments). I think without the administration asking, Samford professors would have extended grace anyway. Not only do the student-athletes have a lot more going on now because they're home, the professors do as well. A lot of them have to take care of other family members that may be home or not too far away. I think everybody has just been kind of spread thin."
 
Another adjustment the university has made is allowing students to take their general elective classes on a pass-fail basis. The withdrawal deadline for classes has also been extended. Both of these moves, Mathis said, will help all Samford students as they continue to deal with a difficult situation.
 
"They are still working out the details," Mathis said. "And they also extended the withdrawal deadline date until April 30, which is the last day of classes. Quite a few schools that I have looked at have done the same thing."
 
Classes will not return to campus during the spring semester, but hopefully by the fall semester, things will be back to normal. Either way, with hard-working and dedicated staff helping them through it, Samford's students will be well-equipped to handle whatever happens.