Talkin’ Oxford

With the next Mims at quarterback and several new starters, Oxford hopes to prove roster reset is just a roster reload.

Editor’s note: This is the first installment of Talkin’ Football 2025. East Alabama Sports Today editor Joe Medley will do on-campus interviews at all football-playing schools in Calhoun County. The package will include a video interview, interesting facts and Joe’s take for EA+ subscribers. Today’s visit: the Oxford Yellow Jackets.

OXFORD — Sam Adams sits at the turn to the locker room in Oxford’s Champions Athletic Complex, backdropped by mannequins modeling home and away uniforms and four state-championship trophies.

The Oxford football coach nears his fifth season and third since he got to move out of his temporary trailer that served as his office for two years, back when progress was in the pardoning phase.

The sheer difference in the day-to-day efficiency of life in Oxford’s program changed so much for the better once mortar dried and doors opened. 

As Adams reflects on the then-and-now life of Oxford football, he talks through the muted echo of the hallway leading from the complex’s field entrance. It beats him and his coaches talking over each other while conducting business in the old temporary digs.

“There’s some symbolism in this thing, too,” Adams said. “That was the under-construction part of this version of the program, the version since I’ve been here. That’s kind of where we were at that time.

“Our players understand that, because of all of these resources that we have right here, there’s really no excuses. That’s what it tells you at the end of the day. The building is the building, but the work is the work.”

More details, quotes, a video interview and interesting facts about the Oxford Yellow Jackets’ 2025 football team area available for EA+ subscribers.