Turnovers forever: How a Black Panther mask has inspired Eastern’s defense to force more turnovers

Eastern+defensive+end+Josh+Price+%2844%29+celebrates+a+turnover+against+Murray+State+while+wearing+a+Black+Panther+mask+that+is+given+to+players+after+turnovers.+The+Panthers%E2%80%99+have+forced+nine+turnovers+this+season+on+defense.

Adam Tumino

Eastern defensive end Josh Price (44) celebrates a turnover against Murray State while wearing a Black Panther mask that is given to players after turnovers. The Panthers’ have forced nine turnovers this season on defense.

JJ Bullock, Sports Editor

Early in the second quarter against Murray State in week six, Eastern defensive end Josh Price recovered a fumble at the Murray State 34-yard line and returned the ball seven yards to the 27-yard line. Price immediately got up off the turf, celebrated his recovery and went back to the sideline to claim his prize for forcing a turnover.

A group of teammates awaited Price at the sideline, amped up and ready to deliver to him his reward for grabbing the loose football, the mask of Marvel superhero Black Panther. Price happily took the mask from his teammates and threw it on, and the hype show began on the sideline. Price and a group of teammates jumped around with the mask, spraying water into the air and celebrating, before turning to the crowd and getting them in on the action. 

The mask has been given out all season long to defensive players that force turnovers for Eastern, and it is something the Eastern defense and fans have grown quite fond of. 

“As soon as you get that take over it’s like four people running over with it,” Price said. “They just run up to you and you put that thing on and when you put that on there is no other feeling like it. You just feel like you just made the biggest play of your life, so it just means a lot.”

The mask itself changes the game just as much as the turnover itself does, as the sight of the mask on the sideline is something that brings a whole other level of energy to the Eastern players. 

“Oh yeah. That was the biggest thing; that hyped the whole crowd up,” Price said. “That just gets us going, and it’s really contagious; once you get that on, the next person is like, ‘Aw I got to get that too,’ so I think it’s really contagious.”

The mask, which is no more than a cheap piece of plastic that can be purchased at most stores, means so much more to the Eastern defense than its sticker value. It serves as a reward for doing the most valuable thing a defense can do on the field, forcing a turnover. But the mask also serves a deeper purpose, one that says a lot about character of the team.

“It just represents how hard we work, what we mean as a group as a defense,” Price said. “That Black Panther stands strong on our team, and we just take it very seriously. Black Panther really defines our past players that played here and how hard they play, so we celebrate by putting that Black Panther mask on.”

The mask is the brainchild of defensive coordinator Cary Fowler who introduced the idea to his team at the defensive meeting prior to the season opener against Arkansas. 

While Fowler’s defense has not performed up to the standard it has in the last couple of seasons, ranking next-to-last in the conference in most major categories, the mask itself represents something that head coach Kim Dameron has said about this group all season long: no matter how his players perform, their attitudes and demeanor never changes. Win or lose, this group stays close, and the Panther mask is a symbol of that. 

“Coach Fowler he brought that to our attention because we consider ourselves a family,” linebacker Dytarious Johnson said. “So Black Panther I guess is just something that you do, there is not really a story behind it.”

The mask has been worn by nine different times Eastern players this season, five times via an interception and four times thanks to a fumble. Johnson was the first player to wear in week four after he was in on a Tennessee State fumble. 

“It was fun. I think I was the first one, and it was fun,” Johnson said. “We get excited, we get real excited on the sidelines for it, so it’s a good thing for us; it can give us a lot of momentum. Especially when the crowd gets involved and they see us, cheering us on with the mask on, it’s a lot of fun.”

It took until week three for Eastern to force a turnover, but since then the team has totaled nine, including two in its win over Jacksonville State last weekend. To say the mask may responsible for the uptick in turnovers may not be too crazy of a thought.

“It’s very exciting because at the beginning of the season we weren’t getting a lot of turnovers,” Johnson said. “So, we had to bring something in to make us want to go out there and get more turnovers, so one game we just started getting like four turnovers in one game, so we just started having fun, so everybody just wants to get their turn in of having the turnover mask.”

The idea was inspired from other teams around the country, like Miami that has its famous “turnover chain” which players wear after turnovers, but the Eastern coaching staff felt for their team, the Black Panther was the perfect fit.

“That’s one of the things that we wanted to do this year for the defense as far as the turnovers are concerned; you see that around the country,” Dameron said. “And so coach Fowler went out and got a Black Panther mask, so we’re the Panthers and so you know with the movie and all that stuff coming out. We just thought it was something you know the kids get excited about. We’ve done it all year; every time the kids get a turnover somebody has put it on.”

JJ Bullock can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]