Under his wing Owens helps Brahma

Ethan Hanson Sports Editor

On a chilly Saturday night at Pierce College’s John Shepard Stadium, the game between the Brahmas and the Santa Monica College Corsairs was filled with football greatness on the sidelines. It was former wide receiver Terrell Owens, who was on hand to watch one of his disciples play the game that he dominated for decades.

During the past summer Owens met Pierce College wide receiver Wendell O’Brien who was coming off a decent freshman campaign but was still looking to prove that he could be a player quarterbacks could look for to make a play.

Owens who now resides in Calabasas has been working out at Pierce for the past two years.

O’Brien saw Owens, and after a strong workout, the legend who is second all-time in receiving yards agreed to put the young Brahmas sophomore under his wing.

“He wanted to pick my brain about some of the things that I have done,” Owens said.

“He’s a hard worker and definitely a guy that wants to learn and wants to get better.” of frustrated because he wasn’t in the offense and he wasn’t getting the ball,” Owens said.

“I just told him don’t count the number of plays. Just make the plays count.”

Brahmas wide receivers coach John Austin has witnessed the changes in O’Brien since he has worked out with Owens and credits him with turning Wendell into a bonafide star.

“The biggest change that I have seen in Wendell’s game is that he has better hands,” Austin said.

“He has always been a good route runner but never was consistent at catching the ball. T.O. has helped him with that and Wendell has gone from being just a guy in the rotation to one of our primary starters. He is one of the most improved players on our team.”

Owens’ advice paid off for O’Brien in the end.

During the last game of the year he had his best game against the Corsairs, with five receptions for 41 yards.

“When he first met me he said I run NFL routes,” O’Brien said. “But the main thing he helped me out with was my mentality. Just going out, being a dog and playing my heart out every single time.” carry the load scoring wise. Coming off of a strong second half to last year’s season, Fuller averaged 11.4 points well coming off the bench. As the season progressed, Fuller became more confident in his role as being the team’s shooter and he finished three of the last four games in double figures. His production will be needed and now that he has more experience in the Brahmas offensive set, he should do a lot more damage.

Concerns

The biggest question of all is the health concerns for Williams. Coming off of a season in which he had major knee surgery, can he still be productive? The early indicators say yes. In practice he still knows how to push the tempo and find his teammates. The movement laterally has not been affected and all signs are that Williams is back and better than ever. However with that said, Pierce will play close to 30 games