During the first half of a scrimmage, the starting quarterback took the snap and looked for an open receiver. Before he could throw the ball, two different defenders sacked him.

This is one moment Kokain Mothershed, senior quarterback, will never forget. During Mothershed’s sophomore year, he did almost that exact play on the fourth play of the game for the Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Golden Norsemen. He had already thrown two touchdowns that day and was heading for a third.

“Coach Green called the option,” Mothershed said. “We ran the option and the defense made me keep it. I kept it, and they couldn’t bring me down. I stood up and my leg was in the pile and a linebacker came and hit me.”

Mothershed had a lineman on the bottom of his leg. When the linebacker hit him, he twisted with the lineman still holding on to his leg.

When he twisted, his leg stayed, and he heard a pop.

“What is so crazy about it is when I heard it,” he said.

“Because I always had ankle problems back in the history of my career, I thought it was my ankle. It didn’t hurt or anything like that. I heard it pop; I thought ‘Oh, my ankle.’ I looked down and my leg is all twisted up and I’m like, ‘OK, well that’s not my ankle.'”

Mothershed laid down on the field and called for the trainers to come help him off.

“I was surprised more than anything; it hadn’t hit me until I was at the hospital,” Mothershed said. “I’ve always bounced back from injuries.”

Rob Green, offensive coordinator, said Mothershed still has pins and rods in his leg from the break and operation.

Mothershed said the injury “bothers” him every now and then, but he doesn’t let it show.

“After going through that, I think I have great pain tolerance,” he said. “The healing process of a broken leg is crazy. I don’t wish that upon anybody. Anything that breaks me down and makes me cry is painful. It hurts every now and then, and I’m not going to use that as an excuse for anything I do.”

Mothershed is no exception to pain. He has gone through trials and tribulations his whole life.

“I’m not for bringing out some sad story about me, because I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me,” he said. “Everything that happens to people happens for a reason. It makes you stronger; it makes you wiser; it makes you smarter about decisions that you are going to make for the rest of your life. I just take it as a blessing – the trials that I go through.”

Green believes the break taught Mothershed patience on and off the field.

“Here’s a young man that’s getting ready to be starting quarterback his sophomore year in college and receives a huge emotional and physical setback,” he said.

“Looking at that standpoint, that’s the attitude of Kokain Mothershed. Here’s a guy who had to overcome a lot throughout his life to get to where he is at.”

Green has known Mothershed for five years since he started coaching at NEO the same year Mothershed started college.

“I came in the spring after recruiting was done at NEO,” Green said. “And when they informed me that we had a young player coming in whose first name was Kokain, I’m sure you could imagine the first thoughts that went through my mind. In fact, I made a comment to one of the other coaches sarcastically ‘I’m sure we’ll get along fine.'”

After Green got to know Mothershed, he said he has nothing but “the deepest amount of respect and appreciation as a person and a football player.”

Mothershed said he received his name from his grandfather’s nickname.

“It (my name) came from my grandfather,” he said.

“His name is Clarence Fugett but they called him ‘Daddy Koke.’ We both have the same birthday and he’s from Duncan, Okla. My family, I guess got it from him.”

Mothershed said his family calls him ‘Koke’ after his grandfather.

Mothershed has returned from his broken leg and is returning to the quarterback position after a year as strong safety. After that year, Mothershed said he has to get back into the repetition of being the quarterback. So far this season, he has a total of 599 yards – 478 passing and 121 rushing for three games.

Mothershed is averaging 199.7 yards per game.

His mantra seems to be “everything happens for a reason.”