Rashad Amos: Mama's Not-So-Little Boy

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"Take it to the house!"

If you listen closely at Saturday's Miami Football game vs. Bowling Green, you'll very likely hear Dee Amos yelling encouragement to her son, RedHawk running back Rashad Amos.

Of course, to be fair, even if you're NOT listening closely, you'll probably still hear this proud mother's words of encouragement echoing through the Yager Stadium crowd.

"She has a really loud voice," Rashad said with a smile. "It projects!"

"Well, I've been yelling to Rashad, 'Take it to the house!', since he was in middle school. That's my go-to," Dee said. "Or I'm yelling, 'That's how we do it, little boy!' Of course, he's 6-foot-2, 230 pounds!

"But I promise you…he hears me. His dad can yell 'Amos' or whatever and he may or may not hear it, but if I yell 'Little boy,' he's going to know it's me!"

Rashad, a redshirt sophomore from Fayetteville, Ga., always appreciates his parents making the effort to come north and watch him play in person. "They get a flight every time," he explained.

"I don't know how they do it; they always show up."

However, this weekend's contest will be an extra-special one for the Amos family. As part of Miami's annual Cancer Awareness game, each RedHawk player will be wearing a ribbon decal on the side of his helmet to symbolize how he personally has been affected by cancer. The color of the ribbon varies from student-athlete to student-athlete, because each player chose the color that meant the most to them.

Cancer Helmets

And when Rashad Amos takes the field, his helmet will feature a pink ribbon to symbolize breast cancer. That selection not only remembers his late great-grandmother (who passed away in 2012), but also honors another person in his family, one who fought and survived that awful disease.

A person he calls his 'everything.'

His mother, Dee.

She was diagnosed in early 2017 with triple-negative ductal carcinoma and said she will never forget the day she had to share the devastating news with the rest of her family.

"We went for pizza, my husband and I sat them down, and I told them that I had been diagnosed with breast cancer," the mother of five recounted.

"The look in my children's eyes continued to play in my mind every day. I decided then: I'm going to put forth everything I've got to fight this…it fueled me."

"That was definitely a hard time for me," added Rashad, the youngest of the five Amos siblings. "I knew they had called for a family meeting, but I didn't know what it was about…

"I had never heard anything like that from her."

Dee made the decision to pursue a holistic treatment, opting against a potential double mastectomy, chemotherapy or radiation. After serving as her grandmother's caregiver for more than a decade, she knew that each approach had its own pros, cons and risks.

Her prescribed treatment included an IV infusion she called a 'vitamin cocktail' as well as removing or reducing certain foods from her diet and finding ways to significantly 'de-stress,' which often involved walking on the beach.

There were plenty of highs and lows for Dee that year, but through it all, the support of her family meant everything to her. "If I needed a day down, they let me have my day. Especially Rashad," she said.

"We call him Dr. Rashad…he is very intuitive about if I'm not feeling well…he was always the one to be like, 'How's Ma feeling today? Where's she at? Did she do X, Y and Z? Ma, I need you to do this.

"That's why we call him Dr. Rashad: He's always 'prescribing' something!"

The Amos family rejoiced that summer when another round of tests, X-rays and mammograms showed that one of Dee's lumps had begun to shrink. She continued to progress in her battle against cancer, and was classified as tumor-free that October. Her doctors officially declared her cancer-free 12 months later, in the fall of 2018.

And while the RedHawks chase a fifth consecutive victory on the gridiron this Saturday, that will still be the victory that always means the most to Mama's not-so-little boy.

"My mom was always there for me," Rashad said. "She was like my rock…she did everything for me [growing up]. Took me to practice, took me to extra workouts. Even when my dad was at work; if he couldn't make it, my mom was literally always there…

"Knowing that could go away, it was a big realization for me to never take it for granted and always appreciate every moment with her and the rest of my family."

Among the myriad of things Rashad credits his mother for is helping him find his natural position on the football field as a youngster. (And although that may not rank very high on the list of the most important things Dee did for her son, it's certainly paying off for Chuck Martin's program this fall!) Rashad Amos

"I started out playing center and guard when I was seven years old," Rashad said. "My second year, I moved to another team and my mom told them I needed to play running back because I was fast.

"They would tell me to get the ball and just run, and I started scoring immediately."

Now in his first year with the RedHawks after transferring from South Carolina, the Liberal Studies major is already making his presence felt in the Miami backfield. He produced his first career 100-yard game in Week 2 at UMass and has scored touchdowns in each of the last two contests.

And even though he might have gone viral last weekend because the broadcast graphic credited his one-yard scoring run to 'Firstname Lastname', it's safe to say fans around the conference and the country will know Rashad Amos' name sooner rather than later.

"It's always pleasing for me, for my mom and dad to see me have good games," Rashad said. "Playing college football has always been a dream of mine and theirs too. They want me to do what I love, and that's what I'm doing.

"There are a lot more games to be played, but I'm really enjoying everything about it," Rashad said. "I'm hoping we get where we want to this year and win a championship."

And if Miami Football ends up playing for a MAC title in Detroit in a couple of months, expect to see (and hear!) Dee Amos cheering on her son…just like he's constantly encouraged her.

This weekend is only the latest example.

"To see him on the field with that ribbon on reminds me of how that little boy loves me," Dee said. "He's always been that kid: Always checking to make sure Mama's okay.

"I go to see those games because we Amoses come to support. I don't care if tiddlywinks is your specialty, or if you've got aspirations to be a big-time superstar or president: We're going to be there to support.

"And that's just him supporting me."

Find more Front Row Features at: MiamiRedHawks.com/FrontRowFeatures.

Rashad Amos and the 4-1 RedHawks take on Bowling Green this Saturday, Oct. 7 at Yager Stadium in the program's annual Cancer Awareness game. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m., and tickets are available for purchase now! Buy a Friends and Family Ticket Package (four or more tickets starting at $88) to receive one gift for each ticketholder and a Brick & Ivy coupon.

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