However, his most important work at Ohio has been done off the field. On Sept. 9, Caesar received the Mid-American Conference Diversity & Inclusion Student-Athlete Award. Caesar is the second Ohio athlete in a row to win this award, after wrestler Kamal Adewumi won it in 2021.
Caesar was surprised by the news, as Ohio coach Tim Albin allowed him to have a special moment with his teammates.
“Coach told me to stand up in front of the whole team and he announced it,” Caesar said. “I was in shock. This is a whole conference of great student-athletes who really go out and do a lot of things in the community. It was just a blessing to hear that my name was called and I strive for that.”
One of the factors behind Caesar winning the award was his work with Bobcats Lead Change, an organization of student athletes, athletic department staff and coaches working to “promote unity and justice for Black students and residents in our community.” The organization was started in the aftermath of the protests surrounding the death of George Floyd in the summer of 2020.
One of the most notable things that Caesar did was make a video about the impact of student athletes in movements like those after Floyd’s death.
“After George Floyd, I set up a video which shows the power that student-athletes have and the voices that we can have,” Caesar said.
photographer | Alaina Dackermann
Caesar also started a non-profit called Beyond Yourself. In 2020, he held an event for around 50 high school football players in Oklahoma, where Caesar went to high school. They covered a range of topics, both football and non-football related.
“We went through a coaching program where we had mentors and public speakers come in and let these guys know how to get better,” Caesar said. “We had one-on-one conversations, just getting to know these guys.”
After meeting the high school players, Caesar worked to connect them with college players, both at Ohio and at other Division I schools in Texas and Oklahoma.
“It was a blessing because these guys actually took what they learned from Division I players and applied it to their skill set,” Caesar said. “These guys showed us the film and it was a huge improvement.”
Even though he played high school football in Oklahoma, Caesar is originally from St. Kitts, a small island in the Western Caribbean. The fact that he ended up playing DI college football is somewhat of a miracle, something that is always in the back of his mind.
“I’m a man before a player,” Caesar said. “This is my livelihood, and coming from St. Kitts in the Western Caribbean islands, there’s not a lot of resources to be where I’m at. Getting on the phone and calling my mom and saying ‘Mom, I just won an award,’ those are huge accomplishments, especially where I come from.”
But Caesar is here. From being a two-star recruit with DI offers from only Tulsa and Ohio to a two-year captain and one of Ohio’s most important players, he made it.
“It feels like Christmas day every morning,” Caesar said.