Troy players find a new way to ‘scoot’ around campus

TROY — There’s a new trend now with Troy University football players.

Chained to the fence by the Tine Davis Fieldhouse are a number of electric scooters — mostly ones with seats that are easily purchased at Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club.

“It makes it a lot easier to get around campus,” quarterback Tanner Jones said. “It makes a five-minute walk about a minute.”

It started late in the spring, when running back Nate Nolin came home with a scooter. His two roommates, tight end Travis Boyd and linebacker Bear Woods, were wondering about it.

“They went down to Dothan and got them one,” Nolin said. “Next thing you know, everyone on the team’s getting one. We’ve got about 15 or 20 now.”

A Schwinn 2008 SW560 is priced on Wal-Mart’s web site at $297.74. A Razor E300S is priced at $208.56.

Those scooters have seats. Some electric scooters that don’t have seats are priced at $150 or less.

“I drive a Chevrolet truck, so it was killing me driving back and forth to and parking on campus,” Nolin said.

There are caveats. You can’t just take them for joyrides all around Pike County. The scooters must be charged for several hours and get about 20 miles per charge.

“I don’t think they’re street legal,” Boyd said. “It’s really just like a bicycle.”

With the rising cost of gas, even two-mile trips from their apartments to campus would add up, as would the time spent looking for a parking space.

Not anymore.

“I thought it was a great idea,” Jones said. “It rides good, and it’s a great idea. It saves on gas, time, gas is like four dollars. That’ll kill you.”

Nolin said he hasn’t seen any non-football players riding around campus on scooters, but thinks that will change, even with the looks he gets.
“When it was just me, people would wonder what it was that I was riding,” Nolin said. “You definitely get a double look. Now, everybody has them.”

It’s not a worry for coaches — yet.

“With those things, we don’t worry about them much,” assistant head coach Shayne Wasden said. “We worry about the ones that have motorcycles.”

That doesn’t mean players are taking the new perk for granted.

“We’ve got to be careful because the first thing that happens, coaches could take them all away from us,” Nolin said.