Lake Forest College

The 2024 season will be the eighth for Ramel Samuel as an assistant coach at his alma mater. He continues to work specifically with the defensive tackles.

Lake Forest was 7-3 overall and 6-3 in Midwest Conference play and led the nation with just 5.6 points and 191.1 total yards allowed per game in 2023. Defensive tackles Jaylen Johnson and Donnevan Plummer were Second Team All-MWC selections after combining for 52 tackles, including 10.0 tackles for loss and 6.0 sacks.

The Foresters are now 50-15 overall and 35-7 in the league with a pair of conference titles and NCAA Playoff appearances since Samuel joined the staff. He has now helped direct players to nine all-conference honors in his six full seasons of coaching.

A successful player himself, Samuel made more than 100 tackles as an interior defensive lineman during his four seasons on the team. He started eight games during the Foresters’ Midwest Conference championship season in 2012 and all 10 in each of his final two years. Samuel served as a team captain and was named First Team All-MWC South in 2014 and was selected to play in the Tazon de Estrellas (Game of the Stars) in Puebla, Mexico, after the season.

Active and successful off the field as well, Samuel earned Academic All-MWC honors, took on a leadership role in Lake Forest’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and volunteered in Relay for Life, Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association Sled Hockey, and Feed My Starving Children.

In addition to coaching, Samuel is also a sales ops account manager at Medline Industries in nearby Waukegan, Illinois.