Road Warrior

JACKSONVILLE — Connor Christian’s transition to Jacksonville State’s defensive line rotation this year has been smooth.

But his road to Jacksonville was anything but.

Fresh out of high school, the Dallas, Ga., native started his first two years at Savannah State University and he was producing well.

Christian totaled 37 tackles, seven tackles for a loss, four quarterback hurries, three fumbles recovered, two sacks and one forced fumble in 10 games as a sophomore in 2015.

But it didn’t result in wins, as Savannah State was failed to pick up a victory his first year then won only one game his sophomore season.

Despite that, Christian could feel the Tigers’ football program heading into the right direction.

“We were somewhat on the come-up,” the 6-foot-3, 280 pound defensive lineman said. “One win doesn’t really say much, but it feels like a lot to you when you finally get that win under your belt.”

But that feeling quickly went down the drain when Savannah State coach Earnest Wilson resigned to take the same job at Division II Elizabeth City.

“It kind of hurt when I heard he resigned,” Christian said. “That he just went and got another job.”

The prospect of having to start over in a program was lacking success on the football field was not appealing for Christian.

Folo Johnson, a former safety for Jacksonville State and teammate of Christian at East Paulding High School, had been in Christian’s ear since his freshman year telling him to come to Jacksonville.

Christian had a scholarship from the Tigers and felt a sense of loyalty to them at first. But once “things started going downhill,” he knew he needed a change in his life.

The changed ended up being Jacksonville once he transferred the summer of 2016. But in order for the change to take place, he had to sit out a year per NCAA rules since he was transferring from one FCS school to another.

And sitting out for a season was something Christian never had done before. But he didn’t just have to sit out, he couldn’t dress with the team. He couldn’t travel to away games and had to sit in the stands at Burgess-Snow Field despite helping the team prepare each week on the scout team defense during his redshirt year.

“I walked in the crowd and I had people asking me what year I graduated,” Christian recalled. “I said, ‘Nah, I’m still on the team.’ It just made me feel like, ‘Dang, I feel like I suck sitting up here in these stands.’”

Needless to say, Christian was ready to hit the field for JSU’s season opener against Chattanooga in Montgomery this season.

“I think I was flying around that week of practice,” Christian said. “I was sweating bullets the whole ride to the game that Saturday afternoon going to the game. … I was too excited to play.”

JSU coach John Grass knew he had a special player by the way Christian competed on the scout team defense last season.

“There was no question in my mind of what he was going to bring to our team on Saturdays getting to play in the games this year,” Grass said. “Nobody got to see it but us last year, now everybody is getting to see it..”

Even with the high praise from his coach, Christian feels he can bring much more to the table despite his 16 tackles, two tackles for loss and one pass deflection in six games this year.

“There’s a lot I can really work on,” he said. “I don’t think I’m productive enough, or where I should be at. I should be making a lot more plays than I am now.”

But he knows it’s tough to make plays with the way Jacksonville State’s front seven collapses to the ball.

“I remember just last game I had a guard extending out,” Christian said. “I should’ve had him more extended out. If I would have got off the block, I would’ve made the play. But the play lasted two seconds because I see (defensive end) Darius (Jackson) come from the back side and makes the play in front of me.”

That’s definitely a good problem for Christian and the rest of the JSU defense to have. But it’s not a good problem for everyone.

“That’s a problem that other team’s are going to have to put up with, because if (Jackson) is not making the tackle, best believe the rest of the team is going to make the tackle,” he said.

NOTES

Jacksonville State remained third in the FCS Coaches Poll and the STATS FCS Top 25 rankings after defeating Eastern Kentucky 41-25 Saturday for an Ohio Valley Conference record 27 consecutive conference wins. ... Jackson was named OVC defensive player of the week for his play against EKU. The senior totaled seven tackles, three tackles for a loss, one sack, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.