Life is pretty good for Jay Person these days.
The 6-foot-3, 230-pound University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football standout graduated with a degree in health and human performance last December. Just weeks prior, he'd been named the Southern Conference defensive player of the year and would receive All-America honors shortly after that.
He has already duplicated the SoCon award this season, when his 8.5 sacks and 16 tackles for loss have helped the Mocs go 7-4 so far and reach the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, making them one of 24 teams chasing the national title starting this weekend.
Just 30 minutes down the road, his high school alma mater, Bradley Central, is 13-0 and prepping to play in the TSSAA state semifinals for the first time since the program's 1976 state championship season. This is the Bears' first season reaching double-digit wins since 2017, Person's final year of high school. Bradley Central went from five wins his freshman season, to 10 his final one.
Point being, Person leaves the programs he joins better.
He just hopes he's not about to leave UTC any time soon, with the FCS title game not until January.
Person has had to grow in the years since he starred for the Bears, starting his collegiate career as a relatively cocky 18-year old outside linebacker at Appalachian State. Like any great high school player, he thought he should be starting right away.
Nevermind that the player ahead of him on the Mountaineers' depth chart was Akeem Davis-Gaither. The season after Person transferred to UTC, Davis-Gaither was named the Sun Belt Conference defensive player of the year, and then the Cincinnati Bengals selected him in the fourth round of the NFL draft.
"He taught me a bunch of stuff, and he was a good dude," Person said. "He was real cool, but I was in my own head thinking, 'Man, I'm supposed to be starting, I'm supposed to be the dude,' but I didn't know how all the college stuff works."
Person arrived on the UTC campus in spring 2019, and once head coach Rusty Wright and his staff figured out where to use him, he has taken off. Listed as an edge rusher on the Mocs' 2023 roster, he is the program's sixth lineman/end to win a SoCon defensive player of the year honor in a 15-year span, joining Josh Beard (2009), Davis Tull (2012-14), Keionta Davis (2016), Isaiah Mack (2018) and Devonnsha Maxwell (2021). Coaches and members of the media each recognize a winner, and some of those players swept the honors, including Person both this year and last.
Nw, much like Person watched Davis-Gaither, there are a plethora of guys on the edge at UTC eager for an opportunity to perform on Saturdays the way he has. And according to offensive lineman Griffin McDowell, those guys are spending their time trying their best to emulate what Person has done to garner 54 tackles for loss since moving into a full-time role in 2020.
"Each week, I've seen him work on his craft and his tools that he uses in the game that you see on Saturdays," McDowell said. "I think that has kind of encouraged me to work certain stuff at my craft and my skill, because I've seen him put that to work and it's been successful for him.
"I've also seen other guys look up to him on the defensive line that want to do that as well. He'll work on something, and then we'll go over to scout team and those younger guys will be working on that same thing. They look to him as a leader and who they want to master their craft after."
Wright unsuccessfully attempted to recruit Person to Georgia State when he was the linebackers coach for the Atlanta program in 2017 and 2018. He got his guy the second time around in his first season as head coach at UTC, and Wright has seen the kid grow into well, the "person" the Cleveland, Tennessee, native is today.
"That first year, he was just out there playing as hard as he can go, no technique, no fundamentals," Wright said. "Going into that second year, you watched him work at it, and then in the last two years, he's worked really hard at being good. You do this to watch those guys develop like that."
And much like his high school alma mater, which hosts Murfreesboro's Oakland on Friday and has a chance to give the Chattanooga area a state finalist in Tennessee's highest public school classification for the first time since Red Bank in 2000, the Mocs have improved every season since Person has been in town.
The Mocs will visit Austin Peay (9-2) at 3 p.m. Eastern on Saturday in the first round of the FCS playoffs, UTC's first postseason appearance since 2016.
While he's no longer that somewhat delusional 18-year old at Appalachian State, Person did have a message for that kid — one that aptly describes his five-year run in Chattanooga.
"Don't be stupid," he said. "Stick with the process. Stuff will get hard, but you have to stick with the process and don't be so quick to jump the gun and make an irrational decision.
"You really just have to stay focused, stay still for a second and don't be quick to trip out about a little bit of stuff."
More Mocs honored
In addition to Person's recognition, the Mocs had several players make the All-SoCon team as voted on by coaches or media when results were announced this week.
On the team picked by coaches, UTC's first-team selections were junior receiver Jamoi Mayes, Person and fellow senior defensive lineman Ben Brewton, and senior defensive back Kam Brown. Second-team selections were junior offensive lineman Reid Williams, junior defensive lineman Marlon Taylor and senior punter Clayton Crile.
On the team picked by media, the first-team selections for UTC were the same, while on the second team, Crile, Taylor and Williams were joined by senior offensive lineman Griffin McDowell and sophomore receiver Javin Whatley.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.