Dustin Christian struggled the first time he tried a new sport with a few Calhoun High School teammates.
He couldn’t quite stand up on the wakeboard. But by the end of the first day, the Yellow Jackets running back figured out the dynamics of standing, sliding and gliding.
Now one of the best wakeboarders on the team.
“I’d gone wakeboarding before he had, and the first time he came out he couldn’t stand up,” senior quarterback Landon Curtis said. “Then it was a challenge to him. He stood up and he’s gotten pretty good at it.”
The water sport is a fun time and relief from the stress, pressure and expectations of playing football at a Class AA powerhouse.
“Wakeboarding, it’s so fast and you need good balance, and now it’s just easy for me,” Christian said. “It’s fast and intense and I like that, but it hurts when you crash, and I don’t like that too much.”
The unteachable talent – balance – that lets Christian glide over a lake is one of the same skills that will help him play college football.
“I’ve been coaching 23 years, and Dustin is probably the quickest kid I’ve ever coached, and he has the best balance I’ve ever coached,” Calhoun coach Hal Lamb said. “Now he’s not the fastest. It’s the side-to-side quickness, and the balance after taking a hit, that makes him special.”
Christian rushed for 1,322 yards and scored 19 touchdowns on 207 carries while grabbing 32 passes for 373 yards and two more scores during the Yellow Jackets’ run to the Class AA state championship game last year.
Throughout the 2009 season, Calhoun opponents were flummoxed in trying to slow the connection between quarterback Nash Nance and receiver Da’Rick Rogers. Nance is playing at Vanderbilt, and Rogers is at Tennessee following their all-state seasons.
“Dustin is going to have to carry the load,” Lamb said. “He’s going to make things easier for our receiver and our quarterback. We have to be creative in getting him the ball in space.
“Every coach said he was the difference on last year’s team.”
Christian and Curtis will be relied on heavily this season to replace the yardage lost in Nance-to-Rogers connections.
No. 6 Dustin ChristianSchool: Calhoun Class: SeniorHeight: 5-foot-8 Weight: 175 poundsCollege: East Carolina, Southern Mississippi and Western Carolina have made offers, and he’s visited Middle Tennessee State and UTC.
“I want more than 1,500 yards and to lead my team to the state championship and win it, and to make all-state,” Christian said. “Those are my goals. It’s going to take hard work, dedication and never giving up.”
After a long day on the water or the football field, Christian returns to the comforts of home. And those comforts include his “Sesame Street” Big Bird pillow.
He may even take the pillow to college next year. He’ll choose his next football team based on a few factors.
“I really don’t want to go far off from home,” Christian said. “How good of a school it is, that’s important. I want to go Division I like SEC, ACC, C-USA.”
Having a lake nearby would be good too.
“We go out on a boat. Sometimes we go tubing or wakeboard,” defensive lineman Caden Parker said. “Dustin is good. He can spin around and jump waves. I can spin, but he can jump. I’m a little jealous.
“He’s good on the water. But he’s a lot better on the field.”