K.J. Sejour came to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in January as an early enrollee, an 18-year old freshman defensive back hoping to get a head start on his college football career but not necessarily expecting to get on the field this season.
In time, though, his talent — and unwavering confidence — made it inevitable that in some capacity, he would be contributing for the Mocs this fall. Coming from a prestigious prep program at Chaminade-Madonna in Hollywood, Florida, which went 57-4 in his high school career with four state championships (as well as the 2022 national championship) really aided in his development, and that prepared him in some respects for the next level.
But figuring out how to be college football player is much as about the college part as the football aspect, and now instead of being around peers, Sejour was one of the youngest (if not the youngest) student-athletes in the program.
“You’re around older guys, so I feel like that was the biggest adjustment,” Sejour said. “As far as football, everything pretty much was the same for me at least, but just being more mature, keeping my head on straight, coming in here with a business mindset, everything’s not too much playful anymore.”
To his point, Sejour had made his way into the rotation at cornerback by the preseason. He had two tackles while appearing in the opener at Memphis, and an injury to starter Taylor Smallwood in that game paved the way for the 5-foot-9, 150-pound Sejour to start in last Saturday’s game at Tennessee Tech.
It didn’t look pretty at times, but UTC coaches expected that with the youth movement taking place at certain positions this season.
“I think the number one thing I try to do is eliminate or alleviate anxiety,” cornerbacks coach Ken Lucky said. “Anxiety is, ‘What if he runs at me? What if he catches it?’ So with him, it’s just totally slowing his brain down and getting him to just stay in the moment and attack the process the same way we always do, which is the discipline that we talked about.”
Lucky also said Sejour “knows and believes in his ability, and now once you apply the technique, apply the coaching, apply the repetition and discipline, I think he’ll just continue to grow each and every day at what he does. It’s my job to not let the moment feel too big, to keep him right in the moment with what the moment is and not make it seem like it’s more than what it is.”
Mocs head coach Rusty Wright appreciates the early effort and believes in Sejour’s potential.
“High ceiling — high, high ceiling for that young man,” Wright said. “He is a competitor, and he wants to be good, and he wants to go do those things and he’s got talent. He’s going to make some mistakes, but I can live with those mistakes because he gives us everything he has.”
Sejour’s confidence has never been an issue, and that’s important because much like Chaminade-Madonna, UTC’s defensive scheme tends to put cornerbacks in a lot of man coverage situations. Sometimes you lose those 1-on-1 battles, so being able to move on quickly is important, knowing that for a cornerback, losing the individual battle doesn’t mean the war is already lost.
And this UTC team — off to the program’s second consecutive 0-2 start heading into Saturday’s 6 p.m. home opener against Stetson (1-1) at Finley Stadium — needs to win some wars.
“I’m just going to stay down, go day by day, keep my head down,” Sejour said. “Of course you are a freshman coming in, you want to play, so of course I was worried about playing, but I know my ability, I know my confidence and my playing ability was going to get me on the field, but (what was important was) just staying down and knowing when my time comes, I’ve got to shine and do what I’ve got to do.
“I’m just hoping to have a good season. I’m just hoping to go game by game, that’s really my motto. Just going 1-0 personally and then going 1-0 for the team. As a team, being able to win weekly and being able to win my objective goals for the week.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.