Chris James feels "like himself" again - which apparently is happy and helpful.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga sophomore quarterback finished the returning players' portion of the Mocs' first practice of the 2018 preseason Wednesday at Scrappy Moore Field. Before leaving, he walked over to one side of the field to continue working with redshirt freshmen tight ends Juwan Tyus and Gage Upshaw while the newcomers began their practice on the main field.
The path of James' college career, which at one point took him 17 hours away from his hometown of Ellijay, Georgia, now has him in Chattanooga, which is not even two hours away from home.
Online searches for college stats on James mostly come up empty. The 6-foot-3, 220-pounder started his career at Valdosta State University, a Division II program in southern Georgia. A coaching change after the 2015 season led him to transfer to Hutchinson Community College in Kansas, where, after winning the starting job he injured a foot and missed the season. He was healthy last year, but he had been recruited over and his playing time suffered - something he admitted was hard because he felt he deserved the job.
"When I first got out there, the only person I had was my girlfriend who went out there with me," James said after Wednesday's practice. "I didn't make a single friend for two months; I was just out there. When I got hurt, it was really a struggle, but I'm glad I met people that stuck by my side, because I wanted to come home every day. I didn't want to be out there, but there were just some people that helped me through it."
So James fought the urge to leave and hung around. UTC offensive coordinator Justin Rascati knew Hutchinson's offensive line coach, Matt Clark, though, and that put James on UTC's radar. The Mocs eventually offered him a scholarship, and James quickly accepted.
"He had limited tape but enough for us to see he had a great skill set and an ability to play at this level," Rascati said Wednesday. "We're excited he's here. He's done a great job learning the offense, leading our team. He's a kid that loves football, loves to compete, and so we're excited he's here."
James said that while at Hutchinson, he only hung out with "one, two, maybe three" people on the team. At UTC, he has been seen with three times as many. He noted he has found a group of about 10 guys he grew close to during the spring and the summer. It also helps that he's much closer to home now than he was in Kansas.
"I see a guy that feels extremely fortunate to have this opportunity," UTC coach Tom Arth said. "He has had a tough road and has had some tough experiences. The circumstances he came here with was a challenge to him. He knew he had to earn his way here both in the classroom and on the field, and that's what's really driven him.
"It's been a chip on his shoulder, and he's performed very well with that motivation, and I've been very encouraged by the way that he works."
James is one of only two active scholarship quarterbacks on the roster along with junior Nick Tiano. The competition for the starting job began in earnest Wednesday and will be settled eventually, but James' primary talking point after practice was just being around people he considered "family."
"It's been awesome. I've felt right at home since the first day I got on campus," he said. "Comparing what they said last year was like to what this year is like is night and day, and I'm just glad to be a part of it."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.