There are two dates Chris Landrum will remember for the rest of his life – the birth of his son, Chris Landrum Jr., and when he married his wife, Bria.
“It’s actually not difficult being a married college athlete,” Landrum said. “Honestly, it kind of settled things down for me. Things like coming home and food being ready for you makes it a lot easier.”
Landrum says that being an athlete keeps him away from home during the season, and his wife understands the commitment it takes to be an athlete.
“She understands that during the season I’m not home a lot,” he said. “I think that’s a big deal because, if she didn’t, it could cause problems.”
The couple has been together since Landrum’s senior year at Sweet Water High School in Sweet Water, Ala., where he helped his team win the 2010 state championship and was named MVP of the game.
The redshirt junior defensive end transferred to Jacksonville State from Auburn University prior to the start of the 2013 football season. Since then, he has taken the Ohio Valley Conference by storm by being named 2013 OVC All-Newcomer and selected as a 2014 Preseason All-OVC player.
“I feel excited that I made the move that I did,” Landrum said. “Coming here, I really got the opportunity to do what I really wanted to do, and that was to play football. The fact that I’m playing for great coaches along with having great teammates makes it that much better.”
Along with getting the opportunity to play more football, he’s gotten a chance to take on a leadership role.
“I wanted to take a leadership role and show people that I can play,” Landrum said. “Coming here, I was allowed to get on the field a lot more and allowed to play. I think it’s starting to show that I can actually play ball.”
Despite recording 38 tackles and finishing second on the team with 11 tackles for a loss in his first season as a Gamecock in 2013, Landrum knows his biggest critic isn’t his wife or son.
“My biggest critic is going to be my dad,” Landrum said. “With him, he keeps pushing and pushing me. I know he means well by everything. He’s my biggest critic and my biggest fan also.”
His biggest critic, Roosevelt Landrum, hasn’t missed a game since his son began playing high school football in the eighth grade.
Like most athletes entering the end of their collegiate career, Landrum hopes to be able to continue doing what he does, and that’s playing football while being able to take care of his family, a family that has missed only two JSU games this season – the season opener at Michigan State and the Gamecocks’ OVC game at Murray State.
“I don’t feel any added pressure knowing they’re in attendance,” he said. “I actually enjoy when I have a lot of family watching. It makes it a lot more fun.”
Ch
ris Brown is a sophomore at Jacksonville State University majoring in communications and digital journalism. Brown serves as a student worker within the JSU Sports Information Department.