Blue White Illustrated

| F or most of Penn State's incoming freshmen, the COVID-19 pandemic has seriously impacted their development heading into their 6rst season of college football. Not only did those who enrolled early miss out on spring practice, but now that they're back at home, most lack the equipment to continue the workouts they started back in January. Those who haven't enrolled yet 6nd themselves in a similar spot, but that's not the case for o7ensive tackle Jimmy Christ. In fact, the four-star prospect from Ster- ling, Va., believes that his state's stay-at- home order may have actually helped him. "It de6nitely stinks not seeing friends and keeping a normal routine at school," Christ said. "But at the same time, I also recognize that this has helped me in some ways. This has been a good opportunity to try and get better before I go to school. I've been trying to take advantage of that." To understand how he's able to see a sil- ver lining in such a dark cloud, it's impor- tant to consider that Christ comes from a very athletic family. One of six children, Jimmy is the youngest of four boys. His oldest brother, Mike, was a long snapper and defensive lineman at Monmouth. Mike was followed by Matt, who played on the o7ensive line at Virginia Tech, and then Tommy, who just 6nished his red- shirt sophomore season at Virginia. Jimmy also has two sisters, one of whom, Jackie, just 6nished her freshman season on the women's basketball team at Ap- palachian State. All of Christ's siblings have helped shape him into the athlete and person he is today, but Tommy may be having the biggest impact currently. Just like every other college athlete across the country, Tommy is also forced to work out at home, giving his younger brother another Power Five football player to train with. "I've been working with Tommy a lot," Christ said. "We also have a complete weight room in our basement. We have a pulley system, bench press, squat rack, all of that. We have a bunch of free weights, too, so between having him home and hav- ing the equipment I need, this has allowed me to focus on training and getting better." While many of his future teammates have been 6lling bags with rocks to bench press over the past few months, the 6- foot-7, 300-pound Christ has been using the original workout Dwight Galt and Penn State's strength and conditioning sta7 created for him a9er he signed. In addition to training, he recently com- pleted his classes at Dominion High School, o8cially graduating on May 11. He was supposed to begin classes at Penn State a week later. But with that on hold, Christ enrolled at a local community col- lege to complete a few general education classes in May and June. The plan is to then begin taking classes at Penn State when the second summer session begins in July. Having completed his high school career, Christ has been able to join Penn State's weekly team meetings over Zoom, includ- ing a recent meeting in which former Nit- tany Lion o7ensive lineman Stefen Wisniewski appeared, fresh o7 a Super Bowl victory with the Kansas City Chiefs. Christ was already speaking with Penn State's new o7ensive line coach a few times each month. He admitted that he was upset to see Matt Limegrover leave the program when he 6rst heard the news but also said it didn't take long for him to warm up to Phil Trautwein. "I quickly realized that he's a great guy and a great coach," Christ said. "Since then, he's been checking in about every other week. I think that's been really good. He's always been helpful." Christ was the second-to-last prospect to join Penn State's Class of 2020, switch- Family helping Christ continue his improvement THE CHRIST FILE STATS Was a four-year letterman and two-time team captain... Helped Dominion High go 10-3 in 2016, its best record in more than a decade HONORS Named a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, as well as the No. 23 o)ensive tackle nationally, No. 4 prospect in Virginia and No. 246 overall prospect in the country... Was a three-time All-District and All-State choice CLICK HERE to see video of Christ in action. agility ladder, a jump rope, things like that. I try to use that stu7 as much as I can." Fashanu was supposed to enroll at Penn State just a few weeks from now. It's still unclear when that may take place, al- though there is a growing sentiment that athletes could return in July. But when- ever the time comes, Fashanu will be ready. "Being stuck at home has been tough at times, but I'm excited to get going," he said. "It's nice knowing that when this does end, I'll be starting that next chap- ter. That's kept me motivated. I can't wait to get going. We want to win a national championship, and I want to do every- thing I can to help bring that back to Penn State." ■

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