James ends college career with NAIA title

May 16—TJ James was a positive influence on the defensive backfield during his career at Lindsey Wilson College.

James was a starter at free safety in the NAIA national championship game last Monday, which LWC won, 45-13, over Northwest- ern (Iowa) at Grambling University's historic Eddie G. Robinson Stadium.

"It's been great, it hasn't really kicked in yet," James said. "It was crazy."

LWC was in finals leading up to the national championship game, and after the team won and returned to Columbia, there was a pep rally, then players had final meetings, packed up to leave and went their separate ways.

The team had formed a bond that was history-making. It was the first football national championship for the program, which was revived in 2010. LWC plays in the Mid-South Conference.

"It was a journey, we had a lot of people from the 2019 team, and we had a bad taste in our mouths losing to Marion (Ind.) in the national semifinals," James said.

There was a delayed season that was played in spring 2021, and LWC went 11-0 on the way to the national championship. The 2019 playoff loss was a motivational point in preparing for this season.

"You could tell by the way we prepared, watched film, we got a sense that we could really do something special," James said. "A lot of our players wanted to make history. Lindsey Wilson, the program is still young, and we wanted to be the first team to bring a championship to the school."

James was a standout at Owensboro High School during the mid-2010s. He was a key figure as a junior, both running the ball and on the defensive side of a very talented Red Devil team. James picked up 1,283 yards and scored 18 touchdowns as OHS reached the Class 4-A state championship game. Highlands came from behind to win a 49-42 heartbreaker over the Red Devils.

James was an opportunistic defensive player as a junior as well, recovering two fumbles for 86 return yards and a touchdown. He also had a pass interception for 71 yards and a touchdown.

James had 831 yards and 12 rushing touchdowns as a senior, working in the backfield with Landon Board, who went for 1,800 yards in 2015.

James was all over the field as a junior and senior, getting 65 total tackles in 2015, fourth-best on the team, and getting 52 solo tackles, which was third on the team.

He also intercepted two passes with 115 return yards on defense.

"He was the ultimate teammate," OHS coach Jay Fallin said. "Whatever needed to be done, TJ wanted to do it. He was a hard worker, he liked to practice, he loved the weight room. He was just an explosive guy, and he did so many different things well for us."

TJ has a family history with OHS. His dad, Tony, was a standout player for the Devils in the late 1970s and '80. Tony also played college football at Eastern Kentucky University and was on an NCAA Division I-AA national championship team there in 1982.

"He definitely played a big role in my career, as well as my uncle Quinn and my mom (Phoebe)," TJ said. "They all gave me different advice, but there was one thing they all repeated. It's just football at the end of the day, 11 vs. 11, just let your play speak for itself."

James was a team captain at OHS, and he had that role at Lindsey Wilson as well. James was listed at 5-foot-8, 172 pounds as a senior at LWC.

"Being a captain, it kind of put pressure on me," James said. "I kind of liked it because it raised my level of intensity. Our DB group, we had a group chat, and we talked about the harder you go in practice or games, it makes everybody else go harder too. It's like you are at your peak."

With a limited number of games, and the always-present chance that COVID-19 could shut the team down, James wanted to make the most of his chances on the field this season.

"There were several games that I felt I utilized those to the best of my ability," James said.

One of those was this year's NAIA first-round playoff game, a 42-10 win over Bethel (Kan.) at Lindsey Wilson. James was named Defensive Player of the Game after getting an interception in the end zone while the game was still in doubt early in the second half.

James also had seven tackles in the game, and he was usually around that number during most of his junior and senior seasons.

"It really helped that I had a defensive player of the game, it was like I knew I belonged after that," James said.

As far as LWC coach Chris Oliver was concerned, James should've had even more individual accolades.

"He had a great year, he's one of our captains, he starts every game and he has done so for a number of years," Oliver said. "He's a real leader on the back end, he gets us into our coverages.

"He didn't get all-conference this year and I thought that was a travesty. If he's not one of the four best defensive backs in our league, something is wrong.

"He had an outstanding season, he's a huge player for us, just so dependable. Week in and week out, you knew what you were going to get from TJ."

Some other area players on this LWC team were Will Nalley, a junior linebacker from Daviess County. Jonathan Stefanapoulos (Daviess County) and Hunter Henson (Muhlenberg County) were also on the LWC roster.

James was a player on the LWC football leadership council, so it was natural to make him a captain.

"We put a lot on to our captains, our older guys," Oliver said. "Once we got into the 'new' normal, there were a lot of Zoom meetings, accountability meetings, where we would bring incoming freshmen in, and we asked the upperclassmen to run those meetings, TJ was running that meeting for the safety group.

"Great teams have that player leadership. The coaches wanted to be involved and to help get them organized, but we wanted them to talk about what they did, with lifting, have them say, 'Here's what I did today. What did you do today?' That goes a lot further than having a coach telling you to go do those extra reps."

Now, it's over for James, and it ended with a national championship.