Eric SorensonLike many college students Christian Kirk is back in the Valley for summer break with final exams quickly becoming a distant memory.
Kirk’s “break” just happens to be much shorter than most.
That’s the life of an SEC football player.
The decorated freshman wide receiver already got his first taste of college life, graduating from Saguaro High School early and arriving in College Station, Texas in January for the start of Texas A&M’s spring semester and the Aggies’ off-season workouts which concluded a few weeks ago. Kirk figures to contribute immediately as a true freshman in head coach Kevin Sumlin’s and offensive coordinator Jake Spavital’s spread offense which features good friend and fellow Arizona resident Kyle Allen at quarterback.
Monday morning he reflected back on his first college football spring experience.
“It went really well,” Kirk explained to Sports360AZ.com’s Brad Cesmat. “It was a little tougher for me having to adjust to the speed…coming straight out of high school. All the work that I had to do…those first two weeks were a real grind for me.”
Hard to imagine anything being a grind for the multi-talented, yet humble Kirk who dominated the high school football scene leading the Sabercats to back-to-back Division III state championships and garnering interest from ASU, Auburn, Ohio State, UCLA and many others before picking TAMU back in December.
Kirk said time away from the field, not on it, helped the transition process this spring.
A much-needed break to rest both his body and maybe more importantly, his head.
“We got a week off,” Kirk said. “Got to come home, be around my family [and] get my mind right. Once we came back for the last two or three weeks, I feel like I really excelled.”
He cited the speed of the game slowing down as the biggest change he saw on after returning from spring break.
“I was able to do what I was normally able to do,” he told Cesmat. “Especially after the catch.”
Look out, SEC.
Captain Kirk is coming this fall.
