The students in his classes wouldn’t know it, but back when BYU English professor Frank Christiansen was finding his own way, as a wide-eyed, college kid in Provo, he ran right into history, or at least a football player destined to make some — and paid a painful price.
“Him coming through the line, and the line parting like the Red Sea with me sitting there eight yards deep,” is what Christiansen told the “Y’s Guys” podcast about his encounter with San Diego State running back Marshall Faulk. “Given how quick he was, the thing you would expect was that he would have tried to side-step me, but I hit him head on.”
Frank Christiansen from his playing days as a student at BYU | BYU Photo
Faulk was just 5-foot-10 and 211 pounds and he ran with the electric charge of a lightning bolt and for a moment, Christiansen, a 6-2, 205-pound weakside safety at BYU, wasn’t quite sure what hit him.
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“It was the first and only stinger I ever had — just fire down my whole left side and it kind of stunned me,” he said. “I never saw anybody with that kind of speed, in-pads speed.
“All they needed to do was give him a little bit of momentum. If they could give him four yards, he was already at full speed. Once he had any kind of open field, it was incredibly difficult to track him down.”
The future NFL Hall of Famer blistered BYU’s defense on that night in 1992 for a LaVell Edwards Stadium record 299 yards rushing on 35 carries. Faulk also scored three touchdowns in the Aztecs’ 45-38 victory. The following year in San Diego, he picked up where he left off and ran for 252 yards and three touchdowns against Christiansen and the Cougars, but in a 45-44 defeat.
“For…
Source link : https://www.deseret.com/sports/2025/05/15/former-byu-player-current-byu-professor-recalls-tackling-marshall-faulk/
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Publish date : 2025-05-15 18:51:00
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