Hopson's Last Chance is Stevenson Football's Best

With each whirling, twirling scramble and long completion down the gridiron, quarterback C.J. Hopson puts more distance between himself and a checkered past.

Through three weeks, his team is 1-2, and not much is expected of the Mustangs in their first season of collegiate competition.

But if the junior seems to play each game like a league championship--like he is afraid football will be taken away from him--that’s because it once was.

Hopson, 21, was the starting quarterback for Bucknell, an NCAA Divison I school in the Patriot League, before he said he didn’t take school seriously enough and found himself on the street with a sub-2.0 GPA.

Now, in Division III, he’s trying to make what’s left of his college football career career count.

“It was a lack of focus,” said Hopson of what led him to lose his spot at Bucknell. “I was hanging out with friends too much. I needed to focus on football and school.” 

Unlike then, Hopson said he knows he is not in college to party. 

“I’m here to get a degree and play football,” he said.

A Second Chance

When Hopson’s low academic grades forced his departure from Bucknell, he moved quickly to enroll at Fairmont State University in West Virginia, just 10 days before the the start of Fairmont’s fall 2010 semester.

Hopson needed to move with such haste because he needed a full year of good academic standing in college before he could play football again elsewhere.

But he already had Stevenson on the mind, Mustangs coach Ed Hottle said.

“He got in touch with [offensive coordinator Jesse] Correll when he was looking to leave Bucknell,” Hottle said. “He ended up at Fairmont, then called. We took the call [but] he needed to get his release before we talked to him [about transfering].” 

Once the Fairmont athletic department granted Hopson permission to talk to other schools, he sat down with Hottle and talked about joining the Mustangs for their inaugural season once he got his grades straightened out.

Hottle, while admittedly licking his chops at the chance to add an experienced quarterback to his young team, wasn’t quite sure what kind of player, or person, he had on his hands.

“Very, very rarely do starters transfer,” Hottle said. “C.J. is the exception to the rule…there’s a certain amount of baggage, [but] we were certainly optimistic.”

The coach wasn’t sure he had the right player, though, until word started to spread that some Stevenson players were participating in off-season workouts together.

NCAA rules forbid coaches from conducting or even receiving reports back from informal summer practices organized by student athletes, but Hottle said he and his staff started getting secondhand word that workouts were taking place. 

The workouts were being led by Hopson.

“We had gotten wind,” Hottle said. “It was kind of a little bit of a surprise.”

When Hopson arrived for the official start of fall practice on Aug. 13, Hottle “threw him into the fire pretty quick.” The veteran quarterback, who said he ran five different offenses in two years at Bucknell, hasn’t blinked. 

“It makes things easier,” Hottle said. “That’s for sure.”

A Dazzling, If Nerve-Racking, Style of Play

Though Hopson was fast to grasp the Mustang offense, Hottle has been slow to embrace the junior’s gun-slinging style.

Blessed with enough speed and elusiveness to once lead the Bison in rushing (633 yards as a sophomore in 2009), an arm that makes tight throws a possibility and the veteran confidence to match the physical traits, Hopson is breathtaking to watch as a football fan. 

But as a football coach? 

“I’m still getting used to that,” Hottle said, shaking his head. “I’ve learned to bite my tongue a little bit. There are guys who can do that, and guys that can’t.”

Through three weeks, Hopson is in the “can,” category, much of the time.

He’s run for 112 yards, thrown for 754 yards and tossed nine touchdown passes, but has also thrown four interceptions, completed just 49 percent of his passes and been sacked for a total loss of 76 yards through three games, sometimes because he holds the ball too long trying to force a play, rather than throwing it away.

Hopson ran a triple-option attack at Bucknell, a system that forced him to become a good runner. But at Stevenson, he’s been allowed to throw the ball more, while taking the lessons he learned as a Bison to make him a mostly effective scrambler.

But Hopson insists he doesn’t want to be known as a passer or a runner – just a winner. So on the field, he does whatever he feels will advance the ball on a given play, sometimes to the chagrin of his coach.

“I have a lot of confidence in the guys around me,” Hopson said. “I have a good trust.”

A Role Model – And Cautionary Tale – for Others

Nabbing a former Division I starting quarterback is already a coup for a Division III startup in need of leadership and experience on the field.

But with Hopson, Stevenson got a player who can lend advice based on his off-field experience, too. Hopson has already tasted what it’s like to have the game taken away.

He knew he would be counted on to fill a leadership role for the Mustangs when he signed up, Hopson said, and felt it was his responsibility to “help guys manage their time and study.”

He’s been a resource for student-athletes who might be struggling, Hottle said. As for Hopson’s own academic struggles, Stevenson’s coach isn’t worried about the psychology major. 

“He’s already made that mistake,” Hottle said. “He’s not going to go down that road again. You’re only going to touch the stove once to find out it hurts.”