Tennessee State's Christion Abercrombie remained humble, hardworking and driven even while he was being pursued by several college teams.
"His character was second to none," said Westlake coach Bryan Love. "He was a great leader for us on the field, but he also was a great student in the classroom. Kids respected him; his teammates on the football field as well as the regular students, just because of the way he carried himself."
Love skipped his team's practice on Monday. He and assistant coach Lou George traveled to Nashville to visit with Abecrombie's family at Vanderbilt Medical Center.
Abercrombie is in the ICU in critical condition after undergoing emergency surgery last Saturday. He suffered a head injury on a routine play in a game against Vanderbilt.
Love had been in touch recently with Abercrombie and was pleased to hear how happy his former star player was at TSU. He had transferred after spending last season at Illinois.
Abercrombie sent Love some video clips showing how well he had played in TSU's first two games. He had quickly earned a starting position, was the Tigers' second-leading tackler and had a bright future ahead.
Photos: Tennessee State vs. Vanderbilt football
In high school, Abercrombie possessed a quiet confidence and was easy to coach. He was a humble person away from the field, but a hard-hitting tackler on it.
"The cerebral part of his game was outstanding; he was a very smart football player," Love said. "You could tell him something one time and he had it."
Christion Abercrombie: Off the field
Abercrombie was as conscientious about his performance in the classroom as he was about his play on the field.
"As a student, he was always going to be early to class, he was always going to be taking care of his business in the class; you never had to worry about him doing those things," Love said. "And that carried over into football because he was never late to practice. To me, what type of student you are determines what kind of football player you're going to be. That was the case with Christion and where that trust factor came in."
Abercrombie has been surrounded by his family and friends since he arrived at the hospital. Love was not surprised to see so many well-wishers when he got there.
"His parents have always been awesome, his entire family has been," Love said. "He had a great supporting cast while he was playing and right now while he's fighting though this situation. They've been by his side; his immediate family and his family of friends. You can see how close-knit that group is and what he means to everybody."
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on Twitter @MikeOrganWriter.
