FIU's CJ Christian, now at the UW, brings down Jacksonville State's Michael Pettway. Dave Hyatt / Special to the Gadsden Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Here's What Taylor Mays Has to Work with at UW Safety

Originally posted on Washington Huskies on SI
By Dan Raley | Last updated Feb 28, 2025 3:22 PM ET

Playing safety wasn't complicated at all for Taylor Mays, a 50-game starter and a three-time, first-team All-America selection at USC.

However, coaching this position for the first time at the University of Washington is bound to be much more of a challenge for Mays.

Starters Kam Fabiculanan and Cam Broussard used up their eligibility and have moved on, requiring others to step in.

Entering spring football in a little more than a month, safety replacements will consist of a couple of returnees who have been occasional starters, a host of young, untested players and a pair of accomplished transfers.

In that third group emerges CJ Christian, a fairly worldly newcomer from Florida International University, or FIU, a Conference USA team where he spent the past three seasons and started 24 of 27 games, more than anyone else in the Husky safety competition.

"CJ, as you know, [was a] productive player at his previous location, which is always good," UW secondary coach John Richardson said. "More importantly, he's intelligent and he loves the game of football. He likes to be able to show different disguises, which is phenomenal."

Excited to welcome ➡️ @CJC__4 ☔️ pic.twitter.com/KwhZQ3AhuR
— Washington Football (@UW_Football) February 26, 2025

Before he could become a college football player, Christian had to work behind the counter at a dry-cleaning business in his hometown of Normal, Illinois, and experience a three-year gap without the game after finishing high school.

He initially received a scholarship in 2018 from Augustana, a Division II school in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, only to have it rescinded once he arrived at the school and learned he was an academic non-qualifier.

In 2021, the 6-foot-1, 196-pound Christian finally returned to football and spent a season at a junior college, Iowa Central Community College, where he teamed with Maximus McCree, currently a Husky offensive tackle.

Next it was on to FIU for three years where he overcame a dislocated shoulder that prematurely ended his first season. He comes to Montlake with 151 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 5 interceptions, 10 pass break-ups and a fumble recovery.

Mays, the Huskies' new safeties coach, will try to help him enhance those numbers while roaming the back row throughout the Big Ten.

"He brings a lot to the table, good times, looking to grow," Richardson said of Christian, "and with Taylor being able to show him the ropes out there."

This article first appeared on Washington Huskies on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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