A Division One football player who craves the Wall Street rush and world travel. That is Monmouth Football’s Center and fifth year student, AJ Farris.
AJ Farris grew up in Delaware where he first started playing football in third grade. “I always wanted to be like my dad,” said Farris. “My dad’s always loved football, always been involved in it. I was always watching it with him. He ended up being my coach so my dad is the one who got me into football when I was in third grade.”
In high school, Farris attended Eastern Christian Academy where he had a unique high school experience. “We technically went to school online kind of like how things are now with COVID and we traveled across the country to play the top high schools in the country.”
When the time came to commit to a school, Farris was choosing between Temple, Towson, and Monmouth. He said, “I wanted to pick a really good education. I was an individual here, I wasn’t just a number and that stuck with me.” As for the football team, he added, “The coaches and the guys on the team, the guys who were older, brought me in for my visit and I just clicked with them.”
Farris knew this was the place he wanted to be saying, “Right when I came in, I was like yeah, this is going to be my home for the next four to five years.”
While at Monmouth, Farris has earned major achievements. Just last season some of them included Third Team Associated Press All-American, First Team All-Big South and Third Team STATS FCS All-American Honors.
On Monday, Nov. 9, Monmouth Football released their schedule for a spring season after the fall season was postponed due to COVID. The season is starting on March 10, but Farris emphasized and is excited about their last game on April 10, against Kennesaw State.
The Center who is on NFL Draft radars across the country, reflected on their big win against them last November saying, “They were number four in the country. That was the hump we could never get over and I mean, we went down there and put a beat down on them.”
Last season, the Hawks won the Big South Championship and Farris wants another one. “Right now, we’re looking for our quarterback. Obviously, we lost Pete [Guerrero] but we have Juwon [Farri] who can do just as good of a job [as Pete] and players behind him who can step up. We just need to settle that [quarterback] and take it the same way as last year, one game at a time.”
He added, “Once you set a solid foundation, it just rolls into it.”
Beyond football, Farris is all business. Literally. Farris majored in business administration with a double minor in information technology (IT) and finance.
He said, “I can talk someone’s ear off and I want to live a comfortable life.”
The Hawks Center stated how he loves the fast pace of the finance industry and the chaos of Wall Street saying, “Being a center, in tough, high volatile environments, that’s when I thrive.”
The business student added, “I want to become a licensed broker. I’m studying for my first test, which is the S.I.E. I want to go work for a solid company and meet the right people. Then I want to take those people that I met and open my own hedge fund or private equity company.”
Farris’ future could hold the NFL, success in finance, and seeing the seven wonders of the world. With his work ethic and determination, he has the potential to make them all happen.
PHOTOS COURTESY of Monmouth Athletics
