Associated Press File
A lot has changed for former Fresno State walk-on Matt Christian.
On Saturday, Christian will be making the familiar walk down the ramp at Bulldog Stadium, but this time as a visiting quarterback for the New Mexico State Aggies.
This weekend will also mark Christian’s return to the state where he played high school football. In his final season at Carlsbad High School in San Diego, Christian passed for 2,200 yards with 19 touchdowns and six interceptions. He guided his team to an 11-2 record en route to winning the 2005 CIF-San Diego Section Division 1 Championship.
After high school Christian was offered a full-scholarship from Western Washington University, a Division II school, while also drawing interest from Louisiana Tech, but those two destinations did not intrigue Christian.
“Coming out of high school, I worked out with Palomar [junior college] and Coach Hill told me to come to Fresno State and grayshirt,” Christian said. “It seemed like a good opportunity for me.”
Despite receiving an athletic scholarship offer from a different school, Christian still decided to join the Fresno State football team as a walk-on.
Following his encounter with Hill, Christian enrolled at Fresno State in 2007. As promised, he grayshirted during his first year with the Bulldogs.
While at Fresno State, Christian spent some time with quarterback Ryan Colburn, who was in a similar position as a redshirt freshman at the time.
“I was pretty good friends with Ryan, going to meetings and working out,” Christian said. “He kind of took me under his wing.”
Despite only spending one year with the football program, Christian made a good impression on his teammates.
“My time with Matt was not a long time,” Colburn said. “He’s definitely a competitive guy. He’s a hard working guy. I enjoyed my time with him when he was here. It was kind of a quick departure once fall camp hit if I remember correctly, but I wish him the best.”
After one season at Fresno State, Christian left the university.
“[They’re] a lot of reasons [why I left], it just didn’t work out for me,” Christian said. “The team wanted to go in a certain angle so the best option was for me to go back home.”
Even though the Carlsbad High graduate left Fresno State, he has no lingering anger towards the program.
“I had a great time at Fresno State,” Christian said. “I was there for a year and have no complaints.”
Shortly after leaving Fresno State, Christian enrolled at Palomar Junior College in San Diego where he played for two seasons.
In his first season at Palomar, Christian threw for 1,131 yards passing with 16 touchdowns and four interceptions in 11 games. He led his team to a win in the Golden Empire Bowl against Cerritos Junior College where he was named player of the game.
As a redshirt sophomore in his second season at Palomar, Christian was named to the Junior College Grid-Wire preseason All-America honorable mention list.
But halfway through the season Christian broke his hand and did not play for the rest of the season. He appeared in just two games and amassed 309 yards passing with two touchdowns and zero interceptions.
After the season, he had scholarship offers from New Mexico State and Middle Tennessee State. He ultimately chose New Mexico State.
So far this year the redshirt junior has played in four games, passing for 633 yards with three touchdowns and a pair of interceptions.
Christian’s former teammate on the ‘Dogs has seen his progress from when he arrived at Fresno State to this year.
“The biggest thing with Matt is that I saw a lot of improvement,” Colburn said. “When he came here he was a little raw. He’s a confident guy. He really made an effort to watch and get better. He did that and he’s gotten a lot better.”
Colburn also gave his thoughts on facing Christian in his possible start tomorrow.
“I don’t really have a whole lot of expectations for what I’m going to see from him,” Colburn said. “In terms of me, I just focus on their defense more than anything. As I said, I wish him the best and I hope he plays well every week but this one.”