Iowa athlete Christian French’s raw skills and potential have colleges buzzing

Iowa athlete French has colleges buzzing

DES MOINES, Iowa — Christian French’s size, speed and athleticism has college coaches drooling — even if they don’t know where they’d put him.

French is a 6-foot-6, 229-pound senior for Cedar Rapids Kennedy High (Iowa) who can run a 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds and play safety, linebacker and receiver. He’s also got a 3.0 GPA, according to Kennedy coach Tim Lewis, and the attention of nearly every major program in the Midwest.

“Athletically, he’s a freak,” Lewis said. “You just don’t see many young people like that, as big as he is and runs as well as he does.”

Perhaps the most intriguing thing about French is how raw he is.

French didn’t play freshman ball because he wanted to focus on basketball, and the only way coaches could persuade him to come out as a sophomore was to play free safety.

French stayed at free safety as a junior last season in Kennedy’s 3-5-3 defense, but the coaching staff will move him to outside linebacker and receiver this season. French has already packed on about 10 pounds this summer.

Lewis said French currently has offers from Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas and Kansas State, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Oregon, Texas A&M and Louisville.

Lewis thinks outside linebacker would be French’s best spot to play in college, given his size and ability. But he could play defensive end someday given his frame, and schools are also looking at him as a potential receiver. He didn’t touch the ball much last season, but he had returned a punt for a touchdown and also scored on a reverse.

“It’s all God-given ability, because up until this summer he hadn’t touched a weight … never worked on his running form,” Lewis said. “The combination of all that has college coaches going ‘Wow. What could he be if we got a hold of him and he focused just on football.’”