Sept. 22, 2005

Charleston, SC - Joshua Lawson once hit a guy so hard, his momma hurt. "We were playing against Bowman High School," Lawson said. "I cart-wheeled this kid, flipped him over. His mom came out on the field and made him quit right there, in the middle of the game. It's on film."

That was when Lawson played for tiny Scott's Branch High School in Summerton. His reputation as a big hitter has only grown in his two years at The Citadel, cemented by his performance in the Bulldogs' 62-10 loss at Florida State two weeks go.

In that game, the 5-11, 195-pound sophomore free safety made seven tackles and separated the ball from FSU quarterback Drew Weatherford on the Seminoles' first possession, the first of four turnovers The Citadel forced while taking a 10-3 lead into the final minutes of the first half.

It was a performance new Citadel coach Kevin Higgins had anticipated since he got his first look at Lawson in spring practice.

"That was one of the first things I noticed in spring practice, that Josh is a big hitter," Higgins said. "The guy who stood out all of the spring in terms of putting hits on people was Lawson. He's very physical, and is just always around the football."

Lawson attributes his fearless approach to football to his father, a former Marine named Johnnie Lee Lawson.

"My father and his brothers were pretty good on the football field, and they had the same nature in playing ball," he said. "I think growing up in the country, playing out in the fields with my two older brothers and my relatives, I was just a little tough guy growing up. To me, that's what's fun about football."

Citadel linebacker Shawn Grant, who knows a little about full-contact football, can appreciate that attitude. "You just have to be relentless," Grant said. "You have to be willing to give up your body no matter the cost. Sometimes you pay a price, but at the time you are not thinking about that."

Indeed, a collision in football can exceed 100 times the force of gravity, according to experts.

"That's like being in a car crash at 25 mph," Stefan Duma, director for the center of Biomedical Engineering at Virginia Tech, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Duma said the average football collision is about 40G, about the same as the force generated by a gloved punch from a boxer.

"There is a residual effect sometimes," said Lawson. "But I try to shake it off and go hard on every play."

Lawson had to be helped off the field several times at Florida State, as he struggled with a thigh bruise and a groin pull.

But he returned each time, and his forced fumble and recovery set the tone for a half in which cornerback Vince Hill returned a fumble 70 yards for a TD (after a hit by Grant), and Hill and strong safety Avery Dingle made interceptions.

"I just wanted to go out there and have fun, and try to make something happen," Lawson said. "We knew Florida State is a good team, in the top 10 every year. But we wanted to let everyone know that even though we are Division I-AA, we train just as hard as they do. I think we realized we can compete with players like that."

Of course, there's more to football than big hits, and Lawson has added some savvy to his love of contact.

"The thing he's doing now is understanding what we are trying to do on defense," Higgins said.

"In preseason camp, we'd do one-on-one drills and when he was up, I'd just have our receivers run a slant-and-go. Josh was so aggressive, he'd bite every time.

"But he finally figured that out after a while and he's much more a student of the game. He's spending more time studying opposing offenses, and it's paying off for him."