During record-setting season: ASU players win big, mature in Christ

No. 73 Tom Castilaw, a 6-foot-3-inch, 280-pound center on Arkansas State University’s (ASU) football team.Bill Sorrell
Special to the ABN

JONESBORO – Tom Castilaw, a 6-foot-3-inch, 280-pound center on Arkansas State University’s (ASU) football team, made a splash when he got baptized.

As he was immersed, water overflowed the baptistery at Jonesboro's Calvary Chapel Church, and since then, tarps have been placed on the floor to protect nearby music instruments.

"I had no idea it happened. A couple of hours after the service people were telling me. It was comical," said Castilaw, who also has a presence in the weight room with a 445-pound bench press, 685-pound squat and 365-pound power clean.

Waters have parted for Arkansas State as first-year head coach Hugh Freeze has paralleled the historic season with the biblical story of the Israelites leaving captivity, wandering in the wilderness and crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land. Freeze has since left the program to become the head coach at Ole Miss.

The Red Wolves' “Promised Land” is Mobile, Ala. After a 45-19 victory over Middle Tennessee Nov. 19, they accepted an invitation to play in the GoDaddy.com Bowl on Jan. 8 against Mid-American Conference champion Northern Illinois (10-3). Arkansas State (10-2) won the Sun Belt Conference title with a 45-14 win over Troy Dec. 3 to finish with a perfect 8-0 conference record, only the third team to ever go undefeated in Sun Belt play.

The 10 wins, the most since becoming a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) member, includes a nine-game winning streak, the second longest in the nation and the most since 1986 when ASU went 12-2-1 as a Division 1-AA member. It will be ASU's first bowl game since 2005.

One of two teams in the nation to lead its conference in both offense and defense, ASU had a school record 5,441 yards total offense and held opponent offenses to an average of 325.7 yards per game. The Red Wolves set a school record for first downs with 284. Junior quarterback Ryan Aplin's 3,840 yards total offense is an individual season school record.

"We are continuing to take the land and establish our home where God has led," said Castilaw. "It is just an indescribable feeling. I see how the Lord has blessed the season and blessed the team. Really it's all credit to God for what He has done."

Castilaw, who will get his master's degree in exercise science in December, and linebacker Demario Davis, a redshirt senior from Brandon, Miss., who already has a bachelor's degree in radio and television and is pursuing a master's degree in communications, are among the game day captains.

Demario Davis has grown in maturity through teaching a team Bible study, leading four players in discipleship and actively participating in Grace Church in Jonesboro, a church pastored by David Gunn, running backs coach and director of player development. The church was planted by Central Baptist Church, Jonesboro.For Davis, who leads the team in tackles with 65, including eight for losses of 29 yards, and was first team All-Sun Belt Conference in 2010, previous seasons have felt like a wilderness experience.

"It's kind of like being lost in the wilderness for three years and now we are entering the Promised Land," he said.

His favorite verses, Isaiah 43:18-19, relate to the season. The verse says, "Forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."

"That is exactly what it is like," said Davis, 22.

Davis was 20 when he became a Christian.

"I am on the verge of becoming a mature man in Jesus Christ,” he said.

He has grown in maturity through teaching a team Bible study, leading four players in discipleship and actively participating in Grace Church in Jonesboro, a church pastored by David Gunn, running backs coach and director of player development. The church was planted by Central Baptist Church, Jonesboro.

"Seeing the gospel being presented to people in an impoverished area and coming into a self-sufficient church means a lot. Seeing blacks and whites serve equally is a beautiful thing. I am just amazed at how God is. He is doing a work in a lot of different areas of this community," said Davis.

"God is very close to this team. Everyone on this team has heard the gospel and any time they want to know more about God, they have places they can go. You hear a lot of buzz. Guys are saying they need to “get my life right with God."

Castilaw, who is from Flower Mound, Texas, thought he had his life right when he was a sophomore in high school. At a church camp, he said a prayer of salvation.

"I started going to church. I was real active in my youth group and was reading the Bible. It was one of those things where I was storing facts in my head. I didn't have a personal relationship with Christ. I was treating it more like a class or the cool trend thing to do at the time," he said.

After going through a period where was "disobedient" to his "knowledge," he listened as Christian ASU teammates asked, "What does your life look like? It's more than just knowing God. Does your life reflect what Scripture says of someone who knows Christ?"

"My life didn't live up with God's Word at all. It was then I realized I didn't personally know Christ."

During the fall of 2007, "the Lord brought me to Him and brought me to salvation," said Castilaw. "One of my goals is to make Christ seen in my life."

Castilaw and Davis have brought "unbelievable leadership" and  "godliness," said Freeze, who has the most victories by a head coach in his first season in school history. "They are guys we can depend on in the storms of life that come to a football team."

Their spiritual guidance is "everywhere from Bible studies, to prayer, to actions, to words," said Freeze. "They walk the walk."

They are accountability partners. Castilaw said they have told one another, "Let's live above reproach. Let's live as an overseer. Let's live a lifestyle that walks the walk with Christ and His Word."

Castilaw wants teammates to claim John 15:5, which says, "I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

"That is what it is to have a relationship with Christ," he said.

Married on Oct. 22 to ASU senior Erica Naeger, Castilaw was the only starter returning on the offensive line. He was second team All-Sun Belt Conference in 2010 and was on the ASU Athletic Director's Honor Roll and Sun Belt Conference Commissioner's Academic List. Castilaw, 24, has been at ASU for six seasons. He was granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA after being injured during the 2008 and 2009 seasons.

"To leave in a bowl game is an awesome way to leave. I will remember it forever," he said.

Castilaw, who loathes frogs after being frightened by them as a child, and Davis are on national watch lists; Castilaw for the Rimington Award as the nations' top center and Davis for the Lombardi Award, the nation's top linebacker.

Davis remembers his preseason prayer. He prayed that God would become the center of the team.

"God kind of told me, ‘I am going to do a lot of big things but don't ever think it is you that is doing something. I am doing something for my glory,’" said Davis. "This is 100 percent God's team."

Said Freeze, "It's just a phenomenal ride. God's faithfulness has been unbelievable." 

Bill Sorrell is a freelance writer and pastor of First Baptist Church in Whiteville, Tenn.

Comments

[Ben Gallant]

I'm so proud of my buddies Tom and Demario. They aren't the only ones on the team that are worth looking up to, but I'm glad that this article shared so honestly about their love and passion for Jesus. They would have never wanted to get the limelight like this, and I know they have both given all glory to God for the good in their lives. James 1:17-18