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Humble but motivated Chris Garrett driven by family
At CSP, Garrett set the NCAA Division II record for career forced fumbles with 15, finished third in NCAA Division II history with 1.30 sacks per game, set the CSP career record and finished 13th in Division II history & second in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) history with 36.5 sacks. He also finished 14th in Division II football career history with 1.73 tackles for loss per game.That production overlapped with D2CCA, Associated Press, D2Football.com and Don Hansen All-America First Team recognition, AFCA All-America Second Team honors in 2019, as well as All-America First Team by the AFCA and Associated Press, All-America Second Team by D2CCA, Third Team All-America honors from Don Hansen's Football Gazette and honorable mention by D2Football.com in 2018.
On and off the field, Garrett developed into the best leader Currier said he's ever had in two decades of coaching, a comment prompted by the behavior Garrett modeled while with the program.
Currier said people automatically respected Garrett because of the way he lived, with a relentless work ethic, selfless attitude and likeability, as well as conversations about faith (Garrett was a Fellowship of Christian Athletes leader for the program).
"I've had so many people on the team he would text me or talk to me in my meetings with them and just tell me how much Chris Garrett inspired them," Curriers aid. "It could be from the weight room, or it could be from a conversation about about faith in the dorm room."
He also came to CSP to make a difference.
"I know a part of it was finances, but I also know he wanted to come to this program, because he had told me a variety of times throughout the time he was here, to change this place and this program and be part of that change and lead the change," Currier said. "When he's in the locker room, there's no doubt that he'll never be negative if something's not going his way. He's a positive person."
The chance to build on that production in a fourth season, however, went by the wayside after COVID-19 concerns canceled the 2020 fall sports season.
Chris said he never entertained the idea of transferring out of CSP to a Division I school to try to play last fall. However, the conversation with Ambretta and his now-wife Mikayla about whether to declare for the draft or use the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA was a difficult one – even if he later determined coming out was the right call.
"(Having the season cancelled) was tough," Chris said. "I was expecting to go and play, I was just going to go back to school and play that extra year. But just from the feedback I was getting, it almost seemed best to come out. And then also, I'm just wanting to constantly keep developing my game, and I knew that taking this risk and coming out now probably would be the best opportunity for me to get better, quicker, and to make those strides that I know I need to make."
Garrett also had an idea of where he stood in the eyes of league evaluators thanks to Kelly Kleine – now the highest-ranking woman in scouting in NFL history as executive director of football operations for the Denver Broncos.
Prior to that ascension in May, Kline spent nine years in the Minnesota Vikings' scouting department and helped organized a Zoom call in early August 2020 to help NFL scouts learn more about Garrett. Every team was represented on the call, which included Garrett, the CSP's strength coach and the main 4-5 CSP coaches who worked closest with him – "40-some people" in total, according to Currier, with "a bunch" of scouts following up for more information.
Eventually, Garrett made his mind up about pursuing his NFL dream and declaring later in the fall.
While continuing to navigate the pre-draft process, Garrett also got an assist from his now brother-in-law Sean Smith, whose wife is sisters with Garrett's wife.
The two of them had formed a connection from working together on a tree crew for a couple summers in college, Garrett being a family friend of Smith's wife and being raised by divorced parents. So when Garrett decided to declare, Sean stepped in as his "pseudo-agent" to help him with the early stages of the process, serving as a sounding board while Chris vetted potential reps.
Smith said Garrett wanted to move back to Milwaukee after declaring for the draft, so he and his wife and their two young daughters opened up their home to him, giving Chris a place to stay for a couple months before he moved into a place of his own. Sean's home was about 15-20 minutes from NX Level, the facility where Garrett would train prior to the draft and where current Cardinals defensive lineman J.J. Watt trains.
Competing in the Hula Bowl in early February offered additional exposure. Garrett also made a Twitter page to share highlights. When his Pro Day performance at the University of Minnesota didn't go his way, Garrett did another at Concordia St. Paul with the Vikings scouts and increased his broad jump from 9 feet to 9 feet 6 inches, his 40-yard dash time from 4.83 seconds to 4.72.
Collectively, the work Garrett put in was enough to earn a surprise phone call from Rams general manager Les Snead in the seventh round of the NFL Draft after expecting to be picked up as a priority free agent.
"It's kind of like how I address everything," Garrett said. "I do what I can to put myself in the best position. And after that, whatever happens, happens. It's not in my control. I always prepare myself for the best and the worst. Obviously it's not the worst thing to be a priority free agent, it's still a pretty cool thing."
"When he made the decision to not take his senior year and just go into the draft, I think he really just made it and went all in," Mikayla told theRams.com in a phone interview last month. "Seeing him work towards this goal has been amazing, because honestly, he's one of the hardest workers I know, and when he sets his mind to something, he does it. So that's just been really, honestly fun to watch, because I just love seeing him achieve this goal. Obviously the work is not done and anything can happen, but just for him to even make it this far has been really cool to see for him because I just I know how bad he wanted this."
Chris kept getting calls all throughout Day 3 of the draft – he told St. Paul Pioneer-Press more than 20 NFL teams reached out about signing him as an undrafted free agent – so when Snead called, he thought it was just another club wanting to discuss that.
"I couldn't believe they wanted to draft me," Chris said. "It was unbelievable."
