Tennessee’s Small presents Jesus to local athletes

Jabari Small didn’t know it, but he had a tie to Jackson he didn’t know about while he was speaking at Englewood Baptist Church on Wednesday, July 17.

The Tennessee football alum who played high school ball at Briarcrest Christian in Shelby County found out his high school coach, Brian Stewart, once coached at Jackson Christian.

“That’s probably why I’ve gotten a couple of texts from him since I’ve been here,” Small said. “I love that man. He had a big impact on me.”

Small was at Englewood as part of the Champions for Christ speaker series that comes to West Tennessee each July with different speakers at different churches.

Small wasn’t originally slated to speak at Englewood, but when Titans quarterback Malik Willis got hurt the day before and wouldn’t be able to come, Sam McElroy, who typically emcees the events and is also a coordinator, called Small, who lives in the Memphis area, to see if he could make the trip to Jackson.

“Without any hesitation, he said, ‘I’d love to,’ and here we are,’” McElroy said when telling to the story to the crowd that consisted of the high school football teams from South Side, Liberty, Trinity Christian Academy and Northeast Middle.

Small was a standout running back at Briarcrest that had scholarship offers from multiple Southeastern Conference schools.

He originally chose Ole Miss, but they made a coaching change when he was still in high school, so he made a change too and went to Tennessee and played from 2020-23.

He was a part of some big moments for the Vols, nothing bigger than the win in 2022 over Alabama.

“I don’t know how long it had been since we’d beaten them, but it was a long time,” Small said before most of the 500 in attendance began applauding the win.

Small has since graduated from Tennessee and went through three days of the NFL Draft earlier this year and wasn’t taken by any team.

“We went through the draft, and God had a different plan for me than what I had,” said Small, who signed as an undrafted free agent with the Tennessee Titans and starts preseason camp later this month competing for a spot on their roster each week in the preseason. “Things have gone differently than I would’ve had them, but I believe I am where I am now because this is where God wants me.

“So it’s my job to do my best in these workouts and represent Him in the process. He’s got a plan, and I trust it because ever since I turned my life over to him at 7 or 8 years old, I’ve learned to trust Him with those things I can’t control. And I’ve got to continue to keep learning that.”

After the conversation between Small and McElroy, Englewood Next Generations Pastor Jeremy Montgomery gave a gospel presentation that about 50 student-athletes responded to from all schools.

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news