Yough grad CJ Waldier having breakout season for Edinboro football

CJ Waldier knew immediately: that stomach-turning “pop” in the knee when a ligament has ruptured.

It was a freak occurrence. No contact. Waldier, a Yough grad, was just going through a practice during his sophomore season with the Edinboro football team when, he said, he “just stepped, and it just blew out.”

Though it hadn’t happened to him before, Waldier knew what an ACL tear was like. His younger brother, Tristan, had been through two such injuries.

“When it happened, I just knew,” said CJ, now a junior. “I knew I blew my knee out. I knew I was done.”

But just six months later — earlier than the usual rehab time for such an injury — Waldier returned and was ready to get back in the swing with the Fighting Scots.

After a brief setback that required having scar tissue removed, Waldier is playing at full speed and having his best season.

Through Edinboro’s first four games, Waldier, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound linebacker, led the defense with 34 tackles. Two of his tackles were for loss, and he also recorded a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

The Fighting Scots were 1-3, 0-1 in the PSAC through those games.

“I don’t think our record shows who we really are,” he said. “I just sense something different than in previous years.”

Waldier certainly has shown who he is: a tough, physical, aggressive player. In Edinboro’s victory over Bloomsburg, he had seven tackles, a forced fumble and fumble recovery. A week later against Cal (Pa.), he led the team with 12 tackles.

As an added bonus in the Cal game, his brother started alongside him and recorded 10 tackles.

Waldier’s prowess on defense is even more noteworthy considering he was recruited to Edinboro to play receiver. That’s the position he excelled at during his time at Yough, but once he got into practices at Edinboro, he began to realize maybe a change of direction was needed.

“In high school — I’m not going to lie — I was just a guy they just threw the ball to on ‘go’ routes or they threw it to me on a screen,” he said.

“… I was going through (camp as a freshman at Edinboro), and I was seeing the other (receivers) and they were making all these cuts and running these crazy routes. I’m like, ‘This isn’t me. I’m a physical player. I just need to hit people.’ ”

So Waldier approached the coaching staff about potentially switching positions. To his surprise — and, possibly, relief — the coaches told him they, too, had been considering a change.

He began the transition after the first game of his freshman season, crediting former Scots safety Sir Dennis II with helping to mentor him and to learn the playbook. By the final two games of the season, Waldier was among the starting linebackers, and he recorded eight total tackles and a pair of fumble recoveries in games against Erie-area rival Gannon and Millersville.

Waldier was ready to go full speed ahead with his new position as a sophomore. Then the ACL injury happened.

He attacked his rehab with the same fervor he attacks opposing ball carriers. With unlimited access to the training facilities at Edinboro, he made sure to rehab twice a day. At home, his parents, he said, still had a lot of the rehab equipment from when Tristan was recovering from his surgeries, so he had that advantage.

He also could lean on his younger brother throughout the process.

“My brother just offered me more positive thoughts,” Waldier said. “I would relay to him how I was feeling, and he would relay to me how he was feeling at the time (when he had his injury). I just thought it was really good feedback, and he could keep me in the positives.”

He had to make it back because, of course, he couldn’t let his younger brother outshine him on the football field. Competition between the two has been nonstop.

When they played midget football, Waldier said, their father often would send them out in the backyard to go at each other. Neither would give ground. In anything.

Waldier recalled an episode in middle school when he and Tristian were voted co-MVPs of their basketball team.

“That made us both really mad,” CJ said, noting each wanted the award for himself.

Now they spend most of their time channeling their aggression at PSAC foes. And that aggression makes up for what might be perceived as a lack of size for a college linebacker, even at the Division II level.

Waldier admitted he would like to bulk up a little, but his size hasn’t hindered his performance. Nor his brother, who, CJ said, is a “mirror image” at 6-1, 200.

“We’re just pretty physical guys,” CJ said. “We’re not the biggest guys on the field, but we don’t care how big you are, how fast. It just doesn’t matter.”

The Fighting Scots are hoping to take the same approach to the rest of their season. Though Waldier admitted their record is a bit of a disappointment, it isn’t necessarily indicative of the strides the Scots have made.

He pointed to Edinboro’s Sept. 9 loss to Shepherd, ranked No. 14 in the Sept. 18 D2Football.com poll. The Fighting Scots pulled within 35-28 midway through the fourth quarter, but that was the way the game ended. Still, it was a vast improvement from the 41-7 drubbing administered by Shepherd the season prior.

Waldier had nine tackles in that game, but he is less concerned with stats and more concerned with winning. And he will throw every ounce of his 205 pounds around to make it happen.

“Ultimately, I don’t care if I have 30 tackles in a game. I don’t care if I have zero,” he said. “The ultimate goal is to win. I just want to win and compete for a PSAC championship.”