THE INCREASE: Don't Be Accidentally Selfish - Tress Way

Football The Increase

THE INCREASE: Don’t Be Accidentally Selfish – Tress Way

By The Increase Dec 23, 2019

(Photo courtesy of Tress Way)

Football

Heisman Trophy candidate Gunner Stockton leading No. 4 Georgia as he aims to stay ‘in the Word’

By Joshua Doering Nov 18, 2025

Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton runs with the ball against Georgia on Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)

Texas wasn’t expecting to face Gunner Stockton when it first encountered him in last season’s SEC Championship Game. Stockton, Georgia’s backup quarterback at the time, entered the game when starter Carson Beck went down with an injury.

Stockton engineered three scoring drives in regulation, took a hard hit in overtime that knocked his helmet off, and still led the Bulldogs to a touchdown on that drive to win, 22-19.

>> Subscribe to Sports Spectrum Magazine for more stories where sports and faith connect <<

The 10th-ranked Longhorns were much better prepared for Stockton when the teams met again on Saturday, but they still couldn’t stop him. The redshirt junior from Tiger, Georgia, threw for 229 yards and accounted for five total touchdowns in a 35-10 victory for the fifth-ranked Bulldogs (9-1 overall, 7-1 in SEC).

Georgia QB Gunner Stockton vs Texas:

🐶 24/29
🐶 258 Total Yards
🐶 5 Total Touchdowns
🐶 1 Interception@GeorgiaFootball pic.twitter.com/DfTsJIoQ2a

— PFF College (@PFF_College) November 16, 2025

It marked the second time in five weeks he produced a five-touchdown performance against a top-10 opponent while throwing just five incompletions, as he also accomplished the feat in Georgia’s 43-35 win over Ole Miss on Oct. 18.

“It was a great game,” Stockton told the media Saturday. “It was a great atmosphere. Something you definitely dream of. I’m just glad we came out on top.”

In his last four games, Stockton has completed 74.6% of his passes for 251.3 yards per game with 15 total touchdowns and just two interceptions. The Bulldogs are averaging 35.8 points per game in that stretch and moved up to No. 4 in Monday’s Associated Press college football poll.

Stockton was given the keys to the offense this season after Beck transferred to the University of Miami, and he has the Bulldogs in position to return to the College Football Playoff, where they lost to eventual runner-up Notre Dame in the quarterfinals last season. He was 20-for-32 with 234 yards and a touchdown in that defeat.

A strong faith in God has helped Stockton as he’s gone from being a little-known backup to a Heisman Trophy candidate who is leading the SEC in completion percentage. He credits his parents for making the Lord a priority during his childhood.

“My parents, they’re awesome,” he said in a recent interview with I Am Athlete. “I think the biggest thing they did was, you know, my faith first. Just believing in the Lord and just trusting His process. And then second, I think they did a good job of keeping me level-headed.”

Asked during the interview how he lives out his faith as such a public figure, Stockton pointed to the Bible and the people around him.

“Just being consistent, just staying in the Word and surrounding yourself with great people, like-minded,” he said. “Our team chaplain’s awesome. He does a great job during the week and on Saturdays.”

As he continues in his career, Stockton is guided by a desire to spread God’s love through the way he carries himself.

“The biggest thing for me is the Golden Rule,” he told I Am Athlete. “That’s what I try to live by: treat others like you’d want to be treated. That’s kind of how I’ve carried myself my whole life.”

With the conference portion of its schedule now complete, Georgia has to wait and see whether it reaches the SEC title game. It would likely require Alabama or Texas A&M to lose its final conference game on rivalry weekend.

The Bulldogs host Charlotte at 12:45 p.m. ET on Saturday and visit rival Georgia Tech in their regular-season finale Nov. 28.

>> Do you know Christ personally? Learn how you can commit your life to Him. <<

Tags:

Football

Carolina Panthers QB Bryce Young overcomes injury, criticism to set franchise record in win: ‘God is good’

By Kevin Mercer Nov 17, 2025

Panthers QB Bryce Young, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Danny Karnik)

They needed overtime and heroics from quarterback Bryce Young to do it, but the Carolina Panthers overcame a 14-point first-half deficit Sunday to defeat the Falcons on the road in Atlanta, 30-27, sweeping the season series against their division rivals for the first time since 2013.

Widespread criticism surrounded Young last week following back-to-back poor performances, and the third-year QB responded with perhaps the best game of his NFL career thus far. Young completed 31 of his 45 pass attempts against Atlanta for a franchise-record (and career-high) 448 yards and three touchdowns without committing a turnover.

>> Subscribe to Sports Spectrum Magazine for more stories where sports and faith connect <<

Carolina got on the board first with a touchdown on its opening drive, when Young found rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan through a tight window for a 7-yard score. But Atlanta responded with a vengeance, scoring three touchdowns on three consecutive possessions for a 21-7 lead. Then, Carolina flipped the script.

On the first drive of the third quarter, still trailing 21-10, Young lofted a deep pass that receiver Xavier Legette hauled in for a 36-yard TD.

From way downtown

📺FOX pic.twitter.com/SUQ9S9gnS1

— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) November 16, 2025

After the teams traded field goals, Young led the Panthers on a nine-play, 65-yard drive that culminated in a 12-yard touchdown to McMillan with just more than a minute remaining. McMillan’s second score of the day gave Carolina the lead.

TMac back in the end zone

📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/FBOpT86DXC

— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) November 16, 2025

Carolina converted the two-point conversion, but Atlanta stormed back to send the game to overtime. The Panthers forced a punt in the extra frame, then Young connected on a 54-yard catch-and-run to tight end Tommy Tremble to get in position for the 28-yard game-winning field goal.

“God is good,” Young proclaimed at the beginning of his postgame press conference.

What makes his record-setting day even more impressive is that he was hobbled most of the game with a right ankle injury sustained in the first quarter. He has already missed a game this season due to an injury on that same ankle.

“Pain is an accurate way to sum it up,” Young said with a smile when asked what he was thinking after re-aggravating the injury. “… I want to be out there to play. I don’t take this game from granted. The Lord has blessed me to be here — to have this opportunity. Any time that I am able to go, I always want to do that.”

Young battled through to lead the Panthers to their fifth one-score win this season, with three (including Sunday) coming on walk-off field goals. Although the Panthers have only won 12 games with Young as the starter, 10 of them have come on game-winning drives, more than any other quarterback since Young entered the league as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

“Just faith. I believe in the Lord,” Young said in Sunday’s press conference when asked about the reputation he’s developing as one of the more clutch players in the NFL. “I know that everything’s already written, so I enjoy times like that to be able to go execute. I grew up — I’m sure most people did — in the backyard being able to say, ‘Oh, we have a two-minute drive to win the game. We’re able to go down and score with zero seconds left.’ I’m blessed enough to be able to do that in real life.”

Young calls himself a “Follower of Christ” in his Instagram bio and has spoken about his faith in Christ since his college days at Alabama. He was featured in the Fall 2022 edition of Sports Spectrum Magazine and on the Sports Spectrum Podcast that August.

“I’m based in faith,” Young said on the podcast. “I’m blessed to have the family that I do that introduced me [to faith] when I was young. Throughout my life, my relationship has grown with the Lord and my faith has improved. Through that, I work to be the best version of myself that I can be and to embody Christ in all that I do.”

The Pasadena, California, native captured the 2020 national championship (as a backup) and the 2021 Heisman Trophy while at Alabama. In the NFL, he’s been criticized at times for uneven play and praised at others for flashes of brilliance, especially after setting a franchise record for passing yards. Whether receiving criticism or praise, Young finds his deepest purpose in pleasing his Father in Heaven.

“Regardless of how someone else views me, whatever award, accolade, whatever someone may say — negative or positive — I appreciate and am grateful for the positive, and even for the negative,” he said on the podcast. “But at the end of the day, what motivates me and pushes me is to model myself after the Lord.”

The Panthers are sitting at 6-5, their best record through 11 games since 2018. Sunday’s win, paired with a Buccaneers loss, moved Carolina to just a half-game behind Tampa Bay for first place in the NFC South.

The Panthers will try to keep pace or overtake Tampa Bay in a crucial “Monday Night Football” showdown next week on the road against the San Francisco 49ers (7-4). Kickoff is set for 8:15 p.m. ET. Young and his injured right ankle will be monitored throughout the week.

>> Do you know Christ personally? Learn how you can commit your life to Him. <<

Tags:

Football

LB Aiden Fisher leads No. 2 Indiana’s stout defense as he aims ‘to know God more’

By Cole Claybourn Nov 13, 2025

Indiana linebacker Aiden Fisher, Oct. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Vera Nieuwenhuis)

Perhaps the biggest surprise in college football in 2024 was the Indiana Hoosiers. Sitting at 10-0 and ranked No. 2 in the 2025 College Football Playoff rankings, IU is proving that last year’s performance was no fluke. A big reason for that is the defense, led by senior linebacker Aiden Fisher.

>> Subscribe to Sports Spectrum Magazine for more stories where sports and faith connect <<

One of many players who transferred to Indiana after playing for head coach Curt Cignetti at James Madison, Fisher is both an on-field and off-field leader for a defense that ranks second in the country in points allowed (12.1). A starter at both JMU and Indiana, he ranks No. 12 nationally and No. 2 in the Big Ten in total career tackles with 257 going into Saturday’s game against Wisconsin.

He’s rarely come off the field during his college career, but he’s battled some injury woes this year, including a knee injury that’s nagged him since an Oct. 25 victory against UCLA. After missing Indiana’s win over Maryland on Nov. 1, he returned to make five tackles and a crucial third-quarter interception in a 27-24 thriller over Penn State to keep the Hoosiers’ record unblemished.

The toughness he’s displayed on the football field was forged from personal loss early in his life, and it’s helped shape his faith in Jesus into what it is now. On his 11th birthday, he learned that his father had died unexpectedly of a heart attack.

“You wake up and get the phone call expecting a ‘happy birthday’ and it’s really bad news,” he said in August on the Sports Spectrum Podcast.

Just a few years later, his stepfather, Vinny, was diagnosed with glioblastoma — an aggressive form of brain cancer — and eventually lost his life.

“The way I was able to see Vinny take on the different challenges, I think this is what really sparked my faith,” he said on the podcast. “Growing up, you go to church; my family was always going to church. We would have the conversations, but it was never going in depth.

“So watching him go through the final days, the final months, I think is what really sparked me into what my faith is now.”

"I think this is what really sparked my faith."@IndianaFootball All-American linebacker Aiden Fisher @theaidenfisher
is our guest on the latest Sports Spectrum podcast with @MattForte22. pic.twitter.com/dY6IOLYVZk

— Sports Spectrum (@Sports_Spectrum) August 1, 2025

Fisher began his college career at JMU, where he emerged as one of the top defenders in the Sun Belt Conference. In 2023, he led the Dukes with 108 tackles (51 solo), 6.0 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, and an interception, helping JMU finish 11-2 with a Sun Belt Conference championship. That performance opened the door to a transfer to Indiana and the Big Ten when Cignetti was hired.

Moving more than 10 hours from his home in Virginia, Fisher said the transition challenged him both personally and spiritually.

“I always feel a sense of peace at times where most people wouldn’t,” he said on the podcast. “I think where I really took a big step in my faith was leaving JMU and coming here to Indiana. I went from an hour and a half away from home to 10 and a half hours. I’m uncomfortable. I don’t know anybody.

“I think that’s when I really took the step to get to know God more, to get to know the Scripture, to get to know everything that is entailed in that. That’s when I really felt like God was with me the most. Going through such a weird and tough transition, I always felt that peace about it. It was always like He was right there with me the entire time.”

Cignetti and the rest of the Hoosiers are glad Fisher made the move to Bloomington. As a junior in 2024, he started all 13 games, tallying 118 tackles (49 solo) and 1.5 sacks, earning first-team All-Big Ten and All-American honors from Phil Steele and the Football Writers Association of America — the first Hoosier linebacker to receive All-American distinction.

This season he’s made 58 total tackles, recorded 2.5 sacks and two interceptions. He’s on pace to be named an All-Big Ten player and perhaps an All-American again, and he was also recently named a semifinalist for the Butkus Award, given to the nation’s best linebacker.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Indiana Football (@indianafootball)

He’s the de facto defensive captain for the Hoosiers and is the one relaying play calls from the sideline. During Indiana’s win over Maryland, junior linebacker Isaiah Jones took over communication responsibilities in place of the injured Fisher and said Fisher’s sideline leadership was a big part of that win.

“Just really supportive,” Jones said, via On SI. “That’s my guy. He just wanted to keep me calm, which I thought he did a really good job. Just being a motivator, being a hype guy for the team, that’s really important when one of your better players isn’t able to play.”

The Hoosiers finished last season 11-2 with a first-round CFP loss to eventual national runner-up Notre Dame, but they’re hoping this year they can make a deep run or even win the national championship. Fisher said he learned plenty of lessons about himself and his faith last season that he knows will carry over down the final stretch of this season.

“I kind of felt a gravitation toward me. I have to bring the energy,” he said on the Sports Spectrum Podcast. “Especially playing linebacker, a lot’s on your plate. I pray before every game and practice, ‘Just give me the strength and courage to be the best leader I can be.’

“And if that’s me making a play, if that’s me on the sideline talking to somebody or uplifting somebody, it’s just something to make sure I’m being the best leader I can be. I really feel like that’s why I’m successful on the field and why God has given me this platform — to be a leader of men.”

Kickoff for Indiana’s matchup against Wisconsin is at 12 p.m. ET Saturday.

>> Do you know Christ personally? Learn how you can commit your life to Him. <<

Tags:

Football

Patriots rookie RB TreVeyon Henderson enjoys career day in win: ‘I want God to have His way’

By Kevin Mercer Nov 10, 2025

New England Patriots RB TreVeyon Henderson points to Heaven following one of his touchdowns, Nov. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson chose a great day to have a career-best performance. In a Sunday showdown that pitted two teams tied atop their respective conferences, the AFC’s New England Patriots prevailed, 28-23, over the NFC’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers thanks in large part to Henderson.

Playing on the road, 8-2 New England needed every one of Henderson’s 147 rushing yards. The former Ohio State Buckeye — who accumulated his season-high (and career-high) rushing total on just 14 carries — broke free for two, long second-half touchdown jaunts to separate from Tampa Bay (6-3). They were the second and third touchdowns of Henderson’s young NFL career, and his second one proved to be the winning score.

>> Subscribe to Sports Spectrum Magazine for more stories where sports and faith connect <<

Henderson’s first TD came from 55 yards out less than a minute into the third quarter to give New England an 11-point advantage.

TreVeyon Henderson takes off for 55 yards and a touchdown!

NEvsTB on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/xZtvUZTvId

— NFL (@NFL) November 9, 2025

The Buccaneers scored later in the third quarter to draw to within five. Yet, as if 55 weren’t long enough, Henderson popped free for a 69-yarder with 1:31 remaining to help his team recapture a two-possession lead that they would not relinquish. During the run, he looked toward his coaches to determine whether he should score or go down to maintain possession.

.@TreVeyonH4 IS STILL RUNNING

📺 CBS pic.twitter.com/0PrhqW5xrQ

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 9, 2025

Sunday’s performance marked the first time Henderson has eclipsed the 100-yard plateau in the NFL. But as he often does, the second-round pick from April’s NFL Draft made sure others knew who truly deserves the credit.

“Honestly man, I really just thank God,” Henderson said in his postgame press conference about what may prove to be his breakthrough performance. “It was a tough game. It was a really tough game, and we knew it was gonna be tough going into it. A lot of ups and downs during that game, but specifically during those down moments, I was just trying my best to lean on God to pick me up and give me the strength to keep going.”

Later in the press conference, his mind turned again to his Heavenly Father when considering his first 10 games as a pro.

“It comes with a lot of ups and downs here in the NFL, and I’m learning that,” he said. “But I thank God for the way that He’s allowed it to go, because He’s matured me a lot in my faith. He drew me closer to Him. He’s been drawing me closer to Him during the season and just helping me to keep my eyes on Him.

“… At the end of the day, I want God to have His way. Not my will but His will be done.”

Henderson entered the NFL as a high-profile addition to the Patriots’ roster. Expectations were lofty after being the star running back on a national championship-winning team at Ohio State and then being picked No. 38 overall a few months later. However, in New England, he has found himself getting limited carries while splitting time with Rhamondre Stevenson and others. While only reaching double-digit carries once in his first seven pro games, Henderson has reached double figures each of his past three outings.

The outlook on the field is bright for the running back with blazing speed who just turned 23 a couple weeks ago, but he knows his identity is found in something much deeper.

“I didn’t know who I was outside of football, but when I met Jesus, He showed me who I am,” Henderson said on an August 2024 edition of the Sports Spectrum Podcast. “He showed me who I belong to, and that’s God the Father, and that’s Him. So, I’m just so thankful that He gave me an identity and He gave me a purpose to start living my life for Him, start living my life for the Kingdom and not for this world. Not for football, not for money, not for women. These things will one day perish, but the Lord, the Kingdom, the salvation that He has promised us is forever.”

Despite being a rookie surrounded by NFL vets, Henderson is bold in sharing about his faith. In addition to frequently mentioning Christ in interviews, he also regularly points his followers to the Lord on social media. He writes, “Jesus saved my life” and calls himself a “Follower of Jesus Christ” in his Instagram and X bios.

JESUS WON! Click the link below and let’s exalt the name of Jesus!

Jesus laid down His life for you and me and shed His blood to pay the price that we deserve to pay for our our sins. Three days later He rose, overcoming the power of sin that leads to eternal death. Through… pic.twitter.com/bUu8FXdwcw

— TreVeyon Henderson (@TreVeyonH4) September 23, 2025

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by TreVeyon Henderson (@trey.h.4)

Henderson has experienced a lot of individual success in the game of football, but this fall has been a season of personal questioning. Even — perhaps especially — in those times, he’s drawn near through prayer to his sure and steady Anchor.

“I just try to lean on the Lord,” Henderson said in Sunday’s press conference. “I pray and I ask Him to give me a peace of mind and peace of heart, because especially in the midst of troubles, your mind can wander all over the place. … I can’t get through this thing on my own strength when times get tough. I always try to lean on Him.”

The Patriots are currently riding a seven-game winning streak, now made even more dangerous with Henderson’s emergence. He and his teammates will get an opportunity to hit the field again soon when they host the New York Jets (2-7) on Thursday night. Kickoff is set for 8:15 p.m. ET.

>> Do you know Christ personally? Learn how you can commit your life to Him. <<