vidalia — When he isn’t delivering crushing tackles on the football field, Vidalia junior Nathan Knapp can be found preparing himself for another day in the classroom.

It runs in his family.

“My mom and dad both went to University of Louisiana-Monroe, and my mom did four years of graduate school to be a nurse practitioner,” Knapp said. “My sister also graduated as valedictorian of her class at Vidalia.”

Knapp anchors the Viking defense, but also has a 3.4 GPA. And he said being able to do both is no easy task.

“It is a struggle,” he said. “You go home after football, and you don’t want to do anything. But you know you have to do all your work, and you’re just kind of dreading it. So at the same time, you get done as much as you can in class.

“Football drives you to get your grades up, because you know you’re not going to want to do it when you get home.”

Knapp has also added a lot more to his plate by taking two dual-enrollment college courses.

“I’ve got two in fine arts and psychology,” he said. “They are pretty interesting, and it is interesting being able to see a college course.”

Knapp said his favorite class at Vidalia is advanced math, which is something he hopes to pursue in college.

“I was thinking about going to ULM or University of Louisiana-Lafayette,” Knapp said. “At first, I thought I would be a petroleum engineer, but then I changed and thought I was going to be a chemical engineer and get a minor in oil and gas. Math has always been my best subject.”

This is Knapp’s first varsity season ,and he said things have been up and down so far.

“It’s been here and there, good and bad,” he said. “I played in junior high a little bit, and I’ve always been a football guy. I’ve just never really wanted to play. But you do learn a lot.”

Knapp credits the marriage of his brother as his driving force to play.

“My brother married Dee Faircloth’s granddaughter,” he said. “So he has been a big influence in me playing.”

Just a junior, Knapp still has some time left at Vidalia and plans to excel during it.

“Coach has been on me since the beginning of the year asking me to get a 4.0,” he said. “So that is my goal and to bring up my ACT score to a 27, which would get the high TOPS level. On the field I just want to be a leader and show coach that even though we are 0-4, we are going to do our best at what we do.”

Knapp and the Vikings will travel to Monroe to take on St. Fredrick in Friday night’s game.