Monarch Feature Story: Once Struck with an Injury, Garner Now Leads the FBS in Tackles

By Rebecca Gaona

In his senior year of high school, linebacker Lawrence Garner suffered an ankle injury that led the New Jersey native to rethink his college options. Other schools were set aside and Garner chose Bobby Wilder and Old Dominion University, who stuck to their word to give him a scholarship to play football for the Monarchs, regardless of his physical condition. Three years later, Garner is now three starts into the 2018 football season leading the FBS with 14 tackles per game.

Garner’s road to this national success did not come easy.

“I didn’t know when I was going to be able to run, jog or get into pads, but I just put my head down and worked,” said Garner. “Even though I might’ve not played again, I still had to come here and work hard and try to get back to normal.”

Garner watched from the sidelines as his teammates worked to get better on the field, while he worked on getting healthy again. The sophomore credits his supportive family and the ODU coaching staff for his success through the winding ride of his young college football career.

“The coaching staff has been with me all the way through my ups and downs. Coach Wilder has done a great job reminding me that there’s more to life than football, this is just setting you up for the real world. My parents telling me to fight through it and that I’m not a quitter, that keeps me going and it makes me want to work even harder knowing I have their support and knowing that if I was to quit, who it would impact.”

Despite offers from other FBS programs, including some Power Five schools, Garner stuck with a close-knit ODU team, where he now is going to play the biggest game in program history on Saturday afternoon against No. 10 Virginia Tech. Coming into the game, Garner has 42 total tackles, inking a season-high 16 against FIU.

“I’m trying to work even harder, because I’ve had great success early this season I just want to see how hard I can push myself to do more and get better. Every week I challenge myself to watch more film and stay after (practice) a little bit to work on the little things. The hard work is paying off.”

Although the Monarchs are going through a tough stretch at the moment, Garner is accustomed to facing adversity and looking forward to helping his team move forward like he did with his serious injury he overcame years ago.

“I enjoy playing football. I enjoy being out there. I enjoy battling with these guys even though things always aren’t going our way, I enjoy looking into other guys eyes and telling them let’s go! It’s been very nice playing with those guys out there.”

FBS Tackles Per Game