This is a special edition of First Coast News Athlete of the Week. Because, quite frankly, you can't talk about Christian Ellis without also talking about his running mate in the Ed White backfield, Davaughn Patterson.
The senior and junior, respectively, are among the area's leading rushers and have Ed White in a de facto, District championship game against Baker County this Friday night. Both also play in the Commanders' secondary.
"As a teammate, I bring that motivation and that inspiration. I bring that energy," Patterson told First Coast News. "I like to keep my teammates in the game and keep everybody going. When everybody is dropping their heads and thinking the game is over, I'm the one to come up, get everyone hyped, and get the game going back up for us."
For Ellis, a transfer from Trinity Christian, his move to Ed White was an emotional one, as detailed here on First Coast News. He hopes his will-to-win encourages his teammates to do the same.
"Just with being able to win two state championships in my career has been huge," the senior said. "A couple weeks ago, I had five touchdowns in a game. That's the kind of standard I set for myself just to do better than I did last week."
"All the kids respect them," their head coach Lawrence Johnson added. "When they're in there, they're blocking as hard as they can to make sure they're successful, and they're doing their part to make themselves successful. They're big, strong, fast, and they're just playmakers."
Ed White (5-1) squares off with Baker County (5-2) in Macclenny Friday night at 7 p.m.