NATCHEZ — If one asks Brian Isaac what he has been doing since graduating from Copiah-Lincoln Community College last December, he’ll say he has been following his dreams.

The Natchez High School alumnus said he received football scholarship offers from schools like Alcorn State and Southeastern Louisiana University after playing weak safety for the Wolf pack.

But Isaac said he had other reasons to why staying a few hours from home wouldn’t be good for him.

“I felt I needed to go out on my own and then I would be accountable for my own actions,” he said. “If I stay close, I’ll be going home all the time, and I don’t want to stay a momma’s boy forever.”

Isaac transferred to the University of Tennessee-Martin in January and is going into his junior year as a criminal justice major.

He said several things were different for him once he stepped foot on the Martin campus, and it took some adjusting before he really settled in.

“The classes are harder than at a junior college, and the weather gets colder up here,” Isaac said. “On the field, it’s more intense. We’re constantly moving from one drill to the next.”

But the classes and the weather are minor acclimations compared to one major change for Isaac.

Isaac’s position has changed from weak safety to free safety since joining the Skyhawks. While that seems like a small change, it affects Isaac beyond physicality.

“I have to talk more in my position, I don’t really like to talk much but if I don’t talk up, it could mess up everything on the field,” he said.

The solution to this setback came in the form of bonding. Isaac said he has become good friends with his teammates, and now talking is not much of a problem.