Ever since starting on the varsity level, Episcopal High School 2025 linebacker Chase Cresson has always been a tone setter on the gridiron. This past season, the 6’0, 195 pound Knight has done that not only on the defensive side of the football, but also on the offensive side of the ball as a tight end. Whenever the young Knights team needed a spark in 2022, it was Cresson that ultimately gave it to them.
“This past year, I got chances to be on offense at tight end just to help block, but every once in a while, they would try to switch me up and throw me a pass. I would just sneak behind because they weren’t expecting. That’s what I made those big plays. I ended up making five big catches. That’s not exactly what I am used to, but it was fun. I loved it.”
“On defense, they asked me to set the tone and provide a little bit of a leadership role being one of only two returning guys on defense. My role on defense is to try to be the most intense guy on the field. I’m looking to bust a guy on every play. If there is anything our team needs, it is more of that. Last year, we were small and young, but we got better as the season went on. That was part of it because the defense had to come out and take the initiative and basically tell them the guy across from you that you are not beating me.”
Episcopal High School 2025 LB Chase Cresson
Leading a young team last season, Cresson did set the tone for the Knights and helped the team have a great season winning 10 games and making the Division III (Select) Quarterfinals. Despite only being an upcoming junior, Cresson has been a veteran on the gridiron for the Knights as a two time All-District selection. The big hitter is only scratching the surface after leading the team in tackles with 75.
“That was probably the biggest transition for me. It’s a different mindset because the blocking schemes were targeting me a lot and I was having to fight through more blocks. A lot of times, you have to give up on the tackle just a little bit to try and stuff the play even if you are not getting the tackle yourself. This offseason, I am really working on adding some speed. I’ve already succeeded a little bit in that. I just need to keep working and that will help me so I can run down some more ball carriers, get to the hole quicker, and maybe, I can even get a touchdown this year too.”
Episcopal High School 2025 LB Chase Cresson
Cresson led the team in tackles as a sophomore, but finished behind his older brother David Cresson in tackles as a freshman. Last season, it was a bit of an adjustment moving to the inside after his older brother commanded that position as good as anyone after making over 100 tackles as a senior.
“David left me some big shoes to fill and I hope to continue to fill them this year. I had to set the tone on a lot of plays whether it was meeting guards in the hole left and right or just pulling blockers in general. A lot of times, playing that middle linebacker and having to do that, you are not going to make the tackle, but David just got so good getting around the blocks and still making the tackle, but for me, I just have to take up that block and fill in the hole so the other guys beside me can make the tackle. Me and David had a similar mindset, but what I lacked that he had was picking up those tackles because although David wasn’t the fastest guy, he was fast enough and he just was able to get over the field quick and no matter where he was, he was there.”
“We didn’t get along the best, but as both of us matured a little more, we became really close, especially playing football. Playing football and baseball, we got super close and he took me under his wing. He taught me the ins and outs, and he told me that when I was doing something wrong that at the time I wouldn’t have liked it, but looking back now, I appreciate it.”
Episcopal High School 2025 LB Chase Cresson
Like his older brother, Chase has an aggressive mindset and brings it even more during practice before Friday nights even happen.
“The part of the reason why I go hard during practice is that it is good to do it during the games because the more you do it in practice and just know that feeling, the more it is going to happen in the game. I also like going hard in practice even when everybody else is not because it helps me being able to take those blockers in practice. Doing that in practice helps with my mindset and being able to turn it on during game time.”
Episcopal High School 2025 LB Chase Cresson
Bringing aggression every time on the football field and putting everything out on the field, Cresson not only picked that part of his game from his brother, but he also learned under the late and legendary Jimmy Williams, who was an Episcopal star and later played for Vanderbilt as well as multiple NFL teams including the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks. The upcoming three year starter was one of the last players to learn under Coach Williams before he lost his battle with cancer in the summer of 2022.
“David knew a lot from what he knew from Coach Jimmy and Coach Jimmy helped me a lot from that stuff too. Me and John Brady Sessums are the last two full-time defensive players that played under Coach Jimmy. Now, I am able to take the intensity that he always brought and the intensity that David always brought and try to bring it to the team that we have now because intensity is what wins football games in my eyes.”
Episcopal High School 2025 LB Chase Cresson
Intensity has always been a key element to Cresson’s game whether it is on the gridiron or on the diamond as Cresson is just as good of a baseball player for the Knights. Last season, Cresson was the Knights’ pitching ace and earned 1st Team All-District honors while earning an All-State Honorable Mention recognition as well. Now that Jimmy Williams’ number 8 jersey number can be represented by a leader on the football field, Cresson will love nothing more than to have the opportunity to represent the Williams family by wearing the number 8 jersey soon as he has already worn the number 8 on the diamond.
“That is my biggest goal right now. You can’t put into words how great of a coach he was, but he was such a great person. Whenever he walked into a room, it didn’t matter if he was mad or happy, everybody in the room was going to feel it. He had such an impact on everybody around him. He always had a smile on his face, and it was just infectious. 8 is my number for baseball. I’ve worn 8 my whole life. I’ve always wanted to wear it since I came to Episcopal in 8th grade, but to wear number 8 for Coach Jimmy, it would mean the world to me and would be a huge honor if I ever get the opportunity.”
Episcopal High School 2025 LB Chase Cresson
Cresson is not only motivated to one day wear the number that Jimmy Williams made famous on the football field during his playing days for the Knights, but he is also motivated to spread Jimmy’s message to the younger players while keeping his memory alive.
“I know Coach Jimmy, and I can’t bring the intensity everyday like he did. That’s part of the reason what I said earlier. Intensity is what it takes to win football games. If there is one thing that he brought to the table everyday, every practice, every workout, it was intensity. He would always get us fired up. There is no other way to say it. That might be the biggest thing that I have missed about him as a coach was how fired up he would get everybody on gameday no matter how he was feeling or how he was doing. It didn’t matter. He had everybody to go to war behind him. That is something not a lot of coaches could say they can do.”
Episcopal High School 2025 LB Chase Cresson
Cresson still has another two years of playing football, but he knows that he is trying to get the most of every opportunity and start the recruiting process so he can join his brother David, who is now playing at Birmingham Southern University, to play football at the college level. Also, not only having the ability on the field, but the leadership displayed by his 3.85 GPA and also being the school’s junior class president, he definitely has something that a lot of colleges are looking for.
“If you want a guy that brings the intensity, works hard, and is a good teammate, that is something that I pride myself on in trying to be coachable, a great teammate, a great leader, a good player to all my coaches, and somebody that will try and help out with any task and duties, that is what you will be getting in me. You are getting somebody that is giving everything that he’s got.”
Episcopal High School 2025 LB Chase Cresson
Knowing his family and how he has learned under great coaches in the past, there is no doubt about it that Chase Cresson will be giving everything that he’s got.
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