How This NFL Running Back Puts Feet to His Faith

The start to the NFL playoffs kicks off this weekend. The Washington Redskins are one of the teams in the Super Bowl hunt, facing the Green Bay Packers this Sunday.

The Redskins continue their unlikely winning season thanks to the footwork of young running back Alfred Morris.

"The Redskins are my favorite team so I got a chuckle. I said, 'God you've got a sense of humor,' I never thought the Redskins would be the team that called me on draft day," he said.

Some critics called him too slow, others said he was too small, but the Redskins organization saw something in him no one else did.

"My prayer was, 'God I don't know what's going to happen with this draft situation, but just place me exactly where I need to be so I can be used,' and He did just that," Morris said.

He proved the skeptics wrong after helping the team win their division during his rookie reason, and again this year, finishing the season 9-7 after beating the rival Dallas Cowboys last Sunday. It's a dream come true for Morris.

"It just gives me goosebumps. This is the NFL and I get to play!" he exclaimed.

Now under the spotlight, Morris is trying to remain humble. Desite his big NFL pay check, he still drives his 1991 Mazda to and from games. In a parking lot full of luxury vehicles, he's affectionately nicknamed the 15-year-old car "Bentley."

"It keeps me grounded, reminds me where I came from," Morris explained. "A lot of people get to this level and forgot where they came from. I took a road less traveled."

He grew up in poverty. His family had to work hard for what they had, and no matter the struggles the family faced, they always leaned on God.

"I was raised in the church," Morris recalled. "We went to church on Sunday, no matter what we did throughout the week. And something that strong stuck with me in college."

Morris earned a scholarship to play football at Florida Atlantic University. With little money, playing football and going to school full-time was not easy.

"I just hit rock bottom. A lot of stuff was going on," he recalled.

But he looks back at how God used his hard times to strengthen him.

"God brought me to my lowest point so he could build me back up. I just broke down, and I just cried, and I was like, 'I can't do it my way. I surrender. I give it all to You.' And from that point on I've been chasing after Him. I've just been focused on Him ever since," Morris said. "I gave God my heart that day."

He realized that even though he grew up going to church, he never fully committed his life to Christ until that point where he was at his weakest.

He recognized that "all that time I was half foot in, half foot out. But once I did get all the way in, I was like, man, I've been missing out on this the whole time. God completed me. He was that missing piece to the puzzle."

His commitment to Christ stays with him every moment of his NFL career.

"I give all the glory to God. I pray before the games, I pray between plays, I pray on the sidelines for the defense, I pray when people get hurt," he said.

And Morris loves every moment of it. But the main reason he plays is for the glory of God.

"The reason I play is God blessed me with a gift and I go out there and I use it to glorify Him," he explained.

Morris gives all the credit for his success with the Redskins to the Savior who picked him up from his lowest point.

"Without Him I wouldn't be sitting in front of you today," he told CBN News. "I wouldn't be on this field playing with the Redskins."

"We've all been saved by grace," he continued. "So I just thank God for His sacrifice. He didn't have to do it, but He did it willingly. He wanted to do it for us and that speaks volumes."

How does Morris live his life with the Gospel in mind?

"I try to pattern my life after Christ. It's a cliche: what would Jesus do?" Morris said. "If Christ can do it, I can. If Christ can love all, I can love all. There is no other love like God's love. God's love is truly unconditional."

He tells everyone to stop living a life with one foot in and one foot out, and fully commit to God.

"Once you fall in his arms, I promise you wont regret it. It'll change your life forever," he said.