Marist’s all-time leader in reception yards and receiving touchdowns, Juston Christian, passed away at the age of 27 on Nov. 30, 2025.
From 2015-18, Christian tallied 4,069 career receiving yards and scored 34 touchdowns, playing his way onto the All-Pioneer Football League First Team in three consecutive seasons. As one of the greatest athletes in school history, Christian’s talent attracted NFL scouts to Tenney Stadium for Marist practices.
“It didn’t change who he was when he went out onto the field,” said former head coach Jim Parady. “If a scout was there or not, he was going to go out and work every day.”
“He managed it very well,” added defensive lineman Eric Taylor, a teammate of Christian’s. “He never got too high, never got too low. He was always even keel.”
A calm personality, Christian was loved by his teammates and coaches, who especially appreciated his tireless work ethic. Often the last player on the field after practices, Christian got fellow receivers to work on moves with him, quarterbacks to throw him the extra passes and defensive backs to attempt to cover him; if no one else stayed, Christian worked on his release and footwork by himself.
“He was a guy who led by example, but didn’t say a lot,” said Taylor. “He was very noble, very personable… if I needed to talk about something, he was that shoulder that I could talk to and lean on.”
Off the field at Tenney Stadium and outside the film room in the McCann Center, Christian was a model student-athlete, one that Parady hoped his teammates would emulate.
“We never worried about him getting done what we requested of him to do in the classroom,” Parady said. “We never once had to have any concern that he was not doing the right thing, carrying himself to represent our program the way we always wanted people to do.”
“He was such a technician at the position. He was always researching, looking at every single great receiver out there to see if he could take something from them on video and then he would try to see if he could do it himself. Lo and behold, a lot of times he could.”
Jim Parady
As a freshman in 2015, Christian did not appear in either of Marist’s first two games, in which Marist got outscored by Bucknell and Georgetown by a combined score of 51-7.
In his first collegiate action, Christian shone under the lights at Tenney Stadium. He led the Red Foxes with 117 yards, 45 of which came on a sprawling catch in the second quarter. Marist went on to win 34-27, and from then on, Christian became the face of Marist football.
“I’ve never seen a wide receiver dive like how he did for that pass,” Taylor said. “I’m telling you… that was his coming-out party.”
“It was one of the catches that was really eye-opening,” Parady told Center Field in 2019, regarding Christian’s highlight reel catch in his first game.
He made a phenomenal first impression in Poughkeepsie, leading Marist in touchdowns (six) and receiving yards (826), playing his way onto the All-PFL Second Team.
In his next three seasons, Christian became one of the most decorated players in the program’s history, becoming just the second Red Fox to be selected to three consecutive All-PFL First Teams.
In the process, Christian essentially rewrote Marist’s record book. On his senior day in 2018, he became the 18th player in FCS history and the first PFL player to surpass 4,000 receiving yards, finishing with 4,069. On his last snap in a Marist uniform, Christian caught a 35-yard touchdown pass; it marked the 34th touchdown of his career and 15th on the season – both Marist records that still stand today.
Christian tallied his second and third career three-touchdown games in his historic 2018 campaign. At Dayton on Oct. 6, he scored three touchdowns on seven catches for 274 yards, the most in a game by a Red Fox. Christian nearly broke that record two weeks later when he posted a statline of eight catches, 246 yards and three touchdowns in Marist’s 48-41 overtime victory over Davidson.
Also named a Third Team FCS All-American after the season’s end, Christian left Marist during the spring semester to center his attention on playing football at the next level. Christian ultimately did return to Marist, graduating in the spring of 2025.
“We talked a lot about it, what was best to position himself to be ready,” Parady said. “It was decided through his family, him and us that it would be the best route.”
Christian participated in the University of Buffalo pro day, where he swiftly made a name for himself by running a 4.38 40-yard dash. He did not hear his name called during the 2019 NFL Draft, but after its conclusion, Christian quickly inked a deal with his hometown team, the Baltimore Ravens.
“It still hasn’t sunk in yet,” Christian told the Poughkeepsie Journal after being signed. “When I put a helmet on, it’ll hit me hard. Right now, it’s hard to believe.”
He never fully got to see his dream come true; Christian injured his thumb and was cut before rookie camp began.
In 2021, Christian joined the Massachusetts Pirates (now Orlando Pirates) of the Indoor Football League, a 14-team league that plays its games on 50-yard fields that are only 85 feet wide. Christian scored a touchdown in the Pirates’ first-ever playoff victory, a 44-19 win over the Bismarck Bucks.
Two weeks later, the Pirates took down the Arizona Rattlers to win the United Bowl, the lone championship in the team’s history.
In 2022, Christian signed with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League, but did not appear in any games, marking the end of his professional football career.
On Oct. 30, Marist Athletics officially announced its plans to open its own Hall of Fame, to “celebrate decades of athletic excellence and accomplishments” with its first induction class set for the Fall of 2026.
Whether it be in the first class or further down the line, Christian is a near guarantee to be a member of the Marist Hall of Fame. While the numbers and accolades speak for themselves, his impact on the program extends far beyond what he accomplished on the field.
Christian became just the fourth former Marist football player to sign a deal with an NFL squad; the payoff to his seemingly nonstop grind to reach professional football serves as a motivating reminder of what can be done at an FCS program.
“Hopefully, future (Marist players) will be inspired by me,” Christian said after signing with the Ravens.
Edited by Cara Lacey
Photo from Marist Athletics
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