The reason for that is that he's having fun…finally. Following two injury-riddled years, Faddis is living up to Head Coach Nigel Burton's expectations. He is the Vikings' leading tackler after seven games with 64. 

Injuries weren't new to the 6-foot, 205-pound senior from Ramona High School near San Diego, CA.

He broke his arm in high school but recovered to be a first team All-League selection. He first thought he might have the potential to play college ball his first game as a high school senior.

"I was faster than my competition. I had a couple of interceptions and couple of big hits," he recalled. Also, his high school coach David Baldwin, a former San Diego State Offensive lineman who played with the Oakland Raiders told him he had the skill to play on that level.

That wasn't good enough to get him any Division 1 offers to play in college, though, and he thought his football career was over.   

"I was actually going to quit. As my senior season progressed, I wasn't having as much fun for one reason or another. Then, I didn't get any D-1 offers (he did get Division 2 offers) and somehow it escaped me that I might be able to get into a D-1 program by going the community college route," he recalled.

A friend living with the Faddis family was in the same boat and pointed the community college route out to him…and the coach at Palomar Community College "encouraged me to try a year there. Turned out he was right."

He attended Palomar for only one semester, but made an impact, earning All-Conference and All-Region  honors and helping his team to the Southern California Championship. He had 65 tackles, three sacks and an interception.

So, he began putting a highlight reel together to explore getting back on track at the D-1 level. And, like other members of the Palomar team, he sent the reel out to a lot of coaches.

"The guy playing next to me got an offer from Nevada. I'd had a better year than he had, so I sent a copy to the Nevada coach responsible for recruiting in our area. He called me back," Faddis said.

He played an injury-free year at Nevada, where he competed in 14 games.  But, the Nevada coaches wanted him to convert from safety to linebacker.

"I didn't want to learn a new position at that point in my career. Besides, I'd have been playing behind a third round NFL draft pick, which I was already doing at safety. It was mostly special teams and I wanted to play more," he said.

He began looking around again, exploring Championship Division schools so he wouldn't have to sit out a year. Northern Arizona, Cal Poly and PSU drew his interest. Cal Poly, where an older brother (Spencer) had played, didn't have his major "and I didn't want to have to start all over academically. Coach Burton gave me a good pitch and he wanted me the most."

He joined the Vikings in the fall of 2011 and played in one game, even though he really didn't know the system. The following week in practice, he broke a bone in his foot, a season-ending injury.

"I was really disappointed. Here I was trying to prove myself and this had to happen… but the second time was worse. I thought I was never going to get better," Faddis said.

It was a different break during his junior fall camp and his doctor recommended a bone graft. He said that if he did a bone graft it wouldn't happen again.

"That was really depressing."  But his good friend and roommate Kawika Stant was going through exactly the same thing. "We supported each other and we've become best friends."

Briefly, he thought about hanging it up once again. "But, I didn't want to be remembered as someone who quit. I didn't want to quit without giving it everything I had. It was a matter of pride," he said.

But getting back after two years was harder than he thought.

"Getting back into shape was hard, but mentally getting back was harder because I hadn't really concentrated on football for a long time. I watched film, but my heart really wasn't in it because I couldn't play," Faddis said.

Still, he started fall camp this year atop the depth chart at safety, but with this year's roommate Walter Santiago breathing down his neck. "Walter had me worried. He's a really good player."

Faddis has played both offense and defense during his career, which started in grade school (his brother Spencer was his Pop Warner coach), and has decided he likes defense better.

"On defense, I go one-on-one with someone. I know what he's going to do and he knows what I'm going to do. I can say 'I'll beat you'. It's a one-on-one challenge. I want to feel dominant over someone. Offense is more finesse," said Faddis.

Having played at both Division 1 levels, Faddis doesn't see a lot of difference… well, maybe the size of the linemen and height of the wide receivers. But, in terms of speed, the two levels are pretty much the same. 

"I'd actually rather play against tall receivers. Shorter guys can be quick and break better. They can be real road runners," he said. His highlight of his year so far is the Cal Poly game where he had 12 solo tackles.

Faddis will finish his Physical Education and Exercise degree this year (in fact, he is taking his final class this term and "walked" last spring). He has an internship in the PSU Training Room and would consider graduate school and playing another year if granted a medical hardship year.

He wants to follow his father Dan's footsteps and be a fire fighter. Dan Faddis recently retired from the San Diego City Fire Department.

All the adversity has taught Faddis a lot of things about support from his family and teammates ("without them, I wouldn't be here") and about himself ("I have more fight than I thought").

But in the end, it's all been worth it.

"The best part is that I'm finally having fun. It's been a lot of work, but it's been worth it," he said with a satisfied smile.