Frost, flight & football: Auburn linebacker soars on and off the field

After last week’s performance at Ole Miss, Kris Frost has emerged a vital component of what could be a championship-bound team. For that, Gus Malzahn may want to write a note of thanks to the university’s aviation school.

“When I came here for my visit, looking around, I found out that they actually had an aviation program here, unlike many other schools in the country,” says Kris. “It was a big part of me actually coming here, the academic portion being just as important as football.”

Frost’s love of aviation began at an early age, and it could be what propels him into a successful future after his football career. He declared his major as soon as he enrolled at Auburn, and is en route to a pilot’s license and a degree in Professional Flight Management. For him, flight and football are quite similar.

“Aviation is like football,” Kris explained to AuburnTigers.com. “It’s fun playing, but there are a lot of behind-the-scene things like how much multi-tasking you have to do when you’re making a radio call and checking your elevation and landing and taking off. You try to make it all muscle memory. It’s similar to football because it’s fun, but, at the same time, there’s so much going on you stay busy.

“When you’re around a whole lot of people, sort of like a football team, and it means a lot to them, they’re serious about it, and that makes you more serious in what you are doing. It correlates to football so well. It’s like a team-thing, but at the same time, they’re doing their individual flight times.”

His teammates get in on the fun, too. Reese Dismukes has requested a flight with Frost, as did former teammate and current St. Louis Rams lineman Greg Robinson while he was still at Auburn.

“They were serious, but they’re the biggest guys on the team, so I told them I’d take them, ‘but that’s it, nobody else can come along,'” Frost said.

For Kris, flight and football are more than just his collegiate career, and he doesn’t take either opportunity lightly. His energetic yet solid outlook comes courtesy of a Marine lance corporal father who always encouraged him to “stay the course,” according to the Montgomery Advertiser. Given his steady success on the field, it appears he has heeded his father’s orders.

“It’s important to me and my family, being the first in my family being able to fly and play football. It’s a dream come true,” he says. “I’m doing all I can to maximize every opportunity I have. It’s always fun to have an opportunity to do this as well as play football at the best university in the country.”

If Kris Frost keeps maximizing opportunities like he did at Ole Miss, the Auburn Tigers will have a clear flight path for touchdown in Arlington, with an ETA of January 12, 2015.