HONOLULU, Hawaii — Ask Louisiana Tech's Jaylon Ferguson if he remembers the first quarterback sack of his college career and the record-setting defensive end lights up like a kid who's just discovered M&Ms or ice cream or Santa Claus.

"Alamodome against UTSA," he says quickly, the memory exploding out of him. His roommate and fellow defensive end Deldrick Canty was injured and so here came Ferguson, the freshman from St. Francisville. Sixth game of the season, second possession of the game for the Roadrunners, just under four minutes gone in the game.

Third-and-7 from the Roadrunners' 38. Ferguson is telling the story with a smile, reaching out his long right arm to demonstrate how it grabbed UTSA quarterback Dalton Sturm and pulled him down for a loss of seven to force a punt.

Teammate and defensive tackle Vern Butler, now with the Carolina Panthers, yelled "Good job!" to the freshman and patted him on the back.

"I mean, Big Vern; he's like my hero, and he's smiling and telling me, 'Do that some more,'" said Ferguson. "I wanted that feeling again, so I did just what Big Vern said. My heart just felt so full."

Ferguson finished the game, a 34-31 Tech win, with two sacks, a quarterback hurry, four tackles for loss and seven tackles total.

Since that October day in San Antonio in 2015, Ferguson has recorded a school and Conference USA record 42.5 sacks, just 1.5 sacks shy of the all-time NCAA record. He'll have a chance to break it and help get his team a fifth consecutive bowl win Saturday when the Bulldogs meet the University of Hawaii at 9:30 p.m. CST in the SoFi Hawaii Bowl.

Not playing in the game to protect his status as an early NFL draft pick hasn't crossed his mind.
 
"No way I'm not going to play a game of football if I have the chance," Ferguson said. "I mean, look at where we are. In Hawaii. Look at all the people who've helped me. My teammates. (Defensive line) Coach (Rick) Petri. Look at all this. Here we are talking about my first sack. How could I not play? I can't wait to get out there."
 
The possibility of Ferguson sitting out the game as some other high-profile players have chosen to do was never even talked about with Tech head coach Skip Holtz or with Petri, or with his mom, Jackie Harris.
 
"He's a team player," said Jackie, whose son Jaylon is the oldest of five children and the first in his family to graduate from college. "If he can help the team, Jay will be out there."

"He could have graduated in the spring but he wanted to play another year with his teammates and get better," Holtz said. "You worry about a projected draft pick coming back, about whether they'll come back with a burning desire or will they play safe and protect their draft status. Well, Jaylon hasn't missed a rep in practice or in a game. He's playing with a high level of energy; we go good-on-good in practice back home and we've had to slow him down a bit so we could get something done.

"And the guy's so humble," Holtz said. "All he talks about is how the other linemen have given him the opportunity to make sacks. Jaylon is about what's best for the team; that's one of the things you love about him. It's all about the big picture with him and how the team is bigger than any one player. That's his attitude. He's a special young man."

"He's hungry to learn," Petri said. "'Teach me. Teach me.' That's what he's about. Loves watching film. And the thing about him is he's the ultimate team player. We've never once talked about the sack record. I don't call him Sack Daddy. To me he's Jaylon or 45."

His jersey number, 45, would be the same number of the new sack record he's chasing. Already, he's sacked up a bunch of records and honors for himself and for the Bulldogs, 7-5 overall and 5-3 in C-USA:

• C-USA Defensive Player of the Year;
• Named a Second Team All-American by the Walter Camp Football Foundation;
• Named Second Team All-America by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA);
• Named Second Team All-American by The Sporting News;
• Named Third Team All-America by the Associated Press;
• The nation's active career sack leader;
• As a senior this year, he's totaled a single-season record 15 sacks for the Bulldogs;
• Owns the Louisiana Tech and C-USA records for career sacks (42.5).
• His 15 sacks in 2018 is tied for the nation's lead;
• His 23.5 tackles for loss this year ranks first in C-USA and third in the country;
• Through 12 games this fall, he's recorded 59 total tackles (33 solo), nine quarterback hurries, three pass breakups, and two forced fumbles.

"You can put binoculars on him and watch him the whole game and that's be worth the price of admission," Holtz said.

Ferguson has earned it all through both lessons learned at home and a lot of natural ability.

"Last year I encouraged him to go back to school," Jackie said. "A diploma is everything; if sports don't work out, you've got that. When he became a father, he understood it better."

Jaylon and his girlfriend have son Jyce, who just turned 1, and a girl expected in May.

"Sometimes it's not all about the money," Jackie said, "especially if you have family."

Jaylon's brother Jazz, a year younger, was the Outstanding Offensive Player of the Year in the Southland Conference this season as a receiver for Northwestern State. Baby brother R.J. is on a football scholarship at Arkansas-Monticello, and their little sisters, twin girls, are in kindergarten.

"Jay lived to stay outside as a boy," Jackie said. "It wasn't about the toys with him and Jazz. I could buy them a toy, but they'd rather play with coat hangers or invent something to play with instead of toys.

"They always played good, were good players," she said. "I had them in sports since they were 5. Started them in tee ball, then little-boy football and basketball. Jazz liked to run the ball and be a receiver. Jay didn't care for running with the ball; he just liked to hit people."

"Sometimes he'll stick his face in there when it's better not to; that's just because he likes the contact," Petri said. "I'll ask him, 'Why are you doing down the middle Jaylon? To hit somebody? Well do it lower, OK?'"

It's a controlled chaos that he plays with, something thought out and studied and practiced over and over.

"He studies film; he just loves football," Petri said. "He studies his opponents. He goes into games with an idea of what he wants to do and then builds on it. You've got to understand how to string moves together; one move sets up another. When he was younger he made plays just with natural God-given talent.

"Now he has the experience, plus he still has the aggressiveness and enjoys the game," Petri said. "That's the key: some people have the talent but they don't always have his love for the game, his aggressiveness."

He's 6-5, 262, plus a student of the game. When he's at his best, as he was in a four-sack effort in a win over North Texas State in September, it's impossible to keep your eyes off him.

"Everything's faster now," Petri said. "He's playing faster. He still has the power and explosiveness he had before, but he does it all faster. He's got length, height, God-given gifts: he's learned to take those and use them to get all he can get out of himself."

"The way he works plus his experience makes the difference," Holtz said. "He's always been a speed rusher off the edge, but if you go back and look when he was younger, a lot of times he'd end up behind the quarterback and allow the guy to step up and throw. Now he's made that transition from pure speed to power; now he can put the offensive lineman in the lap of the quarterback and disrupt everything."

Jaylon should get several chances at the record against a Hawaii team that loves to pass. At least one person back in St. Francisville will be watching, even if the game doesn't end until 2 a.m. back home.

"I've told him I'll be in front of the TV supporting him every step of the way," Jackie said. "Everything that's happened this season, I don't think it's hit me yet. I just tell the boys to count their blessings every day. God has blessed you with a healthy football season and you've broken and set records, but if football doesn't work out, it's all in God's plan. There's nothing you or I can do or say to change that. You try your best, and that's all you can do.

"I've always encouraged the boys to do their best, that nobody's going to give you anything," she said. "Like Jay: he's a tall boy, a big boy, but you've still got to want it. You've got to want it."

And he does.

"It's been an amazing week," Ferguson said, the Pacific Ocean and palm trees behind him in Oahu. "Feels good to be able to play my last game with my brothers here in paradise. I just can't wait to play again."