The world through the eyes of sophomore biology major Christopher Archibal is both blurry and beautiful.

Archie is a defensive lineman on the Setters football team who is legally blind. Archibal, more commonly known as Archie, has difficulties seeing in class and is not able to drive a car.

There was no tragic accident in childhood that robbed Archie’s vision like Stan Lee’s Daredevil. Archibal was born with poor eyesight. Archie’s corrected vision is around 20/200 in his better eye.

Despite being legally blind, Archie can see the importance of facing and overcoming the numerous adversities life has to offer.

“Ever since I was small I was always told that I was going to need special help doing normal things,” Archibal said. “But here I am, I graduated normal high school, I went to normal college and am taking normal classes, I try not to listen to the naysayers.”

These naysayers might be surprised to learn that Archie has a harder time seeing letters on a smart board than he does seeing defenders. Archie’s proximity to the ball as a defensive lineman enables him to make plays on Saturdays. It also helps that Archie gets a little help from his friends on the field.

“My teammates help me with the signal calls in practice,” Archibal said. “When our defensive coordinator gives us our signals I can’t see them, but I know all the plays, My teammates just relay the play to me and I make the necessary adjustments.”

Even though his teammates have to help Archie with the signals, few know the extent of Archie’s bad eyesight. Archibal’s suitemate, senior political science major Lamar Francis, was quite surprised to learn his teammate was legally blind.

“I did not know that,” Francis said. “I knew that he had vision problems, but I did not know he was legally blind.”

Archie’s eyesight may not be the talk of the locker room, yet that does not seem to bother the Nyack native.

“I think they have a general idea as to my eyesight weakness, but I don’t think a lot of people really know,” Archibal said. “I have had more issues doing stuff wrong, like being out of position or late on a play, than with my sight so far.”

Archie’s sight may be far from great. He may even have trouble seeing lessons about how DNA replicates during the S phase of mitosis. However, Archie can see with clarity the strides he has made as a student athlete; even though his vision gets blurry.