Q & A: Nate English

Home Sports Q & A: Nate English

Nate English is a fifth-year senior hungry for an All-American title. A native of Hillsdale, Mich., he came to Hillsdale College for football but will leave as a thrower for track and field. He sat down with The Collegian to talk about his college athletic career thus far.

You have done two big sports since coming here — football and field. What do you do now, and why did to make the transition?

I played football 10 years and track for 11. I’ve been throwing since sixth grade and football since seventh. Long, long, long time. I’ve been doing it for quite a while.

Now I do field. I grab a 16-pound ball and make it go far. I throw it as far as I can. There’s something Neanderthal about it. It’s just throw the damn thing, pretty much.

I was in football for four years. I got hurt too much during football. I told the coaches, for health reasons, I’m not going to come back for my fifth year. I did track that year because I told Coach Forino I would. It ended up going a lot better than I anticipated, and he asked me to stay for a fifth year. I accepted, and here I am training through the whole year trying to get All-American.

What do you think are your chances at winning, and what are you doing to train for that?

I’m ninth right now in the country, and the top eight get All-American. It’s anybody who can do anything on any given day. The national meet will be coming up soon in March in Mankato [Minn.]. So get out there and have a big throw and see what happens. Just see if we can do it. I have a lot of strength training. I do a lot of throwing. I throw almost every single day. Mostly plyometric work, some agility, but mostly strength training and event specific training.

What has been your best moment athletically?

Track and football are so different from each other. The first time we beat Grand Valley [State University] at Homecoming a couple years ago was pretty special. I didn’t really play that much in that game. It was pretty cool to be part of that.

For track, going to the conference meet last year and throwing a foot and a half farther than I ever had in the shop on my very first throw – a hundred people are standing there – and just letting go of the most guttural scream you can. Yeah, that would probably be it. Getting as primitive and primal as you can. I really enjoyed that moment. 55 feet 2.25 inches. It was my best ever up to that point. To get that on the very first throw at conference and put some pressure on the field was pretty cool.

Why did you come to Hillsdale College?

They offered me a scholarship. I grew up in Hillsdale. In high school, I told myself Hillsdale is the last place I want to go due to politics. But the football coaches came after me and I signed pretty early on. I don’t regret it. I wanted to be an engineer. Hillsdale doesn’t have an engineering program. I believe you always end up where you’re supposed to go.

 

— Compiled by T. Elliot Gaiser