Real Talk with QBV #10: Current DIII All Conference Linebacker and NFL prospect Seamus Nelson

On Friday August 14th QB Velocity ran into Seamus Nelson, an Outside Linebacker for Montclair State University. Seamus Nelson grew up in Kinnelon, New Jersey and grew up with one of our very own interns, Zach Nussbaum. He was a star athlete in Football and Lacrosse, but chose to play Football in College.

Seamus Nelson is a 6'4 Outside Linebacker and has been a terror on the field. He won First-Team All-Defense in the NJAC Conference, which is one of the biggest Division III conferences in the country.

Seamus Nelson is a hard worker and it has shown, even being noticed by a prestigious writing website called, NFL Draft Diamonds, and we will provide that link below. Seamus told us what it was like growing up in a small town, his transition from High School to College and his success on and off the field! Let's take a look at what the man himself, Seamus Nelson had to say!

Here is the link to Seamus Nelson's NFL Draft Diamonds article.

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What was it like growing up in a small town like Kinnelon, New Jersey?

“Well for Kinnelon, it’s a smaller town, but it was a cool experience because I was a big fish in a small pond, it was a fun experience. I played alongside you at one point, (referring to Zach Nussbaum) Just such a small-town vibe and everyone knew each other on the team, it was really cool I liked it.”

What made you play Football? And what influence made you love the game?

“Growing up my parents tried to expose me to every sport possible, at one point I was doing Lacrosse, Track, Baseball, Soccer and Football, then at the end of the day I figured that I loved Football more than all of it.

I could have found a way to play Lacrosse in college to, but I loved Football more than all the other sports that I played. The influence I had was probably as far as playing was probably my Dad. He played in Kinnelon and following in his footsteps was pretty cool, but then growing up through High School it was definitely my older brother Liam.

He and I were both really into it, we worked out together and we played in High School for two years, and another two in college at Montclair. He really pushed me and I really pushed him to be the best players we could be.”

What was your recruiting process like?

“Going into Junior year is when I started doing camps to try and get my name out there for colleges. After my junior season it was one of my best seasons as a High School player, I got noticed from FCS and FBS schools. I did get looks but nothing panned out towards the end, and senior year came around I was still kind of looking for a home.

I was getting courted by all of these smaller D3 schools and eventually the most reasonable decision ended up being Montclair and I’m glad it was because I've loved my time there and I'm close to home, about twenty minutes from where I live and my older brother Liam was there to.

I felt like it was a home away from home, right off the bat. The recruiting process was a little shaky for me, it had me scrambling, I didn't even commit on time, the deadline is what May 1st I think. I didn’t even commit to Montclair till May 5th. It was super last minute, but I'm glad it worked out the way it did.”

What made you play Outside Linebacker in College? You played so many different positions in High School, why OLB?

“Yeah, I bounced around a lot, in High School I played almost every position, I played Tackle, Tight End, Wide Receiver, Running Back, then defense I played both linebackers, I played safety and I actually got recruited to Montclair to be a Tight End, Wide Receiver.

Then going into camp, we were about two and a half, three weeks away from camp starting and I got a text from my coach and recruiter, Coach Pallazo, asking, ‘How do you feel about playing Outside Linebacker?’ And I said, ‘Whatever gets me on the field fastest coach!’ and he said, ‘Great!’ and that’s my story on moving to Outside Linebacker.

I’m glad it worked out that way to, mentally when I’m on the field I’m a lot more aggressive, I feel Defense compliments that really well, because I feel like I can just go do my thing, do my job and just be a player out there and Offense is a little more finesse.”

Describe your playing style as a linebacker

“As a linebacker I try to use my speed and height to every advantage and being an outside linebacker, I believe that it was a position my body was perfectly made for. Mentally I flip the switch and have the mindset of doing whatever it takes to work harder than the player in the opposite color jersey and leave everything out on the field every gameday and to only be content when I do my job correctly and when my team gets the win, if one of those things doesn’t happen then I use that as motivation to come back better and stronger.”

How was your on-field transition from High School to College Football?

“I’ll give you the story I remember specifically, in Kinnelon like I said, we were a really small school and we played other really small schools, so I didn’t really realize how much talent really was out there. Obviously, I played against some really good talent in High School, but as you guys know College is a completely different animal.

I was on scout team and I was playing against First Offense, I forget who it was, but he ran across the middle on a shallow route and I was playing Middle Linebacker and I hit this kid what I thought was as hard as I could and I hit him and my neck was hurting, I was thinking that was probably a sick hit.

I looked on film and it looked like nothing, I don’t know if I hit him wrong or something. My transition made me understand how many good players are really out there, and as far a