For the Daily Reporter
GREENFIELD — It was Nathan Seifert’s dream to play collegiate football. And going to DePauw and being part of the Reserved Officers’ Training Corps was icing on the cake.
In third grade, Seifert’s passion for football was sparked. This was when he and his dad watched the Indianapolis Colts together. Throughout his elementary and middle school years, Seifert said it was his family who wanted him to play sports. So he did.
He played basketball, football and baseball. But it was football and baseball he kept playing at Mt. Vernon, along with a short stint at track and field with the shot put that resulted in an HHC championship in the event.
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In his high school football career, Seifert’s two positions were middle linebacker on defense and running back on offense. In his career, Seifert obtained 194 solo tackles with a total of 320 tackles. He was two-time All-Conference and All-County and was named honorable mention All-State his senior year.
During his last season with the Marauders, former Mt. Vernon head coach Doug Armstrong watched the senior class grow, both as players and young adults. Armstrong described Seifert as “hard-working, very athletic and a leader of our team.” Armstong said he was one of the top players, too.
“He never needed to come out of the game and he was one of those players who rose to the occasion,” Armstrong said. “I just know during his time, when someone would get hurt, he would rally the team and step up to fill whatever role that needed to be filled.”
One of the memorable football games Seifert played in was the last home game at Mt. Vernon in the second round of Sectional No. 22 against Pendleton Heights.
“It’s very memorable too because a peer of ours, who was a good friend with a lot of us that were seniors, had a brother pass away the week before,” Seifert said. “A lot of us went to two practices that week.”
The Marauders defeated the Arabians, 13-0. In the game, Seifert led the team with 11 total tackles. They would lose in the sectional championship game to Delta.
In the fall of 2017, Seifert would attend DePauw, where he would meet Jay Hood, the Defensive Coordinator and Director of Football Operations.
Both Hood and Armstrong helped Seifert accomplish his goal: playing collegiate football.
“I don’t think everybody understands that it doesn’t matter what level of college football you’re talking about,” Hood said. “I believe this statistic is still correct that only about 3% of high-school seniors, across the country, will go on to play any level of college football. You gotta be a good football player to go on and play college football at any level.
“That’s really important to us, because we want the kids who are motivated by that: wanting to continue to play in their college career.”
One of the reasons Seifert chose the Tigers was his wanting to continue his football career.
“I started looking into doing ROTC my senior year,” Seifert said. “At DePauw, I could do ROTC, football and have a pretty good social atmosphere around me. It just felt like to me to be every world combined.”
When he was a freshman, Seifert joined the ROTC because he wanted a challenge, a challenge like his cousin Jake Hofmeyer and grandfather James “Donald” Thompson accepted. Hofmeyer still serves in the Air Force, while Thompson served in the Army. Along with joining ROTC, Seifert said he also wanted the benefits they received, which included school being paid.
Since Seifert’s enrollment at DePauw in 2017, the junior has enjoyed his playing time on the field, in the classroom and with ROTC. On the playing field, Seifert has compiled 18 total tackles, one sack and eight assists. He’s in line to start at middle linebacker this fall.
Besides his efforts on the field, Seifert and another guy on the team continue building upon their skills in ROTC. Hood said it’s not common for the football team to have two players in ROTC.
“We’re talking about a couple of kids out of 120. It was an avenue for both of those guys that was really important to them,” Hood said. “We felt like they were the kind of guys that we needed to have in our program. I’ll give the ROTC some credit, they do a great job of being very fair with young men like Nathan, still giving him the opportunity to work with him and do all of the things he needs to get done.”
