He didn't start playing football until two years ago. He is a big, strong kid who can bench press over 400 pounds. He comes from a small-school football program.
When you describe a young man preparing to walk on and play college football at Nebraska, it's not unusual to read these descriptions. After all, the walk-on program has a long history of drawing kids like this to Memorial Stadium, some of whom go on to become All-Americans who play in the NFL.
This one, though, is a bit unusual. For we are not describing a TYPICAL Nebraska boy, but one who comes from South Korea.
The Lincoln Journal Star reported earlier this week that Seung Hoon Choi, a senior at Lincoln Christian High School, accepted an invitation to walk on and play football at Nebraska. At 6-foot-2 and 320 pounds, he has the perfect kind of physical tools to develop into an offensive lineman for the Huskers.
Choi didn't really know much about football. He saw kids playing the game one day while riding with his parents past a school football field, and figured he'd give it a shot.
But there were problems when he first started working out for the Crusaders. It took some time for him to get comfortable with lifting weights, despite his big frame. It was even more difficult for his high school coaches to find a helmet big enough for him to use. They had to settle for the biggest helmet they had, taking out the regular padding and using the lightest pads they could get a hold of.
Choi's English wasn't the best at the time, either, forcing coaches to keep things simple when explaining what they wanted him to do.
He's lived with a different host family each year during his time at Lincoln Christian, but he has warmed up well to the community and, after talking with a couple of coaches on the Husker staff, decided to walk on with the Huskers.
Comments