Simon Seidl looks back at journey to becoming Gopher football's newest commit
MINNEAPOLIS — One of the Gophers football team's big in-state gets on National Signing Day was three-star defensive back Simon Seidl from Hill-Murray High School. From being born in Congo to this point has been quite the journey.
Seidl is good at football. As a kid it wasn't even close.
"My whole life I didn't get tackled until eighth grade," Seidl said. "I think I cried when I got tackled, actually."
Wednesday couldn't come soon enough. Seidl's commitment to play for the Gophers was put to the test. Other players recently have flipped. Seidl heard from many college coaches hoping to convince him to change course.
"I never responded to any coaches," Seidl said after putting pen to paper on Wednesday morning at the Hill-Murray auditorium. "Because I wanted to be in Minnesota. I didn't want to deal with anything else. And I wanted to be done with the recruiting process. And after I committed I already had a bunch of relief, but now since it's official, I sent it in this morning. I feel a bunch of relief."
Siedl also plays hockey for annual state contender Hill-Murray. On the field, he at times flew under the radar; older brother Sawyer was a star running back for the Pioneers.
"I was always the Robin to his Batman," laughed Seidl. "He was always the big superstar. Six touchdowns a game, whatever."
Sawyer just finished his first semester on the University of North Dakota football team, making this season, feel different.
"That was the first year since we'd been adopted - and even not - that we weren't together at all," said Sawyer Seidl. "So it was kinda weird. But I think he can handle it, playing at the next level without me."
The brothers were adopted from Congo when Simon Seidl was four. Wednesday was just one of many special moments in their young lives.
"Quite honestly unbelievable," said Steve Seidl, Simon and Sawyer's dad. "If you would have saw when he first came, a little starving kid from Africa, we had two feet of snow. It was 35 below. I think it was a hundred-and-some degree difference, waiting for him at the flight, you would have never thought that they would play football or hockey or had the life they had."
"If you told me I was gonna be in this position when I was four years old or when I understood things, I would have told you you were crazy," said Simon Seidl. "I'm so lucky to have my parents and my family. They're the reason I'm here right now. They've been pushing me my whole life. They've been wanting me to be great. I'm just so thankful."
