“He never really exploded onto the field because of the accident”???…On the field he was exploding just fine. He didn’t explode in draft position rankings because he doesn’t score as well as others on a stopwatch.

The biggest change for him before and after the injury that I could see relates more to a different scheme put in place when we added a new LB coach (Jon Tenuta) to State’s staff. In 2008 we ussually dropped the linebackers back into coverage (and Nate grabbed 4 INT’s). In 2010 we used a more attacking/ blitzing scheme and Nate attacked the line of scrimmage more often. (Hence the huge TFL number). -In both systems Nate was exceptional.

He was the guy who could always make the big play when your defense needed it, led the team both vocally and by example,and was the nasty blow you the ef up linebacker that opposing teams hated to see. I don’t know what his pro career will be like but will be following Denver now to see how he develops.