Nathan Sheinle: The Hammer of the Panther Attack

Nathan Thor Sheinle is a senior tackle on the 2011 Plant Panthers offensive line. Notice there are no quotes around Thor — that's his real middle name.

“My dad was pushing for the name since before I was born,” Sheinle said.

He was an 8-pound baby — big but not huge. It was when his grandfather, Bob Jones, remarked at Sheinle’s jumbo feet, "He’s gonna be one of those 6-foot-5 linemen," that the child’s fate was sealed.

But it once looked like a different path was in store for Sheinle. Early in his life, from about fifth grade to eighth grade, he lived in Qatar at the Al Udeid Air Base. His father was an Army Green Beret, and Sheinle grew up playing rugby, not football.

“(Rugby) looks so chaotic when you watch it, but there are many intricacies that you don’t know about,” Sheinle said.

For instance, there are five different positions on an eight-man side: hooker, prop, lock, flanker and eight-man. Sheinle started off playing “tight head” prop, which is part of a three-man front line, then he moved to play lock, which is part of a two-man back line, kind of like a linebacker.

“Rugby really helped me cross train for football,” Sheinle said. “I have no issue with running; you run constantly in rugby, much like soccer.”

According to Sheinle, the biggest difference between the two sports is just that. Rugby is more of a constant exertion, while football is condensed into eight-second bursts of “all-out” exertion.

“Rugby is also different because you are more trying to get the other person down and get the ball away from him, while football you’re trying to decapitate the person across from you,” he said.

When Sheinle made it to Plant High School his freshman year, he had a lot to learn and still thought he wanted to play defensive tackle.

“I was one of those 30/30 people,” he said, meaning he would come into the game with 30 seconds left or if the Panthers were winning by 30 points. He moved up to varsity at the end of his freshman stint on JV as an offensive lineman.

Sheinle settled into the position in his sophomore year, in a playoff game against Alonso High. According to Sheinle, then-assistant offensive line coach Brian McNulty graded him out at 91 percent, the highest grade on the team.

Last year, Sheinle was a mainstay on the offensive front along with fellow giant Tony Posada. This year, Sheinle is the big man on the line and lines up at both tackle positions, usually where the ball is going.

He’s come a long way from when he showed up at the Panthers' doorstep. He’s not all that much bigger, up to 6-foot-5 and still tipping the scale over 300 pounds, but the strength is what has shown in the senior lineman.

When Sheinle showed up at Plant, he bench pressed about 185 pounds and squatted 345 pounds. Now he’s up to 335 on bench press and 500 pounds squatting.

Sheinle currently has scholarship offers from East Carolina, Tulane and Eastern Michigan.