Houston Texans’ Dieter Eiselen’s journey from rugby in South Africa to being starstruck by Tom Brady

When Houston Texans center Dieter Eiselen carefully transitioned from rugby and weightlifting to American football late in his high school career, he never imagined he would be here today, in his fourth year in as an NFL player.

Eiselen played high-level rugby at the prestigious Paul Roos High School, just outside Cape Town, with international stars like Herschel Jantjies and Edwill van der Merwe, and had only initially planned to play Yale football after his education.

Instead, he became a two-time first-team All-Ivy League player with the Yale Bulldogs, made 11 NFL appearances for the Chicago Bears, and followed that up by breaking into the All-Ivy League team. Texans this season after initially participating in practice. team.

“Rugby really helped set the framework for my athletic abilities and I’m really grateful for that,” Eiselen told ESPN of his development.

I really didn't think I was going to be going into my fourth year in the NFL when I first came to the United States. I just came here with the intention of playing college football and getting a good degree, but now I've had the chance to enter my fourth year in the NFL and I'm truly grateful.

Eiselen found his way into American football through weightlifting largely because he felt his high school rugby career wasn't progressing quickly enough and he saw his dream of playing for the Cup-winning Springboks of the world fade away quickly.

He explained: “I was born and raised in Pretoria, moved to Stellenbosch when I was 14 and went to Paul Roos. [one of the top rugby high schools in the world].

“I grew up playing rugby like everyone else and dreamed of becoming a Springbok rugby player like everyone else, but my vocation in the United States took me on a different path.

“I just felt like I wasn't progressing as fast as I should have. I played with guys who were really good, like Herschel Jantjies and Edwill van der Merwe, who were in my same class at Paul Roos.

“I just felt like I wasn't progressing as quickly as I needed to to get into the system that's set up in South Africa for rugby players to get professional contracts, be signed by provincial teams and do all that .

“We did Olympic weightlifting as part of Paul Roos' strength and conditioning program and I really enjoyed it and found I had a natural affinity for it, so I started to compete.

“Once I realized my path wasn't going to be rugby, I focused on the sport simply because I loved it and discovered I had a natural talent for it.

“It helped me a lot with football, I would say too – developing my strength, power and explosiveness, so I'm glad I did that too.”

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Texans' Eiselen: NFL has room to grow in South Africa

Houston Texans center Dieter Eiselen says South Africa has plenty of rugby players who could make the switch if the game is developed there.

Eiselen believes South Africa has the potential to produce top NFL talent, but one of the obstacles is that young talents might be discouraged from trying sports other than rugby.

He said: “I really congratulate [former New York Giants star] Osi Umenyiora for all the work he has done [scouting talent in Africa]. I worked with him to launch these efforts in South Africa as well.

“The more football can expand its footprint, the better it will be – to make it a more global sport. I think there are a lot of athletes everywhere – especially in Africa – if they have the opportunity to play this sport, it will can do really well.

“It's just about giving people an opportunity. They might be great players, but they themselves don't necessarily know it, so I'm really excited to see this sport grow even more.”

“I really hope [it booms in South Africa]. I think it will take time. I think the obstacle to that would be that some people might see it as a barrier to rugby and wouldn't want good rugby players to defect to football.

“There's definitely some crossover between guys who might be good rugby players and football players, but maybe there are guys who might not be good rugby players but can be great football players. It is really very important to make the sport accessible to everyone.”.

Eiselen started watching American football in his late teens and became more and more immersed, his curiosity growing: “At 16, I started watching it freely as a hobby. I remember 'stayed up until the early hours trying to watch these games.

I would pick the college games and the pro games. I would usually pick the prime time games and watch them after they came out and download them, so I wouldn't have to stay up until 3 or 4 o'clock. [AM] to watch them in South Africa.

I loved watching it, I loved watching the atmosphere of some of those matches – just the physical side of the sport and how exciting it was. When it came time to apply for universities in South Africa , there wasn't really a specific course or direction that I really saw myself pursuing.

“I probably would have ended up studying accounting or something, but I felt like it was just settling in, and I also felt like I had size and strength and speed for my size, and I felt like I had the ability to do it. [move to the US for football]so why not go there?

“Instead [that than] I would just sign up for a class at home and always wonder what could have happened if I had just tried. That's what really motivated me to try to find a way to get to the United States. »

Eiselen's leap of faith paid off, as his journey took him to Yale after a year at Choate Rosemary Hall, but he achieved it all without much outside help…except from a friend holding a camera while he made a makeshift wetsuit in his backyard.

During his senior year of high school, he attended a football camp in Washington, D.C., and after just four days, several universities offered him walk-on spots. But he thought that if four days could get him walking around, what could a whole year of training do for him?

He said of the camp: “I really had no idea what I was doing. I was just trying to soak in as much as possible, learn the techniques and learn from all the other players and the coaches from surrounding universities who were there.

“Some universities offered me scholarships and I knew that if I could achieve this in a few days without really knowing what I was doing, then I could do much better if I had time to develop further as a as a player., so I wanted to find a way to play without using eligibility.

“I did a ton of research when I got home and I was really motivated to find a way to do it. I emailed 50 head coaches from all these different programs that were offering these programs postgraduate.

“I just sent them a long email describing who I was, how big I was, how strong I was, what my goals were, and I filmed myself doing a mini combine. I had a friend who was filming me, showing me around the 40 – a sprint in a yard and agility drills and all that, just to show them that I can move at my size.

“I basically moved to this school called Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut, where I did this one-year postgraduate program. It was my first time playing football and I was recruited there to go play at Yale.”

After even exceeding his own expectations in college, where he played a key role in two Ivy League Football Championship triumphs for the Yale Bulldogs, Eiselen was signed by the Chicago Bears in 2020.

The journey to the Bears team was by no means easy, but throughout the years of waiting for his turn to become a regular player, there were special moments that reminded him why he was worth it. stay patient.

He said of one such moment: “My sophomore year we were playing in Tampa and that was back when Tom Brady was still there and I was dressed for that game and playing on special teams and I was on the same pitch as him and seeing him in person was pretty surreal – one of the best players of all time.

“It was really crazy for me. I'm from South Africa and here I am sharing a court with one of the best players in the history of the sport. It was really cool.

“There's a lot of games that I've played throughout my career, being able to see these crazy, crazy matches [talented] guys like Patrick Mahomes. Just being able to share a field with these guys is something I have to pinch myself. [over] Sometimes.

“I'm not really aware of it when I'm working hard and preparing here, but when I'm back home and away from it and I think back to where I was and what I do, I have to pinch myself.”.

Eiselen is now enjoying his time with the Texans, whom he joined on August 31, initially on the practice squad before being promoted to the active roster on November 11.

Just as he enjoyed facing the likes of Mahomes, Josh Allen and Brady, he now fully enjoys watching an emerging NFL star, Texans rookie quarterback CJ Stroud.

“I'm really happy to [have gotten] the opportunity here in Houston once my contract ends in Chicago. We’re building something special here in Houston and it’s been a lot of fun to be a part of,” he said.

“Being around a leader and player like CJ Stroud has been a great experience and I can’t wait to see where this team goes in the future.”