One Bear’s improbable path from platoon leader to linebacker

You’d be hard-pressed to find many college football programs with a 26-year old player on their roster — much less a student-athlete who became an Army officer at the age of 22, then returned to college while supporting his wife and two children.

And you certainly won’t be able to find another program with a player who, dared by his fellow officers to play another year of college football — five years after last playing a down — went back to play for a certain long-sleeved coach who recruited him eight years earlier, fulfilling a dream that seemed to hit a roadblock when a high school injury kept him from playing Division I football.

But you will find that player at Baylor. First Lieutenant Nelson Ehirim, a redshirt senior linebacker for the Bears, brings that seemingly unreal combination of leadership, perseverance and dedication to the green and gold, with a perspective no other player in the country can claim.

Ehirim’s improbable path to Baylor began more than eight years ago as a defensive end for Manor High School near Austin, when he was recruited by Coach Art Briles, then at the University of Houston. It didn’t take long after their first meeting for Nelson to know where he wanted to play college football.

“[Coach Briles] is an expert motivator. He knows how to get through to kids,” Ehirim says. “That’s why I wanted to play for him so badly, because he gave me that confidence. He’s a coach who makes you feel like you can do anything.”

The dream of playing for Briles seemed to end, however, after an MCL injury during Nelson’s senior year. He went instead to Midwestern State University, where he played for three seasons. He never forgot his desire to play for Briles, but life went on; after graduating from Midwestern State, he enrolled in the U.S. Army and quickly made an impression, becoming an officer at the age of 22.

At an age when many young people are only beginning to formulate a path, Ehirim was preparing soldiers for battle and honing his leadership skills amidst demanding circumstances. But with a growing family to support — he and his wife, Ashley, have a six-year-old son, Grayson, and two-year-old daughter, Gianna — Nelson made the decision to pursue a master’s degree. Knowing of his plans, his fellow officers upped the ante.

“One day, I was sitting in my office with other platoon leaders, and they started telling me stories about guys who came off active duty to play football,” Ehirim remembers. “They asked me, ‘Will you ever play again?’ I said I didn’t think I had any eligibility left, and even if I did, it was a long shot. It was really a dare. They dared me to call and find out if I had any eligibility left. That got the ball rolling. I never dreamed it would come to this.”

He did indeed have eligibility remaining, and that discovery rekindled the passion to play. The choice to play for Art Briles was obvious.

Eight long years after he was recruited, Ehirim fulfilled his dream, walking on to the program in the spring and stepping on the field in game action for the first time last month, covering a kickoff in the Homecoming win over Kansas. In practice and away from the field, he serves as a leader and mentor to his younger teammates, and laughs at their good-natured nicknames like “Captain America” and “Pops.” In the classroom, he is pursuing a master’s degree in sport pedagogy and works with Baylor Veteran Educational and Transition Services (VETS) to help him adjust to life away from a full-time military setting (even as he continues to serve in the U.S. Army Reserves).

“It’s a transition, coming back to civilian life,” Nelson says. “But VETS has helped me filter out some of the noise and let my guard down. I hope I can bring some awareness to the general student body that we veterans, we’re okay, we’re normal people, too.”

So keep an eye out for No. 51 the next time you attend a Baylor game. You’ll be looking at a man whose contributions to the green and gold go far beyond the field.

Sic ’em, Nelson Ehirim!