Many people grow up with dreams of playing professional sports. However, very few end up playing in the pros. Yet, one Westbury man is currently living the dream.
With the 220th pick in the 2014 NFL draft, the Minnesota Vikings selected University of Connecticut graduate Shamar Stephen, a defensive lineman. This past season, Stephen appeared in all 16 regular season games for the Vikings.
Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings
It is a much different world from where Stephen, 23, began his career. “The first time I played football was just street football, throwing a ball around, then my neighbors told me I should go tryout and play organized football,” Stephen said. “In about the second grade, I played with the Mineola Chiefs.”
Playing as a youngster in Mineola proved to be a jump-start for Stephen. “It was a great organization for me,” Stephen said of the Mineola Chiefs. “I had fun playing with the people that were there.”
It turned out that playing for the Chiefs gave Stephen an edge on the competition by the time he got older. “A lot of people are just starting to play football in middle school and I was ahead of it,” Stephen said. “It put me ahead of a lot of guys and gave me a lot of opportunities.”
The first of those opportunities came after a storied high school career. During his senior season Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School, Stephen led his team to a 7-2 record as a team captain. His strong play earned him a scholarship to the University of Connecticut. “I started feeling I was pretty good in high school,” Stephen said of his playing ability. “When I earned my scholarship to the University of Connecticut, then I realized I could really play.”
During his college career at UConn, Stephen rose to become a team captain during his senior season in 2013. Over the course of his career, he witnessed teammates get drafted into the NFL, and that only added fuel to his fire. “Seeing a lot of teammates get drafted and move onto the next level made me feel like I could do the same thing,” Stephen said. “It’s definitely a big inspiration seeing a lot of guys that you play with go play at the next level and have success at that level.”
Yet for Stephen, getting to the next level wouldn’t come without a few bumps in the road. After playing in the Senior Bowl in Alabama, Stephen had a rough showing in front of many scouts at the NFL combine. “I could have done a lot better, but it is what it is,” Stephen said of the combine.
After being picked by the Vikings in the draft’s final round, Stephen had to prove he was worthy of a shot on the roster. “When I got picked, I felt excited and happy I was able to get drafted,” Stephen said. “My focus was just to show the coaches I could play and help the team win.”
Standing at 6-foot-5 and weighing in at 310 pounds, Stephen fits the mold of an NFL player. But size alone usually doesn’t translate into NFL success. During the Vikings training camp over the summer, Stephen’s goal was to simply make the team. “I try to execute what [the coaches] teach me to the best of my ability and try to do it perfectly every time,” Stephen said. “Doing what they want me to do and doing it how they want it to be done helped me out a lot.”
Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings
Unlike many seventh round draft picks, Stephen not only made the team, he played in all 16 regular season games for the Vikings, recording 23 tackles. “The big thing for me was getting the coaching staff to trust me and show them I could play with all the guys out there and do the right thing,” Stephen said. “The season as a whole was a great because it’s just crazy and surreal to me that I’m playing against these guys.”
Even though Stephen had a good start to his career, there are no guarantees that it will happen again. “I need to be at another level physically than I was last year,” Stephen said about next season. “I just want to be able to master my technique. I need to bring it up another notch and se if I can compete at another level.”
Stephen and the Vikings will look to improve after a 7-9 record this past season wasn’t good enough to make the NFL playoffs. Stephen said to do that, he will have to, “do the right thing and do it all the time so therefore you won’t have any mistakes. You have to be accountable.”
