Samford University linebacker Nathan East has a nickname.
“We like to call him ‘Captain America,’” fellow linebacker Noah Martin said. “He is a sure tackler, as well as pass rusher. He can lock down a lot of people in open space. He is one of the fastest players on the team. He literally can do it all. He can fly.”
“Nathan is a fantastic leader for our defense, and he plays the game full speed all the time,” said defensive tackle Seth Simmer. “He has no ‘quit’ in him. Nathan brings an energy to the field and to the locker room that is unmatched.”
East, 22, also is a spiritual leader for the Bulldogs.
When he was 10 he thought he had accepted Christ during Vacation Bible School at Loveless Park (now Grace Life) Baptist Church in McCalla, but toward the end of 2019 he began to have doubts about his salvation.
Doubting his faith
As East prayed and studied the Bible he said it was revealed “more and more that I wasn’t saved,” he recalled, “that maybe I didn’t truly know Jesus.”
He told his fiancé, Raeley Vaughn — who he plans to marry next spring — that he did not have affirmation of salvation.
“We were sitting outside looking at stars and at nature and having some godly conversations, asking each other questions,” East remembered.
The next day, March 1, 2020, the sermon from Pastor Joel Fredericks revolved around some of the questions they discussed the night before.
“I knew it was God talking to me. I went to the altar. That is when I became a Christian officially,” East said.
“I was thinking that I was a Christian by the things I was doing as far as helping out at church, attending church [but realized] it is not about what I’m doing, that it is about having a relationship with Jesus, letting His light shine through me day to day.
“I was checking off all the boxes, going on youth trips, going to church Sundays and Wednesdays, but I still had the empty heart,” said East, who was baptized at Shadow Lake, on the church property, later that month.
He grew up in a single-parent Christian home. His parents divorced before he was born, and his father died when he was a senior in high school. But East met godly men at church who were positive spiritual influences, he said.
Emulating Christ
His desire is to emulate the character of Jesus in the classroom, with teammates and through the way he treats and loves others, East said.
“I want to be that friend that is there to listen, to care, to love.”
He tries to surround himself with the “right people” and talk with others about the Bible, and he wants to be intentional about Bible study.
“It’s easy to say as an athlete that you are too busy,” East admitted. “The same challenges and temptations are there every day, but I know the power of Christ I have within me allows me to make better decisions.”
‘Instincts and speed’
What has enabled East to get through Samford opponents has been his instincts and speed. He runs the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds, among the fastest on the team.
He was second team All-Southern Conference during the Spring 2021 season and has been named to the Southern Conference All-Academic team.
“I like to think that I am a good teammate,” East emphasized, “and I feel I have developed into a leadership role.”
He was team captain during the Spring 2021 season. “It meant a lot,” he said of the honor.
East graduated from Samford in December 2020 with a 3.7 GPA and a major in exercise science, and he started physical therapy school there this summer, with plans to graduate in 2024.
“Off the field, East successfully shows the players how to balance grad school, football and life,” said Coach Nick Benedetto.
But football is one of his best conversation-starters.
‘Everybody loves football’
“In the South everybody loves football,” East said. “As an athlete it’s an easy way to talk to people and find a way to share the gospel message in a conversation that is related to football.”
He has goals both on the field and in his faith.
He wants Samford to win a conference football championship, but his “goal as a Christian is to put myself second every day and be an advocate for the mission of Christ, [to] go and share the good news,” East said.
“I feel like I have been able to do a lot of things that maybe people wouldn’t think I would be able to, growing up without a father in the house. The opportunities God has placed in my life, being able to attend Samford and play football — I think it is unbelievable how everything has come about in my life and shaped me into who I am.”
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