Eiselen, Strother lining up a big season
Pro prospects eager to return Yale to the top of the Ivy League
NEW HAVEN — There is simply no way the playful quote from Yale senior center Sterling Strother will make it into a newspaper, but let’s just say that he was slightly impressed the first time he laid eyes on the player who would start next to him 21 times over the last three seasons.
It was the summer of 2016 when the freshman from Moraga, Calif. was first introduced to Dieter Eiselen, a South Africa native with a background playing rugby and as a competitive weightlifter. Strother played at 250 to 260 pounds as a senior at Campolindo High School and impressed enough people to draw multiple scholarship offers from Power Five programs. Then he looked at Eiselen, who was approaching 300 pounds even before engaging in Yale’s aggressive strength and conditioning program.
“He is a gigantic person,” Strother said. “Obviously he has his Olympic weightlifting background so he is full of strength and his strength was far superior to mine. I came in, I said if this is what a college football player looks like I have some serious work to do. He is a guy, it seems like I am always chasing but just trying to emulate what he does in the weight room.”
If Strother wanted to challenge his teammate in the weight room, Eiselen couldn’t help but be a little bit envious when he learned of the football experiences that his fellow freshman enjoyed growing up in California when Campolindo posted a 515 record from 201215.
“He is kind of like a big leader in our class so when I committed over the summer, he was one of the first guys to reach out to me and obviously I got to spend the summer with him,” Eiselen said. “Our O line class has a great bond but with him
specifically, I had a really good first impression. We are kind of brothers next to each other because we’ve played next to each other all four years and look forward to continuing to do that this year. He is a great guy and a great leader and what I love about him is I know I can trust him in whatever he is doing so I don’t have to have any doubts about him and I hope he has the same sense in me.”
Eiselen’s story is straight off the page of a Hollywood script. Early in his athletic career his dream was to suit up for the Springboks, South Africa’s national rugby team, winners of the 1995 and 2007 World Cup titles. At 16, he became captivated when images of the StanfordNotre Dame game that came across the family television set and suddenly his athletic aspirations began to change.
“I grew up of course playing rugby as every South African boy does and dreamed of playing for our national team, but I started watching football and really fell in love with it,” Eiselen said. “My senior year when it came time to apply to universities back home, I really decided I wanted to pursue football.”
A trip to the U.S. to take part in a football camp in Washington, D.C. resulted in some walkon opportunities, but Eiselen set his sights even higher. A year later he made the decision to leave home and enroll at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford. Before Eiselen played his first game at Choate, he had a chance to take part in Yale’s football camp.
“We had him at camp on the offensive line and we knew what he could do,” Yale coach Tony Reno said. “He is a strong guy and had really good feet, he used to take guys, block them and stand over them.”
An offer to be a part of Yale’s next recruiting class was quickly extended. A week later Eiselen gleefully accepted the opportunity to play for the Bulldogs and study at one of the world’s most prestigious academic institutions.
When he committed, Strother was among the first people to reach out to congratulate his future teammate. By the time Yale would play its Ivy League opener in 2016, Eiselen would be the starting left guard with Strother lining up next to him at left tackle. The next season Strother moved to his natural center position and after Eiselen missed the opening game, they would play side by side for the next nine contests as Yale won the Ivy League title. Injuries played a key role in an upanddown 2018 season and now the Bulldogs enter this season as the favorite to win the league title.
“On the field very similar, very intense guys,” Reno said. “Dieter is a leader. He has a lot of energy; he is fierce, when he speaks to the team there is a lot of passion. Sterling is a little more cerebral that is why he is a center. He will come in and watch the film on Sundays before anybody sees it, provide feedback to the offensive line of what they did well, what they didn’t do well. He leads by example on the field, he is definitely somebody who will grab some people and get them going if he needs to but also put an arm around a guy if he feels like he needs to approach them that way.”
Strother has started games at center, guard and tackle since arriving at Yale and he is set to return to center, giving the Bulldogs a 6foot5, 320pound threeyear starter who also happens to be the only Yale player named to the 2018 Google Cloud Academic AllDistrict team thanks to his football exploits as well as a 3.70 gradepoint average as a psychology major. Looking back, Strother is appreciative to have experiences at various spots on the line.
“Early in my career it seemed like it would be really challenging but now that I am a senior, it is really nice because I know for sure what all five guys are supposed to be doing on every single play,” Strother said. “At the end of the day it has been a blessing to play all over the place and get a different perspective on the offensive line.”
It didn’t take long for Strother to get some perspective about the 64, 310pound Eiselen.
“I think he is the most physically dominant lineman in the league and I don’t think it is close to be totally honest,” Strother said. “He is an incredible hard worker, a great leader and somebody who is going to be giving max effort every day. Whether it is a walk through or game day, he is going to give it everything he has and we are really fortunate to have a guy like him in our program.”
It is a program that has two players (linebacker Foye Oluokun and tight end Jaeden Graham) on the Atlanta Falcons roster. Reno said a dozen NFL teams have been in to check out the duo at practices and more scouts figure to make it to the the six games played at the Yale Bowl beginning with the Sept. 21 opener against Holy Cross.
Seven Ivy League offensive linemen have been taken in the NFL draft since 1986, but just two in the last 13 years. So the odds aren’t in the favor of Eiselen and Strother.
There are even fewer South Africans who made it in the NFL. Receiver Jerome Pathon played eight seasons in the NFL and Gary Anderson played in the league for 23 seasons. More recently, Eiselen’s former high school teammate Gerhard de Beer was promoted to the active roster by the Green Bay Packers in 2018 before being released last month.
“I have my eyes set on that,” Eiselen said. “I think I have the potential to do it, a lot of people have been talling me that I can so it is a matter of being diligent, taking care of what I need to take care and giving it my all.”