THE FRONT ROW WITH BRUCE BOURQUIN: Friday, Oct. 21, 2016

Post Falls senior defensive end Nate DeGraw looks to follow in his father’s and mother’s footsteps.

DeGraw, a two-year varsity starter, verbally committed to play for the University of Idaho on Sept. 22 to play for the Vandals’ football team. The monsters of Moscow had another Degraw play for them from 1992 to 1996 — Nate’s father, Mike DeGraw-Tryall, who was also a defensive end, who battled knee injuries but has a Big Sky championship ring from 1992, after a 9-2 record (6-1 in conference). Idaho and Eastern Washington tied for first in the Big Sky, but Idaho won the tiebreaker after beating the Eagles head-to-head.

Nate was born on April 25, 1999, and has watched the Vandals football team either in person, on television or listened on the radio to just about every game since he was a child.

Nate, who has eight sacks and leads Post Falls in tackles, is what some Post Falls coaches have called a ‘baby St. Bernard’. That’s because back in his father Mike DeGraw’s playing days, Mike was 6-foot-4 and roughly 260 pounds. Nate’s measurements? A healthy 6-3, 235, up from 6-3, 190 a year ago. Nate played center for the Trojans’ junior varsity basketball team and after last season, focused just on football, hence the leap in weight.

“My dad used to take me to Idaho games as a kid,” DeGraw said. “I went to Junior Day in April, we watched an Idaho scrimmage on a Saturday. There were at least 20 recruits watching. Idaho was the only ones who offered me a full scholarship.”

DeGraw also drew interest from Eastern Washington and Portland State.

DAD DeGRAW was 24 when Nate was born and until recently was a probation officer from 2012 to this year and was a juvenile detention counselor from 2009 to 2012.

“It’s funny, because Nate’s been an Idaho fan and has had a real love for football since he was little,” Mike DeGraw said. “He used to wear my old college helmet. I stressed the importance since he was in grade school, the importance of getting good grades and being a good overall student-athlete, making sure he had every opportunity to succeed. As a kid, we talked about him trying to study and play at the next level.”

Nate lives with his father and stepmother, Mike and Samantha DeGraw, and his three half-sisters and three half-brothers. He is also looking to one day follow in the footsteps of his birth mother, Susan DeGraw-Wyant. For the past 19 years, Susan has taught in the Coeur d’Alene School District and for the past six years, has taught fourth grade at Bryan Elementary.

While he took tough classes like honors English and trigonometry and statistics as a junior, now Nate is a teacher’s assistant in a computer class taught by his defensive coordinator, Adam Shamion, who played at Idaho as a middle linebacker from 2005 to 2009. DeGraw has a 3.5 grade-point average and is sporting a 3.9 GPA as a senior.

“I think I want to teach in high school and coach someday,” Nate said. “Probably history or government. I used to help (Susan) out a lot when I was a kid.”

DeGraw-Wyant said Nate should succeed, should be become a teacher.

“I think no matter what he chooses, he’ll do an incredible job,” DeGraw-Wyant said. “I think he’ll positively impact lives, he’d be great for kids.”

Shamion has seen Nate grow up and develop quickly as a student and as an athlete.

“I think he’s going to be a great player,” Shamion said. “He’s a ‘do right’ kid, good in the classroom, he’s still got a lot of growing to do (as a player). I think as he matures, they’ll work with him. His overall athleticism is very high.”

Bobby Petrino, a former Vandal assistant and brother of current Idaho coach Paul Petrino, recruited Mike DeGraw out of Centralia, Wash.

So if Nate actually signs with Idaho and makes it official, which would be 25 years after Mike’s freshman season, then father and son will to some degree come full circle, as Paul Petrino was also an assistant coach at Idaho when Mike was a Vandal. Mike played for former Idaho defensive coach Nick Holt, who is now the associate head coach and defensive coordinator at Western Kentucky. Holt, who was USC’s linebackers coach from their 2003 national championship season and DC from 2006-08, was also Shamion’s head coach at Idaho in 2004-05. Nate currently plays both D-end spots on a 4-3 defense that Shamion said is pretty similar to Idaho’s D.

“It’s exciting for me seeing that,” Mike said. “I coached him from flag football when he was in first grade until he got to high school. I never worried about him working hard and doing everything he could to help his team. He’s always been super resillient. He made it very easy for me as a dad and a football coach. He is a great leader both on and off the field. I believe he will have tremendous success at the college level and bring out the best in everyone around him.”

NATE DeGRAW played football, basketball and soccer growing up. But football was his first love.

“I played quarterback when I was younger,” Nate said. “I was switched to defensive end when I was a freshman. We have a two-platoon offense (in high school), no one plays both ways, so we come in fresh.”

Post Falls is 6-2, 0-2 in the 5A Inland Empire League. Post Falls finishes its regular season at home against Coeur d’Alene tonight, with the winner gaining an automatic berth to the state playoffs.

“I think there are a couple of things about Nate,” Post Falls interim coache Blaine Bennett said. “First, he’s a smart student-athlete, who understands the game well. Second, his toughness is outstanding. He’s been battling some injuries. He’s very coachable, he’s even returned a few punts and a few kickoffs.”

Speaking of kickoffs, Mike tore his ACL in a practice in 1992, days before his last game as a freshman. But that was the season Idaho won the Big Sky title, taking some of the sting away. He was a starting defensive end the entire season before the injury, had reconstructive knee surgery that offseason, then he was switched to offensive line his junior year and he played for a few games. Holt switched him back to defensive tackle as a senior and Mike started six games.

“That was unheard of back then to switch an O-lineman to the defensive line,” Mike said. “He asked me if I wanted to go back to defense, I said, ‘I’d love to go back.’”

NATE HAS played against some of his old youth tackle football friends and opponents from Sandpoint High, including offensive lineman Carlos Collado and receiver Taran McLauglin. He’s also played against a potential future teammate in Lewiston quarterback Colton Richardson, who has a scholarship offer from Idaho.

“I got two sacks against Lewiston and a sack against Sandpoint,” Nate said.

Nate also benches 240 pounds — Post Falls center Cody Cantrell has him beat at 320 — and squats 370. Coach Bennett and Shamion both said he’s done well in the weight room.

Two seasons ago, Nate was called up from the junior varsity team and suited up in a 35-21 loss to Eagle in the first round of the 5A state football playoffs, the Trojans’ first appearance since 2004. The week before Post Falls beat Coeur d’Alene, 37-36, to qualify for the playoffs.

“My games against Coeur d’Alene were pretty memorable,” DeGraw said. “We have to beat Cd’A in order to make it to state.”

Either way, Nate’s had a very successful life as a student-athlete, with his family guiding him the entire way.

Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013, via e-mail at [email protected] or via Twitter @bourq25