Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1390373
moved over from South Africa. I know he was born and raised there. But he didn't really play a lot of football. We got his lm in an email from somebody and we looked at it and saw this 6-3, 240- pound linebacker just running all over the place, hitting people. So we got him here knowing that he was going to be a defensive lineman. I think so many kids have been hurt from the pandemic, but for a kid like him it helped because it gave him the fall to put on some weight. If he played right away in the fall as a freshman at 250 pounds, I'm not sure he would have had the success he had. But he got that fall under his belt before he played in the spring, which gave him an opportunity to learn the position. BWI So he's denitely a defensive tackle at the next level? STROHMEIER Yeah, I think that's what he's going to be. He played some [defen- sive] end for us and he could play end, depending on what he wants to weigh in at or what type of defense someone wants to run. He could be a strongside defensive end in some schemes, but I think he'll continue to grow and be an interior guy. BWI He came in as a walk-on for you guys and then you gave him a scholar- ship a/er the rst semester. What did he do to earn that? STROHMEIER When he came in, we didn't know how he would transition to the defensive line. So we said to come in, do what you need to do and we'll put you on [scholarship]. His work ethic is in- credible. He's a great kid, a great stu- dent. Everybody loves him. He just did everything that you want your players to do, on and o1 the eld. So, when he transitioned, he just did a great job when we were practicing, and that's when I told him that I'll put him on scholarship in the spring. BWI When did Penn State become in- volved with him? I assume you've been in contact with them for a little while now? STROHMEIER We were telling a lot of people about this kid during our season. I felt he could be really good. Once he played, he got hurt in the rst game with an MCL injury and then he missed a few games. So everybody was kind of waiting [for lm]. All we had was the rst quarter of the rst game. I couldn't really say if he was going to be a Power Five player or not, but then when he came back and played, Penn State and a few schools were in contact. [Penn State Director of Player GIVING CHASE Van den Berg only played five games at Iowa Western but still garnered attention from Power Five teams. Photo courtesy of Iowa Western Community College