By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics

There were few positives to emerge from the last year's lockdown. Yet Nate Lynn insisted on creating one.

Back home in Charlotte, North Carolina, Lynn kept up with his classes online. As for football, William & Mary's coaches and trainers were 300 miles away. No one was there to push him to get bigger, stronger, faster, better.

So, Lynn pushed himself.

"I was raised on consistency breeds greatness," said Lynn, one of the Tribe's starting defensive ends. "When you're in lockdown, there's no pressure to be consistent. So that get up and go get better, that must come from the heart. You must find that motivation within yourself.

"Now, I feel like I'm able to couple my football IQ with better athleticism. And that's a beautiful thing."

As a result, Lynn has evolved from a young player with potential to an athletic terror with instincts. In two games, he's second on the team with 11 tackles and third in sacks with 1.5. He has five quarterback hurries, all of which came in last week's 24-3 win over Lafayette.

"He's really become a student of the game and he's in the best shape of his life," Tribe defensive line coach Keenan Carter said. "And he's reaping the benefits."

Lynn was a late bloomer, at least in terms of recruiting attention, in high school. He played three seasons at Homewood Flossmoor High near Chicago before moving to Charlotte, where he attended Vance High.

Before coming to Charlotte, Lynn said he hadn't received any scholarship offers. But in his senior season, Lynn had 61 tackles, 14 of which were sacks. That didn't attract any Bowl Subdivision suitors, but William & Mary was impressed enough to offer.

A backup end on the depth chart, Lynn saw time in all 12 games as a true freshman in 2019. He had four tackles and a shared sack in a win at Elon. Mostly, he learned from starting tackle Bill Murray and the other veterans.

"Bill, Will Kiely, Carl Fowler, and Termite (a.k.a. Zyquan Bessant), I credit them every day for ushering me into college football," Lynn said. "When I first came in my freshman year, I was only 17 and I didn't know anything about technique. I was undersized.

"They took me under their wing and helped me so much. Same with Coach Carter and Coach (Vincent, defensive coordinator) Brown."

Two weeks after the spring game, the pandemic hit. On-campus workouts were canceled, and so was the fall season. The Tribe played three games in the spring, during which Lynn had seven tackles, one behind the line of scrimmage.

Then came a crucial offseason. Lynn took that self-motivation and applied it to his workouts with Kenny O'Mary, the Tribe's newly hired director of student athlete high performance.

"I feel like my biggest jump was coming out of this spring with Coach O'Mary," Lynn said. "I feel a lot quicker and stronger. My body feels more durable taking a full game of snaps and being able to come back hard the next week of practice."

His coaches noticed the difference, and Lynn got his first career start in the opener at Virginia. He finished with seven tackles and was named the Tribe's Defensive Player of the Game. He also posted his first full sack, which came against the Cavaliers' elusive Brennan Armstrong.

"It always feels great to get my hands on the quarterback," Lynn said. "In chasing Armstrong, I'm blessed to be chasing Hollis (Mathis) in practice."

There was no drop-off the following week against Lafayette. In addition to four tackles and half a sack, Lynn had five quarterback hurries. Each came on a third down, and one resulted in an intentional grounding.

"He's very disruptive with his activity and being involved and pressuring," W&M coach Mike London said. "(He's) a young player who is getting better as time goes on here."

Lafayette was William & Mary's first home game in front of fans in 665 days. The defense, which had six sacks and gave up only a field goal, made it special.

"Even though we didn't get the outcome we expected in the Virginia game, we were able to take a lot of things from it going into practice for Lafayette," Lynn said. "We were able to refine our craft throughout the week. We were laser focused and ready to get a win.

"Everybody was driven and well prepared. That's what happens when you study and work hard all week."

Nate Lynn knows all about that.