Southampton's Nehemiah Mack To Play Collegiate Football at Buffalo State

Southampton returned to the varsity football ranks this fall for the first time since 2019, allowing eight seniors — Nehemiah Mack being one of them — a chance to play.

Although gracious for the opportunity to play football his senior year, Mack was determined to play his most beloved sport at the next level, no matter what it took.

“That was my number one thing, to play college football, so even if we didn’t have a varsity, I was still going to try out for a college team,” Mack said as he sat in the stands at the football field last week.

And that’s exactly what he’ll be doing.

Mack is set to play at Buffalo State this upcoming fall. Bradley Toole, who actually graduated from Pierson in 2017 but played on the combined Southampton/Pierson football team during his tenure, also played for Buffalo State. Shawn Stelling, a 2021 graduate of Southampton, was the last Mariner to play collegiately for two years at Allegheny College.

The 6-foot-1-inch, 220-pound Mack played on both sides of the ball as a defensive end and tail back this fall, and while his sheer size would lend one to believe he’s a great fit at the defensive end or linebacker position, Mack’s combination of athleticism, speed and power make him a lethal running back, which is what he plans on playing at Buffalo State.

Mack is a three-sport athlete, running the 100- and 200-meter dashes in outdoor track during the spring, and he played on the highly talented varsity basketball team as well. But football is Mack’s number one sport, he said.

“The brotherhood,” was the first thing that came to Mack’s mind when asked what he loves about the sport. “It teaches you discipline.”

Franklin Trent, the director of student safety and security in the Southampton School District, who helped steer Trent and the rest of the Mariners in their first season back on varsity as head coach, called Mack’s game “bully ball with speed,” but from not having too much varsity experience, he certainly has things to work on — which he plans to, upstate.

“One of the things that he didn’t get from having a short varsity career was the elusiveness, so he’ll probably work on elusiveness at the next level,” he said. “But as far as speed, as far as power, as far as dominance, that’s what he’s all about. It’s a nice package of an athlete. Once he gets to college, I’m sure they’ll work with him on a couple of different things. It’s a whole ton of trouble coming right at you. I wish I would have run the ball more with him, honestly. Should have been every other play.”

Trent said Mack could be the first of many athletes to play football in college.

“Nehemiah is sort of the first one through the gate, if you will. He’s the example of what we want for all of our kids, which is an opportunity, if they wanted, to play a collegiate sport,” he explained. “I want everyone to know that the program is open to the community. We want people to come out and play. Everybody can’t play baseball. Everybody can’t play tennis, but everyone can play football. It’s about your heart and your desire and your will to win. We can build anything out of that and I feel like that’s what we’re asking everyone to pay attention to.”

Trent said that for first time, Division I football programs have finally started recruited Long Island players, thanks, in large part, to the recent NFL Draft that saw three former Long Islanders get selected, including Westhampton Beach graduate Dylan Laube. He said the time to strike and make a name for oneself on the gridiron is now while the iron is hot.

“They’re literally already sending letters, talking about our students and our potential prospects, so that’s another thing that’s never been here,” he said. “We’ve never gotten a letter from Stony Brook University saying, ‘Hey, we’re looking at your kids,’ or, ‘We saw this guy, can you give us any insight on any of your players.’ And so that’s been very welcomed.”

Southampton was once a football powerhouse, winning its last county championship in 2005. Trent, a former Mariner himself who played in the mid 1990s, said Mack’s future could help propel the program to its former glory.

“We were big, big, big time guys in football a little while ago, and we just want to bring that right back, and I feel like Nehemiah is the catalyst to that,” he said. “He’s one of those guys who everybody can look at and say, I can definitely join that rank of player and scholar-athlete and push to the next level.”

Mack said he got a little bit of a late start on his recruitment process, but from day one, Buffalo State was very welcoming. He also liked the fact that many New York City and Long Island players played for the Bengals.

“They made a way for me to visit, took pictures, showed me around the campus, and I just like the way the team connected with me,” he said. “There’s actually a lot of kids from Long Island who go to Buffalo State, so they were like, ‘Oh, you go to Southampton? I heard this was your first varsity season.’ It felt real nice.”

“I’m real happy,” Mack said of his decision. “This feels like an accomplishment, and it’s been a dream come true.”