Happy returns for Cornell’s Seabrook

MOUNT VERNON, Iowa -- Myron Seabrook's role as Cornell's punt returner kind of came out of nowhere.

In fact, so did the Oceanside, Calif., native's decision to play at Cornell in the first place.

'It's a good question,” he said. 'I never have a great answer for that.”

Seabrook was set to enter the teaching program at Cal State San Marcos four years ago. But Cornell coach Vince Brautigam, in his own words, 'recruited the heck out of Myron” after hearing about him through some contacts in Southern California. Seabrook liked the idea of starting for four years and helping turn around a struggling program.

'It was play football here, or stay home and just go to school,” he said.

In camp before his freshman year, the Rams held open tryouts at several positions. Seabrook is part of Brautigam's first full recruiting class, and the Rams had been 0-10 in the season before his arrival. He didn't have experience returning punts in high school, and hadn't expected that to be his job with the Rams.

'But I thought, ‘I'd like to do that here,'” he said. 'I won the spot in camp and I've kept it ever since.”

'The cupboard was a little bare. At the time, he was the best at doing it,” Brautigam said. 'He wasn't great at it then, but he's worked extremely hard to become a total returner. But he kind of tripped into it because we didn't have anybody.”

The Rams are happy he's at Cornell, and happy he stumbled onto the role of return man. Seabrook was named first-team All-Midwestern Conference last season as a punt returner, averaging 9.5 yards per return. He entered this season as a pre-season first-team All-American selection as a return specialist.

'That's a huge title, and it comes with pressure,” Seabrook said. 'I'd definitely like to be an All-American at the end of the season, but I'm not playing for that. My goal is to give our offense great field position.”

But it does nag at the senior that for all the accolades, he hasn't brought a punt back for a score yet.

'That's on the checklist,” he laughed. 'Getting wins is No. 1 on the list, but that's up there.”

That's not to say Seabrook hasn't reached the end zone in other ways. Last season, he scored on an interception return. He also took a blocked field-goal 90 yards in overtime for a game-winning touchdown against a ranked Illinois College team.

'There's not a lot of people who want to stand back there and field a punt,” Brautigam said. 'When you have somebody who has the ability to slip a tackle and break a big one and give our offense great field field position, it's a great thing to have.”