The Incredible Journey of Nick Schrank

What if I told you someone was left with practically no high school career, had no D-1 scholarship, graduated from a college that did not have a football team and his goal is to make an NFL roster?

Nick Schrank has not taken an easy road to get to where he is today. A paintball accident to his right eye when he was 13-years was a huge setback during his high-school football days.

“I dropped the gun, and the paintball went under my mask and hit my right eye.”

The accident required three eye surgeries lasting through his sophomore year in college. It also left him without an opportunity to play at a D-1 level.

“I guess that’s just life, so I deal with it, but I use it as fuel to drive my pursuit,” Schrank said. “I never stop.”

Schrank enrolled at George Mason University and during his freshman year as a Patriot, he suffered another setback. This time, he tore his ACL. It set him back, but Schrank knew that his NFL career was still achievable.

After some financial trouble, Schrank was unable to attend his spring semester of his junior year. It wasn’t all bad news though because during that time period he met his now-wife.

“I made the decision to transfer to Radford to be with her and finish school out,” said Schrank. “It wasn’t really a question. I met the person that I was supposed to be on a team with for the rest of my life, so I didn’t really have any other choice.”

After graduating Radford, Schrank still had his eyes set on the NFL. In the summer of 2009 after a long workout session, he turned on NFL Network. They were doing a feature story on Saints running back Reggie Bush and his off-season training.

Schrank practicing his Fre Flo Do training.

Bush was working on an unconventional workout regimen called Fre Flo Do. Fre Flo Do,  according to the official website, “teaches its participants to ‘embrace letting g’” of fear, counter-productive thinking, and patterns of behavior which serve to inhibit self-mastery in any situation.” Fre Flo Do was created and innovated by Kappel Clarke, so Schrank decided to try and contact him.

“I reached out to Kappel Clarke via email. Within a few days, I got a reply,” said Schrank. “We spent the next two months corresponding via email, and eventually we made contact via phone for the first time in October of 2009.”

That phone conversation lasted over an hour and a half. Schrank joked that he doesn’t even talk to his wife on the phone for that long.

“That’s how much we connected. We talked about everything, almost as if we had known each other prior to our phone conversation,” said Schrank.

Both Clarke and Schrank set a date to meet in Santa Monica, CA in January of 2010.  The two had kept in touch over the past couple of months and had a growing relationship, so when January rolled around it was like the two already knew each other.

“It wasn’t like meeting someone for the first time though. We had history. We’d talked almost daily for the past two months leading up to this point, so it was more of a reunion rather than an introduction,” said Schrank.

The two immediately jumped into the workout. Two hours had passed by and Schrank was on the verge of puking. As Clarke calmed him down from their intense workout session he had a surprise for him, former Heisman winning running back Eddie George.

“Eddie was standing right there. It didn’t register at first. I must have still been in a daze from my workout,” said Schrank.

Clarke and George had a history together and George was in town covering the Rose Bowl game from the day before. Kappel told George that he had a new person he was helping to train and scheduled a workout following Schrank’s. After the workouts, the three of them hit it off.

“What an experience,” said Schrank. “The three of us stood there on Ocean Avenue for about a half an hour just talking about life. [It was] one of the best moments of my life.”

Schrank spent the next nine days in ‘The Jungle’ learning Fre Flo Do. He threw away all previous knowledge of training that he had learned. Fre Flo Do was a part of him.

“It’s more than training regimen. It’s something that lives inside of you like a religion,” said Schrank. “I live it, and I breathe it.”

Watching the workouts, one might think, what the heck does this have to do with football? The workout is focused on a treadmill without railings, or a launchpad as it’s officially called in Fre Flo Do.

It involves constant motion and according to the official website it “challenges and dramatically improves one’s equilibrium, focus, agility, balance, coordination, strength, stamina and mental capacity to remain composed in unfamiliar territory.” Another way this training method improves football play is by preventing injuries.

“One of the main principles of Fre Flo Do, strictly as training is concerned, is Injury Prevention,” said Schrank. “This pertains to football in every aspect of the game. An athlete is only as good as his longevity to the game.”

Schrank adds that the uniqueness of the workout is another way that it pertains to football. He states that nothing is consistent in football and that one must train for the unpredictable.

“At any moment in time, one needs to know where they exist in space. Much in life, and on a smaller scale: football, nothing is ever the same,” said Schrank.

During his workout sessions with Clarke, Schrank started what he called back then a ‘Blog-Log’. He now calls it his ‘BlogTube’ and it has become a critical step in his progress to become an NFL player.

“I had to create a uniqueness. I had to create a brand that was remarkable.  That way people would remember who I was, and hopefully that would transpire to not only share my journey with others, but ultimately land me a professional contract,” said Schrank.

Schrank, who calls himself the ‘social media kid’, is currently working on getting a deal with the UFL team the Virginia Destroyers. With no D-1 scholarship and a small high school football career, Schrank is hoping that by using social media, his name will be something people recognize.

“Social media probably is my M.O. That’s who I am: The Social Media Kid,” said Schrank. “I honestly think that I’m traveling a path that hasn’t been traveled before in my profession as an athlete.”

Click here to view Nick Schrank’s blogtube.