High school football: Nunn as good as brothers on Medina defensive line

Brothers Jacob and Nathan Nunn are normal teenagers with unusual upbringings, but they wouldn't trade their backgrounds for the world. After all, they were celebrating on the Lucas Oil Stadium turf on Feb. 5, 2012 when the Giants, for whom their father Robert served as a defensive line coach, beat the Patriots 21-17 in Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis. "That was the greatest feeling ever," Jacob said Monday. "All the hard work my dad put in, being on the field, throwing confetti, there was nothing like it." Jacob, a 17-year-old senior defensive tackle for the Medina football team, and Nathan, a 16-year-old defensive end, have been a lot of places in their young lives, but right now there's nowhere they'd rather be than playing together for the 10-1 Bees, who will host Wadsworth in a Division I, Region 1 quarterfinal playoff game on Friday. The now 6-foot-3, 220-pound Jacob was born in Virginia when his father Robert was a defensive line coach for the Redskins. He and Nathan, now 6-2, 225, then lived in Wisconsin, Florida and New Jersey during an NFL coaching career that saw their father — Robert is currently at Appalachian State in North Carolina in his 31st year as a coach — serve stints with the Dolphins, Packers, Buccaneers, Giants, Browns and Jets. The Nunns moved to Medina in the spring of 2016, and it wasn't long before the oldest of Robert and Karen's five boys — Robert, an outside linebacker at Oklahoma State, has a daughter, Josie, from a previous marriage — started making a name for himself. Noah Nunn, now a redshirt sophomore at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, was a first-team All-Ohio pick as a 6-4, 230-pound defensive end for the Bees. Incredibly athletic and now weighing 246 pounds, he ended his senior year with 93 tackles, 12½ tackles for loss, four sacks and, as unbelievable as it may seem, finished fourth in Medina County with seven pass breakups while playing on the line. The bar set with younger brothers Johnny, a freshman, and Jason, 5, to follow, Jacob and Nathan are intent on raising it. Jacob, an end earlier in his career who recently moved to the often less glorious tackle position because it was what the Bees needed, has 56 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, three sacks, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries, one of which he returned for a touchdown, while Nathan, who has played in just five games following two shoulder surgeries, has made an immediate and team-changing impact with 24 tackles, 11 tackles for lost, 6½ sacks and a forced fumble. "When you grow up on NFL sidelines, you're bound to pick things up," Medina defensive coordinator Kevin Bowers said. "There's a lot of football talked in that household, and it's at a high level. Their father (who coached at Medina when Noah was a senior) and I talk throughout the year. I bounce ideas off him." FAMILY MATTERS Even with Noah away at college, the four oldest Nunn boys — Jason is too young to be involved — are best friends yet intense competitors. When together, they are super happy one moment and arguing the next. They sometimes say things to one another that they'd never say to someone else, but they'd be the first to stick up for each other if someone outside the family said the same thing. "It's competitive and definitely physical, but it toughens you up," Nathan said. "There's always competition. There's always someone fighting. Noah used to make me so mad because he's the best trash talker ever, but I would not be where I'm at without the competition in our family. I wouldn't trade it for anything." "We're either super happy and best friends or it's a complete argument," Jacob added with a chuckle. "It's fun. It's a roller coaster." Robert is away for large chunks of time during football season, but he hops in the car and makes the eight-hour drive home whenever he can. Because of Appalachian State's schedule, the only game he's attended in person this season was Week 10 against Solon, which was senior night, but he either watches the Bees live via stream or views game tape. "Every Friday he's calling us and letting us know what we did well and what we did wrong," Jacob said. "He's been huge as far as teaching us the game of football, teaching us life." "I've always wanted to make him proud," Nathan added. "He never pushed me; he lets me push myself. People think he was super hard on me growing up, but it wasn't like that. He will tell me good things I did when I play bad and bad things I did when I have a good game. He's always been there for all of us." Equally important has been Karen, who serves as mother and father when her husband is away. "Oh, my God, she is the strongest person I have ever met in my entire life," Nathan said. "She took care of all five of us in the house. She's obviously a tough woman dealing with all of us. I love her to death. She keeps this house together." "We give her a hard time, but we couldn't appreciate anyone more than her," Jacob added. "She's our rock." That their parents are raising five kids and maintaining a successful and loving marriage while spending so much time apart is not lost on their 16- and 17-year-old sons. "They're still very much in love," Nathan said. "It's different when my dad is in the house because everyone's on point then, but it's incredible how they make it work." BROTHERLY LOVE Often side by side on the defensive line, Jacob is Nathan's biggest fan and vice versa. "It's as tight as a brother-brother relationship can be," Bowers said. "They are as thick as thieves. It's fun to coach because you can bust on one and the other will join in. We have a good time with it." Nathan often played up a level so he could be on the same youth league team as Jacob, but their time on the field together was cut short last season. Already playing with a torn labrum in his right shoulder, Nathan tore his left labrum in the seventh week of the regular season and missed Medina's playoff run to the regional finals. "He was frustrated," Jacob said. "He was gone from the game for nine months, and there's nothing he loves more than football. It was hard, but he's super happy to be back." Nathan underwent surgery on his left shoulder in January and then, that arm just out of a sling, had surgery on his right shoulder two months later. Doctors originally told him he probably wouldn't play this season, but he was having none of it. "It was horrible," he said. "I worked really hard on my (physical therapy), because it sucked watching everyone play and not being out there with my brothers (not just Jacob, but other team members). It definitely affected the way I came back and played." Approaching every play like it might be his last, Nathan has been what Bowers and head coach Larry Laird call "a difference maker" for the Bees defense. Playing opposite talented end Preston Pennington on the line, he has a knack for making big plays at big moments. "He can do things that are a little different from most high school linemen," Bowers said. "He's really physical, but he's so athletic. His footwork and quickness are vastly underrated. He looks like a big galoot, especially wearing that No. 9, but he's very agile." Nathan's return forced Jacob inside, which meant more run and gap-plugging responsibilities and less opportunities to make impact plays for No. 82, but he did not complain. "Jacob's the ultimate team player," Bowers said. "He always wants what's good for everybody and thoroughly enjoys celebrating with anyone who makes a play. "He's very fun to be around. He's looking to have a good time, all the time. That's really good for our young guys because they can get nervous, but Jacob really brings a sense of levity to the program." As members of an aggressive line that rotates numerous players, the Nunns' favorite time is when they are playing next to one another. They've combined to make a number of big plays, but one ranks second to none and first to the Nunns. Leading Greater Cleveland Conference rival Mentor just 35-31 in Week 7, which was Nathan's first game of the season, the junior got a strip sack, Jacob picked up the loose ball and ran in for a touchdown and the Bees never looked back. "For that play to happen at that time, homecoming night, first game back with my brother and for it to have that big of an impact on the game was unreal," Nathan said. "It was incredible to have that moment with him. It was definitely the favorite football play of my life." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on Twitter.