Athlete Spotlight: NFL Prospect Alim McNeill
Athlete Spotlight: NFL Prospect Alim McNeill
By: Tialena Evans
This week’s athlete spotlight is NFL prospect, Alim McNeill! McNeill is one of top rated defensive tackles in this years upcoming NFL Draft and chose to forego his senior season to live out his dream of playing in the NFL. McNeill recently showed out at his NC State Pro Day, running a 4.94-second 40-yard dash, 30.5-inch vertical jump, nine-foot broad jump, and 27 bench press reps of 225 pounds. McNeill was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina which played a big role in him choosing to attend North Carolina State University. He wanted the opportunity to play in front of family friends in his city. McNeill was a 3 sport athlete growing up, playing basketball, baseball and football. He comes from a sports family with a younger brother who is committed to football at Oregon and an older sister who is a teacher now.
He is a big music fan, with music being one of his hobbies outside of sports. McNeill is still in college with a semester left and will be getting his degree in STS (Science, technology and society) and will be taking the technology route in which he wants to create his own music software. “It’s something I use as an escape to get things off my mind and I find it incredibly interesting. I spend most of my free time doing that” says McNeil.
“People should know and do know that I’m a loving and caring person, the nicest guy I can be to everyone each and every day. I am dedicated to my job of perfecting my craft and hard working. You will never see me not giving my all in anything that I do.”
We talked with Alim McNeill in an exclusive interview, check it out below!
How long have you been playing the game of football and how did you get started?
Alim McNeill: I’ve been playing since I was seven years old. My father introduced me to football. The first organization that I played for was the North Raleigh Bulldogs of Pop Warner.
Who has been your biggest influence in helping you along your football journey and who are some of the players or coaches you look up to that guided you along the way to where you are now as a player?
Alim McNeill: I would say my biggest influence is probably my dad just because he introduced me to the game. He played himself, and he taught me all of the things that I know now. As far as coaches, I’ve had a bunch of really good coaches throughout my life even when I first started playing ball; Coach Trevor was a good coach for me. I would probably say the most influential coach for me was Coach Gladden who is my coach in high school at Sanderson. He just kind of showed me the ropes of everything from playing next level football and just next level thinking on the field as far as football IQ. I still talk to him till this day for the most part. He’ll hit me up every now and then but he taught me everything pretty much that I use on the field today.
As far as players, there’s four guys that left before I got to NC State like Bradley Chubb, BJ, Jessie Jones, and Kentavius Street; I look up to those guys a lot just because of their pure mentality on and off the field. That’s what I want to emulate and which is why I committed to NC State for the most part. Also, guys like Fletcher Cox and Aaron Donald, so there’s a lot of different players I look up to that are influential to me. I try to take a piece of their game and add it to mine and emulate their mentality on and off the field.
What other college football offers did you have coming out of high school other than NC State University?
Alim McNeill: I had a lot, I think I finished out with 40, but my top three schools were Alabama, Clemson, and NC State. I also had schools like Penn State, Michigan, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and all the ACC schools like Louisville, Syracuse, UNC, and others. But for me, I didn’t really want the glam in the glitz of certain programs really it just wasn’t for me. I didn’t really feel like I fit in at those types of programs.
What do you feel is your most proudest football career play or moment?
Alim McNeill: It was a playoff game during my junior year in highschool against Southview out of Fayetteville and we had scrimmaged them earlier in the year and they were doing a lot of trash talking. We ended up having a chance to play them in an actual game and they had brought out this big banner and I forgot what it said but it was something disrespectful and we just really didn’t like that. We ended up putting 40 points up on them and they only scored like one touchdown. That was probably one of my favorite games that we played in high school.
What motivates you and how do you define success?
Alim McNeill: I motivate myself because I know what I want to do and ultimately I’m the one who has to go put in the work. So every day when I get up my motivation is really just me and just working on myself, working on my craft every day and being the best person I can be every day. Every day that I’m going to work out I treat it like it’s work and I treat it like a business.
For me when I start to see the things that I work on start applying to the field and start working for me that’s what I deem successful for me. Whether it’s strength, the time in the weight room, time out on the field, my football IQ, watching film, taking notes, studying other players and stuff like that. I feel like that’s what success is to me, when you start applying things to the field that you’ve worked on for months during the off season.
How do you describe your style of play and what separates you from other players in your position?
Alim McNeill: My style of play I would say is aggressive but smart. I really take pride in learning the game and increasing my IQ of the game. There’s so many different ways to be able to play this game and that’s why I really like learning about all of the different ways and it just gives me advantage over my opponent. I would also say that I am passionate and give a lot of effort out on the field and I give my all to the game.
What sacrifices have you had to make, to make your dream a reality?
Alim McNeill: Being in a pandemic, you have to sacrifice the partying, and going out stuff like that. I really have to be smart about my choices because I don’t want to get sick and sit out for two weeks. If I can’t work out it’s not beneficial to me. I’ve also had to change who I hung out with because I know where I’m trying to get to and sometimes those people are beneficial to my success. Also, I sacrifice a lot of time, like not being able to go home for holidays and there’s no summers so there’s not much that you can do.
What aspect of the draft process excites you the most?
Alim McNeill: What excites me the most is just having the opportunity to be in that position. I’m just grateful for the opportunity to have a Pro Day and be a part of the draft. Last year when COVID-19 hit, those players didn’t get a Pro Day so a lot of guys didn’t get the opportunity to showcase themselves for scouts and GM’s.
Where do you see yourself and your football career in 10 years? What are some accomplishments and accolades do you hope to achieve
Alim McNeill: 10 years from now I see myself as a veteran player, a guy who’s one of the premier players of the league, who lets the league know what type of player he is and shown dominance on the field. I want to be no more than anything though as a guy who can be respected, trusted, reliable guy, nice guy and a real cool dude. As far as accolades, I’m not really big into the amount of sacks or the amount out of tackles or the awards. I just really want to win Super Bowls and ball games.
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