“I had nowhere else to go.”
Imagine working your whole life for something just to have it ripped away at the last minute.
And it was all out of your control.
For Nathaniel Jasper “Tank” Dell Jr., the pain of that moment stuck with him. But it only made him more motivated.
Growing up in Daytona Beach, Florida, his mom called him “Tankhead” because “his head was bigger than his body.” The nickname, and the grit behind it, stuck with him ever since.
According to his parents, the first thing he ever held in his hands was a football.
“I just fell in love with it,” Tank said.
“I never even played another sport. I tried to play baseball, but I quit that after one day. Football was the only thing that stuck with me.”
At Mainland High School, he spent nearly two full years on JV.
“He was a smaller guy, and he was not ready for varsity football at that time,” said his high school athletic director.
“He paid his dues on the JV squad his freshman year. Sophomore year, he started on JV and moved up. He never let anyone deter him because of his size. It’s what he’s had to hear all his life, that he’s too small.”
During high school, he’d run sprints on the sands of Daytona Beach until 10 p.m.
The work paid off when he made the varsity team as a junior. Then, despite playing through an ankle injury as a senior, Tank earned All-Area second-team honors with 34 receptions for 354 yards.
By that time, he was rated the #38 college football prospect in the state of Florida.
Yet his one and only college offer was pulled away at the last minute.
In December of his senior year, Tank found out that FIU offered someone else – a bigger receiver – to take his place.
“I felt like FIU gave up on me. Like they really didn’t want me,” Dell said. “Towards the end of the season, they stopped calling and texting me, didn’t give me any attention or nothing.”
“It kind of hurt me.”
With the hope of playing college football slipping away, Tank turned to a friend.
“One of my best friends in high school, his dad was the running back coach at Alabama A&M…he knew my situation – that FIU pulled my offer and I had nowhere else to go – so he called me and asked me [if] I wanted to go play [for him].”
A historically black university with 6,000 students, Alabama A&M’s football program has produced more than 16 NFL players, including Pro Football Hall of Famer John Stallworth.
Coming in as a 5’8” 150-pound freshman receiver, Tank may have been undersized but he always had confidence.
In his freshman year at Alabama A&M, he told a local reporter: “I tell [my quarterback] that I’m like 7-Eleven. I’m always open.”
“If he just throws me the ball, I’m going to do what I do best.”
Tank always knew he wanted to play in the NFL.
But when asked about his favorite wide receivers, he didn’t mention big-name stars like Terrell Owens or Julio Jones.
Instead, he looked up to Tavon Austin and DeAnthony Thomas because he saw himself in them – undersized “burners” who could speed past defenders and change the game in one play.
Fighting a hip injury, Tank played in just four games at Alabama A&M.
His best performance came on the biggest platform of his career up to that point: the Magic City Classic, an annual rivalry game against Alabama State.
Tank torched them for 204 yards and two touchdowns.
“To have a game like this, on a stage like this, that’s what it’s all about,” he said. “These are the kind of games you sign up for.”
It was a breakout game, but Tank was ready to move on.
“I knew where I wanted to be at in life,” he said in an interview.
“I knew it was going to be hard to go to the NFL from an HBCU. No matter how good you do there, it’s still gonna be hard.”
“There was just something in me that I wanted to go play bigger. So I took my own route, went JUCO, [and] took a chance on myself.”
Dell made what he called a “business decision” when he left Alabama A&M to transfer to Independence Community College.
But he was in for a rude awakening.
Once featured on Last Chance U, Independence attracted high-end recruits whose academic records were the only reason they weren’t playing for a big-time Division 1 program.
For the undersized, unknown Dell, it was a challenge to stand out.
“Honestly, at first, we were like ‘How big is he?'” said then-Independence receivers coach Kiyoshi Harris.
Before spring ball, the coaches stuck him with the “B team” – players on the bubble to make the final roster.
“It definitely humbled me and made me more hungry to get out of there and go get it,” Tank said. “It showed me who was going to be there for me when I wasn’t at the top, or in a good place.”
“I never thought about quitting, even if I was getting yelled at. Where I’m from, we’re used to getting out the mud. Once we put on pads and got out for field work, and they could see how skilled I am and how I could make plays, I knew I would be good.”
Tank had no car and no money. The only thing to do in the 8,500-person town was focus on football.
Along with a few of his teammates, Tank reportedly practiced so much that the coach sometimes had to lock the gate to the field to make sure his players didn’t overdo it.
“It was business for Tank,” Harris said. “The season was about to begin, and my wife, his English teacher, asked how the football team felt they were going to do that season.”
“Tank said ‘Ms. Harris. Don’t worry about it. They got me. We’re going to be good. We’re going to win it all.’”
“And we ended up winning the championship.”
Tank led the team with 52 catches, 766 yards, and 8 touchdowns.
Division 1 recruiters would come to games, but most thought he was too small. His teammates got offers, but he didn’t.
“I want to play on the biggest stage,” he said at the time.
“I know God’s got me. I’m trying to go wherever I can play immediately, make an impact and get scouted to go to the NFL.”
A few schools showed interest but eventually stopped talking to him. It started to feel like the same old story.
When the dust cleared, there were only two legitimate offers: Akron and Houston.
After visiting Houston, he fell in love, especially after speaking with the team’s receivers coach Tyron Carrier – an undersized college standout himself who later played professionally in the CFL.
“He looked over at me and said, ‘Hell yeah, coach. I want to play for you,'” Carrier said.
“I saw the fire and passion. His eyes watered up when I told him, ‘You my guy.'”
But Tank quickly realized the level of play was a big step up from JUCO.
“When I first got there, I had to wait my turn,” he said.
“It just showed me patience. Because in high school even though I didn’t have offers, I was always like the number one receiver on the team…so when I got [to Houston] it showed me how to be patient, wait my turn, and that’s what I did.”
Tank played in just 8 games his first year at Houston, putting up a modest 428 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Then he exploded.
In three seasons with the Cougars, he caught 211 passes for 2,904 yards and 28 touchdowns. In his final year, he led the Football Bowl Subdivision with 1,398 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns.
Tank’s relentless attitude and unwavering self-belief paid off. He transformed himself from an undersized unknown that few believed in, to one of the most coveted prospects in the 2023 NFL Draft.
In his prospect profile, analyst Lance Zierlein gave Tank a Round 2 grade, calling him a “touchdown-making machine” with “game-changing ability”.
“None of this is a surprise to me,” said Carrier. “None of it.”
At the Combine, Tank connected with Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, and the two became fast friends.
Ahead of the draft, he sent Stroud a direct message: “Don’t let me leave the city.”
After going second overall to Houston, the QB petitioned the Texans’ brass to bring Dell in with him.
In the third round on Day 2 of the draft, Tank’s phone rang.
“I got the call…it’s the Houston Texans. So when I saw it come across my screen, I almost shed a tear.”
In his first NFL season, Tank amassed 709 yards and 7 touchdowns in just eight games.
A season-ending fibula fracture was the only thing keeping him from reaching the top of the rookie leaderboard.
“He’s the definition of size doesn’t matter,” Stroud said. “It’s all about your heart.”
For Tank Dell, the story is just getting started.
“I know how the bottom feels, and how it feels when you don’t have anybody to lean on and you’ve got to pick yourself up,” he said.
“The road I had to take, I’ll never take that for granted. If I had to, I’d go back down that same road to get to where I am today. Knowing that I had to take this road and knowing what I had to go through to get here, that’s enough motivation for me.”
Related stories you might like:
How a Budweiser Truck Driver Who Became an NFL All-Pro
This Undersized High Schooler Emailed His Way to the NFL
For more stories like this, join 15,000+ readers who get our weekly Underdog Newsletter 👇
