Can Minot State's Sebastian Gutierrez be the Next Chris Reed?

There are over one million players across the United States that are currently playing high school football. Of that number, less than 75,000 will have the opportunity to play football at the college level. Of that 75,000 (or so), less than 2% will ever be drafted to play in the NFL.

It is exceedingly difficult for any college player to make it to the NFL, let alone a player from a Division II school. That is why Sebastian Gutierrez never thought the NFL could be a possibility as he entered college.

He enrolled at Minot State out of high school, a D-II college program that is located just south of the Canadian border in North Dakota. This small school isn't particularly known for being a hot spot of NFL talent, as they haven't sent a player to the league since 1977 with Randy Hedberg.

For Gutierrez, the NFL just wasn't a priority. He was simply there to play football and get an education.

That is until a Pro Scout from the Vikings timed him as running a 4.8 in the forty yard dash prior to his final season.

"He came down and timed my forty and I ran a 4.8. After I ran that number, he told me that he saw everything that he needed to see. He told me to mentally prepare myself because there were going to be a lot of scouts down here in the fall." Gutierrez explained. "There were about 20 teams that came down just to watch me that season."

This whirlwind of buzz and excitement is a great story in itself from a D-II player, but especially for a player like Gutierrez. See, he was never supposed to be in the position that he is in now.

How It All Started

Gutierrez was actually a wide receiver in high school, and was getting looks to play tight end at the college level. Minot State, in particular, wanted him to play tight end when they first recruited him.

"I had more offers to play basketball, actually. I knew I had to go the football route, though, because there wasn't much of a future in being a 6'5" center in basketball. I was looking around for a D-II offer and that's when Shane LeDage from Minot State called." said Gutierrez.

"I told them it was too far away for me and that was it, at first. A couple days before I signed, LaDage called again and said that they really needed me and asked what they needed to do to get me to sign. They essentially offered more money in the end, and I ended up choosing Minot State without even taking a visit."

Gutierrez's time as a tight end was very short lived, though, as he eventually made the switch over to offensive tackle. This was a pretty drastic change for him, as he is listed on Minot State's website as being a 230 pound freshman.

That number also may be a little bit exaggerated according to the source.

"I'll tell you one thing, I was far from 230 my first year." Gutierrez laughed. "I came in at 190 and put on a few pounds before the first year, but the 230 was a little bit of a stretch."

So how did a 190 pound high school receiver end up becoming an All-Star left tackle at Minot State? Well, it wasn't easy.

He was asked by OL Coach Nick Nissen to make the change after his redshirt freshman season. Nissen noticed that Gutierrez had the natural feet to play the position and that he was starting to gain some good weight to potentially make a transition.

After continually pressing the issue, Gutierrez finally made the decision to switch to the offensive line. His first year at the spot, in 2018, was a rough learning experience for the first year offensive lineman.

"They told me prior to my redshirt sophomore year that I was going to be the team's starting right tackle. I was playing around 265-270 during the season, which was light, very very light and raw at the position that year." said Gutierrez. "I wasn't grading out very well, gave up a few sacks, but I knew I could make something of myself at this spot."

When the exit meetings came around, Minot State's coaches held firm belief in Gutierrez's ability as a player. He continued to start and began to improve as a tackle over his last three seasons. He even locked down one of the nation's best D-II players, 2020 7th round pick Chris Garrett, in a match-up last season.

All that hard work finally paid off during his senior year, when he was named as an AFCA Second Team All-American.