football player<\/a>?<\/strong><\/p>\nReally my dad, he was a football player and was always like a man in my life that I looked up to. So I wanted to make him proud and show him that I could be a man and I thought that this was the best way to do it. And football is really fun.<\/p>\n
What are your favorite moments from your football life?<\/strong><\/p>\nSo far my game against New Mexico State. I had a really good game. I rushed the quarterback really well, had a sack and tackle for loss. It was probably the most fun I\u2019ve had playing football in a long time. It was awesome. I also really just enjoy making plays.<\/p>\n
Which one of your family members inspires you the most and why?<\/strong><\/p>\nI wouldn\u2019t just say that there\u2019s one person everyone in my immediate family inspires me. My mom and dad they\u2019re both really hard workers and are good in their professions and they have climbed the ranks and worked really hard. My mom started out as a special ed teacher and went all the way to principal and my dad used to work on cars and fix machinery and now he\u2019s a foreman\/lineman and they both do really well in their fields. And my brothers too, my brothers work really hard at everything they do and I just think that seeing all of that inspires me to try and work really hard and be the best in whatever I do.<\/p>\n
What are you looking forward to in your upcoming season?<\/strong><\/p>\nI\u2019m looking forward to dominating, I think I can do that. I think that our team is going to be really good and win a lot of games and I think that\u2019s going to be really fun and just making plays, and being an older guy I think that I\u2019m going to have a great season. I mean I really want to be an All American and I\u2019m going to make plays. I want to make the playoffs and win playoff games and if we could go to the national championship game that would be awesome too. <\/p>\n
If you could hang out with any football player past or present for a day, who and why?<\/strong><\/p>\nJJ Watt, he\u2019s from Wisconsin just like me and we play similar positions and like doing the same things and I used to watch him as a kid. I think he\u2019s the best player to strap up the pads, he was really dominant when he was at his peak and there hasn\u2019t been too many people to do what he\u2019s done. I feel like we would have a great time.<\/p>\n
What are your favorite things about playing football for\u00a0Illinois State?<\/strong><\/p>\nWell we have really good coaches, our coaches are really smart and they put us into a lot of positions to make plays. Illinois State always finishes in the top in sacks in the country. I think that\u2019s a huge selling point. They are a good team they win games playing in the Missouri Valley which is a really tough conference. It\u2019s a good place to be at, the coaches are good at what they do, I think our defensive coordinator is really smart and my position coach Ben Black, he\u2019s an awesome dude and makes going to meetings fun. He brings the energy every day so I can\u2019t complain.<\/p>\n
What should we know about\u00a0Garret Steffen\u00a0the person?<\/strong><\/p>\nI love to compete and I love to win. I\u2019m a really competitive person and I always want to win and I always want to be the best and I\u2019ll work hard to achieve that. I enjoy being out there and being dominant. Football is a man\u2019s game and It\u2019s one of the few places you can go out and display what kind of a man you are built as. There\u2019s not a lot of areas where you can just display your size and athletic ability to the extent you can in football. That\u2019s why it\u2019s rewarding to do football as well.<\/p>\n
What is your favorite defensive scheme and why?<\/strong><\/p>\nThe 4-2-5, I like that because it allows your defensive linemen to be dynamic players and they can do a lot and if you have a good nickel, I feel like it\u2019s the best defense in football. Plus I like playing a five tech or a three tech but I like playing a shade where I\u2019m not just eating up a block. The 3-4 is also nice like the way we run it at Illinois State here because we move a lot. So I don\u2019t necessarily have a favorite just whichever one allows me to make plays.<\/p>\n
How do you handle challenges both in life and on the football field?<\/strong><\/p>\nGrowing up is always a challenge for everyone. My parents got divorced while I was going through middle school and that was definitely tough on me and they definitely don\u2019t get along much either and that was tough on me. And sometimes we didn\u2019t have the most money or anything like that but my parents are both good people they just have their difficulties but everybody does. On the football field, everyone has games and stuff where we don\u2019t perform how they want to like I\u2019ve missed a lot of plays and left a lot of plays out there and who knows what could be bad luck and bad timing but sometimes I\u2019ve felt like I haven\u2019t gotten the snaps I deserved or something but I always overcome it.<\/p>\n
What would a team get in a player like you?<\/strong><\/p>\nThey\u2019re going to get a big guy that can move and play multiple positions and that\u2019s going to do everything they need to do right. That\u2019s going to come in every day and compete and I\u2019m going to try and outperform everyone else and I\u2019m going to work my ass off and that\u2019s what they\u2019re going to get. Not going to take any dumb chances. I\u2019m going to go get what I want so there\u2019s no time to mess up or screw up. I\u2019m big, I\u2019m 6\u2032 4 1\/2\u2033 275 pounds. I can run off the edge and I can play in the interior. I can hold my own, i can lock dudes out, I\u2019ve always been real strong especially in the weight room and on the field. I\u2019m quick, I feel I\u2019m pretty fast for my size, definitely a lot more than people give me credit for.<\/p>\n
What stands out about your film the most?<\/strong><\/p>\nI think I bend really well, and I think I\u2019m quick. Taking on double teams, I can get low and bend off the edge and dominate in the run game and that stands out. I\u2019m good at locking guys out too with my arms i get good extension. I\u2019m athletic though and can do a lot of things like I can take on a guard and hit him and lock him out and next play quick swim him.<\/p>\n
Who is the most underrated player you\u2019ve played with and why?<\/strong><\/p>\nMike Lawson, Amir Abdullah, Jalan Gaines, Ben Harman and Sam Cook, those are all the best players I\u2019ve played with.<\/p>\n
\n
![\"Football](\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/00edb5291ce4ed2db5ebbaec0c0618f682f402ecc6bec392a5a1f72a950d64bb?s=100&r=g\")
<\/p>\n
\n
Writer\/Scout\/Interviewer for Draft Diamonds since January 2020. You can find me on X at @jrberendzen and Instagram at justinberendzen<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Read More<\/a> Justin Berendzen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meet Garret Steffen, a talented football player from Illinois State University. Discover his journey and favorite moments on the field. Name: Garret Steffen Position: DL College: Illinois State University Height: 6\u2032 4 1\/2\u2033 Weight: 275 lbs X: @garretsteffen01 Instagram: @garret_steffen What made you decide you wanted to be a football player? Really my dad, he<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":864964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3774,3790,32661],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-864963","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-draft","8":"category-football","9":"category-prospect"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/864964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Football](\"https:\/\/nfldraftdiamonds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-13-at-5.20.38-PM-1024x707.png\")