ATHENS, Ga. — They have been probably the most tense, most enjoyable moments of the Georgia soccer season, arguably probably the most thrilling in your complete school soccer season: an epic recreation towards Georgia Tech that stretched to eight overtimes and nicely previous midnight. And as Nazir Stackhouse stood on the sideline, he was preventing an inside battle.
Keep awake, he saved telling himself. Any person rating and finish this. Keep awake. Don’t go to sleep.
That’s what occurred a number of years earlier than at Tennessee. The Georgia offense was on a protracted drive, and Stackhouse, a nostril deal with, was on the bench with the remainder of the defensive linemen.
“I’m on the bench preventing sleep, preventing it,” Stackhouse stated.
Then, prefer it so usually occurs, bam. He was out.
Stackhouse was identified with narcolepsy throughout his first 12 months at Georgia. Throughout his profession, he began 42 video games and gained two nationwide championships. Now he’s an NFL draft prospect, whereas nonetheless coping with the situation on an on a regular basis — or each minute — foundation.
For one factor, Stackhouse hardly ever drives. He has a license however all the time has somebody within the automotive with him and retains the drives brief. He by no means falls asleep when he’s on the sphere throughout recreation motion, whether or not it’s a recreation or observe. He did go to sleep throughout conferences, however coaches would work with him; Kirby Good was identified to lean over to faucet Stackhouse: “Proper, Nazir? Proper?”
Former Georgia defensive lineman Nazir Stackhouse has been projected from the fourth to the seventh spherical within the 2025 NFL Draft. (Kirby Lee / Imagn Photographs)
“Yeah, yeah, coach,” Stackhouse would reply, jolted again awake.
“Greater than as soon as,” Good stated with a chuckle. “It was actual. I’ve by no means seen a man on the sideline within the recreation exit.”
Good mimicked going to sleep.
“However he’s a fantastic child,” Good stated. “As soon as they bought it below management, it was not a giant deal. … It by no means affected his efficiency.”
NFL folks, who are inclined to mission Stackhouse anyplace from the fourth to the seventh spherical, don’t seem to suppose the narcolepsy is a matter. One space scout stated that it “feels like he has a deal with on it, so I wouldn’t name it a purple flag or something.”
“It’s a brand new one for me,” a second space scout stated. “Haven’t had this pop up with a participant earlier than. The coaches say it isn’t a problem.”
Stackhouse talks concerning the situation freely, how instantly it hits, and might’t assist however snigger at a few of these occasions. He as soon as slept whereas on a treadmill. He felt it approaching, so he grabbed the handrails, then the subsequent factor he knew he woke again up.
“And I’m like, ‘Rattling, how lengthy was I out?’ I look down. I used to be down there for like 12 minutes,” Stackhouse stated.
Narcolepsy signs normally start between the ages of seven and 25 and sometimes are misdiagnosed, in keeping with the Nationwide Institutes of Well being. The precise trigger is unknown, there isn’t any remedy, and the situation will likely be lifelong. It’s a uncommon situation, estimated to be present in about .002 % of the U.S. inhabitants. However among the signs could be managed with a mix of medicines and way of life modifications, in keeping with the NIH.
That Stackhouse is an athlete helps. The NIH says day by day train of a minimum of 20 minutes improves nighttime sleep high quality and reduces “extreme daytime sleepiness.” Maintaining a healthy diet helps too, so entry to Georgia’s coaching desk in the course of the previous few years has been helpful.
Stackhouse handled it lengthy earlier than school. Rising up in Stone Mountain, Ga., he fell asleep in school. His mom began taking him to sleep research when he was 11. The household didn’t suppose it was a lot of an issue at first. Then, as he bought older, the issue didn’t go away, nevertheless it was too costly to get an official prognosis and even therapy. When he bought to Georgia, his mom requested the medical employees to check her son, and the narcolepsy was confirmed.
Georgia put him in contact with a pulmonary physician in Athens, and Stackhouse took a drugs, WAKIX, for a couple of 12 months however stopped as a result of it gave him complications. Stackhouse is taking a look at different doable medicines, however in any other case simply has years of figuring out the way to handle it on his personal. If he feels sleep approaching, he strikes round, if he can, or takes precautions, just like the time on the treadmill.
“It by no means affected me on the sphere,” he stated. “It was if I used to be stationary, snug. That’s the place it hits.”
On the sphere, Stackhouse appeared unaffected. He performed as a reserve on Georgia’s 2020 and 2021 groups, which had a outstanding assortment of line of defense expertise, together with nostril deal with Jordan Davis and defensive deal with Jalen Carter. When Davis left after the 2021 season, Stackhouse took his beginning job. He had three tackles and a rush of C.J. Stroud within the semifinals of the School Soccer Playoff and a deal with for loss within the nationwide championship recreation.
Off the sphere, Stackhouse handled narcolepsy, usually throughout video games. When a recreation was in hand, and the starters have been pulled, Stackhouse would head right into a tent on the sideline and go to sleep.
“It undoubtedly didn’t have an effect on my taking part in,” he stated. “However say we have been taking part in a type of, I don’t know, I might say under-talented groups. I’d play one or two quarters. After that, I’m on the sideline. We had a tent, and I might actually sit down and watch the blokes play. And I’d go to sleep.”
However he didn’t in the course of the epic eight-overtime win over Georgia Tech. Actually, Stackhouse fought it off so nicely that when he bought residence, he really couldn’t get to sleep for 3 extra hours.
“Narcolepsy is so unpredictable,” Stackhouse stated. “As a result of persons are like, ‘Are you drained, are you drained?’ No, I’m not drained, I simply fell asleep. I dozed off. It’s like a curse.”
Dane Brugler contributed to this story.
(Prime picture: Todd Kirkland / Getty Photographs)