It’s New Year’s Eve in Windsor Hills, and Nathaniel Cadet has decided this is not the time to party. He pushes a button for alpine mode on his treadmill and starts a 45-minute workout. Then he goes outside after midnight — as firecrackers are going off and rain is drizzling — to jump rope.
What kind of teenager isn’t playing video games, cracking open bottles of Sparkling Apple Cider or sleeping at midnight on New Year’s Eve?
The one who has dreams to fulfill.
“I want to set the tone for the rest of the year,” he said of his commitment to training.
With a 4.7 grade-point average and an unyielding determination to seek an opportunity to play football at the next level, Cadet is leaving nothing for chance. The L.A. Marshall High senior quarterback will do anything trying to get better. He’s gone to camps, he’s taken lessons from private coaches, he’s run at the beach, he’s trained in the early morning and late at night to keep his dream alive.
“Whatever will advance my career the most,” he said.
The 6-foot, 170-pound quarterback has helped Marshall to a 3-0 start with 460 yards passing and nine touchdowns. During the morning, he works out. During the afternoon, he works out. During the evening after practice, he works out. If he’s doing homework from midnight to 3 a.m., it’s nothing unusual. It’s a balancing act and he loves it.
He joined the track team last spring with the intention to get faster. His 40-yard time is 4.6 seconds.
“I need to get faster in my drops and just build that foundation that I need to be able to get better,” Cadet said.
If you haven’t noticed yet, Cadet is motivated to take his skills and work ethic as far as they can go and won’t let anyone put up a roadblock to stop him.
Jose Razo spent 17 years as an assistant coach at Marshall before becoming head coach in 2024. He said there’s been few quarterbacks in school history with Cadet’s talent.
“He’s doing things we haven’t seen in a long time at Marshall,” Razo said. “He’s just trying to get an opportunity to show what he can do. His lack of attention [from college recruiters] doesn’t deter him. Whomever gets him will be lucky. He elevates everyone around him.”
Let’s get back to the midnight workout. What was he thinking?
“My parents were asleep in their room,” he said. “My brother was in his room. I was watching the ball drop in New York because I have a lot of family on the East Coast. Then once it did drop, because that was three hours prior to us here, I was thinking, ‘What can I do knowing how good I have to get to set off my year right?’
“I didn’t get the idea from anywhere. I just thought why wait until the next day or the day after when I could get to work right now at the start of the year.”
Cadet hasn’t stopped working since then.
He’s no party pooper, but he’s on a mission to succeed. Getting faster and stronger takes priority no matter the time, no matter the place, no matter the situation.
