Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Find out what's cooking with defensive tackle Shaq Findlater
08/19/2016 | 3:01:00 | Football
The Jamaican-born senior fell in love with cooking at an early age by watching his parents prepare meals for their family of seven in the island country's capital of Kingston.
"They never wanted me to be in the kitchen around the fire because I was so young," he recalled. "So I'd stand by the door and watch them. Sometimes, I'd sneak in and make myself some food, and I'd think, this doesn't taste like dad's. Next time, I'd add something else to it and add my own flavor."
At one point, Findlater even considered entering culinary arts school and becoming a professional chef, but later decided his career prospects would be better if he went to college and played football. At SIU, he continues to refine his cooking skills and can serve up a mean dish of Jamaican Brown Stew Chicken.
Last summer, he surprised his teammates by inviting a group of them over to sample his cuisine.
"I jerked a couple huge bags of chicken, made some rice and macaroni, and did this all with my own money," he said. "I told my teammates I've got some food and we're going to chill by the pool and eat. They were surprised — oh wow, you actually did all this? Once they tasted the food, they said it was so good and no way you could have cooked this. They couldn't believe a guy like me cooked this good a food. Since then, everyone's asking me, when are you going to cook, when are you going to cook?"
Findlater said his specialties are West Indian and Caribbean fare, but he can cook everything, including American food. He has a handful of cookbooks and watches the Food Network for ideas.
How the 22-year-old home chef ended up in Carbondale is an interesting tale. At age seven, he joined his uncle on a visit to New York City and was dazzled by the experience.
"I was so amazed — what are these lights?" he laughed. "In Jamaica, it's a dark place at night because we don't have street lights. This city was glowing. I was sitting in the car and thinking this is an amazing land."
Soon after visiting New York, Findlater moved to Chicago to live with his father, which became a life-changing experience.
"Jamaica is so much more laid back — a warm, welcoming place, and the tropical environment is everything you picture it to be," he said. "In Chicago, you've got people hustling everywhere, and it gets so cold. It took me a time to get adjusted to it, but once I got into school and saw how people react to different things, I took the culture in. I'm part of this culture but I still have my culture from Jamaica."
Findlater played defensive end, linebacker, punter, wide receiver and tight end in high school and drew initial interest from Ball State and Northwestern, but only Southern Illinois stayed with him throughout the recruiting process. The Salukis signed him as a tight end, where he labored behind future NFLers MyCole Pruitt and Adam Fuehne.
Midway through the 2015 season, SIU suffered a rash of injuries on the defensive line. Findlater went upstairs to Coach Dale Lennon's office after practice one day and asked if he could play defensive end. Lennon said he could, so long as he continued to be available on the offensive side of the ball. He became a rare two-way player — catching a pair of passes on offense and making three tackles on defense on the year.
After the season, the coaching staff asked if he wanted to return to tight end or make a permanent move to defensive line.
"I just wanted to stick with defense," Findlater said. "I felt the love for it. It's so free you can do what you want to do, and at the same time do your job."
At 6-foot-2, 275 pounds, Findlater is an imposing physical specimen who runs a blazing 4.7 in the 40-yard dash. He hopes to play pro football, but as a health care management major, he has a fallback plan of becoming an administrator at a hospital or nursing home. Cooking will always be a big part of his life and a way to reach out to others.
"My dad raised me like that," he said. "If I have it and I'm able to help a person, I'm there for that person. Even if I don't know someone, and I see they need help, I'll help them."
