EDWARDSVILLE - Edwardsville defensive tackle Nasim Cairo has been a dedicated football player for head coach Matt Martin and the Tigers in his career and he was recently rewarded as he signed a letter of intent to play for Southeast Missouri State in Cape Girardeau for the 2022 season.
Nasim is one of the iCAN Clinic Male Athletes of the Month for Edwardsville High School.
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One of Cairo's biggest games was against Alton on Oct. 1, when he had a career-high four sacks and had several tackles in the Tigers' 42-6 homecoming win over the Redbirds at Tiger Stadium.
Cairo ended the season with 27 solo tackles and 28 assists, recording five sacks, tying with Carson Forstling for the team lead. He felt that playing in tough games against very good competition only helped the Tigers.
Cairo very much loves the competition of going against good teams in high school, and that won't change now that he's going to play against the top teams in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
"For sure," Cairo said. "I love competition. I hear all the time from Coach (Matt Martin), because I feel like good players against good players make better plays, and make better players. So I'm ready to go against somebody to play football."
Cairo said he always had good games against Alton in his career.
"My sophomore year was my biggest game," he said in matchups against the Redbirds." "I had two sacks, six tackles. Last year was one of my biggest games; I had two sacks and another six tackles, going both ways. And then, this year, the same thing, I just played my butt off and had a really good game."
Cairo very much enjoyed playing with his high school teammates and looks ahead to playing in college.
Coach Martin said he believes Cairo is an excellent college defensive line prospect and will do well with his choice at Southeast Missouri State.
Cairo was the Tigers’ defensive MVP this past season.
“Right now we have another kid at the school in linebacker Jacob Morrisey,” the coach said. “Jacob will help him with the transition. He is quick, strong, and smart. Nasim is really good at reading linemen’s stances and is a good technician on defense. It is a wonderful opportunity for him to play at the college level.”
