When Carlsbad native and La Costa Canyon alum David Quessenberry was a kid, it almost seemed like his parents needed a pair of pliers and scissors to separate him from his favorite piece of clothing.
“You couldn’t get me out of my Junior Seau jersey,” said Quessenberry, 33, over the phone from the Minnesota Vikings team facility. “My favorite player growing up was Junior Seau. He was always my football hero; the way he played and the physicality he brought.”
Quessenberry has long since traded in the powder blue and sunshine gold for purple, but this past Sunday, Sept. 24, he reunited with old (or new) familiar.
For only the second time in his pro career, Quessenberry, a six-foot-five, 310-pound Vikings offensive swing tackle, dressed as a reserve opposite the Chargers.
“I think it’s a bummer,” Quessenberry lamented about the Chargers leaving San Diego. “When they were rolling, Qualcomm was rocking. It’s a good football town and I think there should be a team there.”
Quessenberry did not appear in the teams’ back-and-forth 28-24 loss – dropping the Vikings to 0-3 on the season.
“It is difficult [coming off the bench] but that’s the job,” Quessenberry said. “You got to stay ready because you are one play away from going in and being the guy.”
Quessenberry made his season debut for the Vikings during Week 2 against the Philadelphia Eagles, stepping in late for an injured teammate after signing with the team on the eve of the regular season following a release from the Buffalo Bills, with whom he spent the previous season.
The veteran NFL lineman has also played for the Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans.
“I’ve been the starter and the swing guy,” Quessenberry said. “There are different challenges for each. Being the swing guy, you need to know both spots, get ready for all kinds of scenarios, you have to study both sides and stay warm on the sidelines. Is it challenging? Yeah, but it’s something I take a lot of pride in.”
Playing for Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell is an interesting bookend for Quessenberry’s career. Five years his senior, O’Connell, like Quessenberry, grew up in Carlsbad and attended La Costa Canyon, where he excelled at quarterback. Both men played for high school head coach Darrin Brown.
“I don’t know if it was as much where he came from as the team he has built and the culture he is building,” Quessenberry said on his decision to sign with the Vikings. “I was on the Bills last year, and I remembered playing against the Vikings – it was a wild and crazy game. Going to Minnesota was a no-brainer.”
Still, not many NFL players can say they saw their head coach play as a high school kid.
“La Costa Canyon, Encinitas, Carlsbad, is a cool community – it’s tight knit,” Quessenberry said. “My dad would take me to those La Costa Canyon games when I was in middle school and say ‘Hey, we are going to watch what a college quarterback looks like.’ I remember watching Kev and he was so poised. I don’t really remember a specific play; I just remember you could tell he was a field general. There was a very strong presence to him – that stuck out in my mind.”
Quessenberry chuckled off any comparisons between O’Connell and their former high school coach Darrin Brown.
“I cannot [see the influence of La Costa Canyon at practice],” Quessenberry said. “It’s a totally different schedule than anything I have been around in the league or before. It’s been a lot of learning and a lot of good things built in [to the schedule] for peak performance and recovery and meetings.”
Getting long in the tooth by NFL standards, Quessenberry tries to live his professional life from moment to moment, especially after beating a cancer diagnosis in 2014.
“Right now, I’m just focused on kicking butt while there is butt to kick,” he said. “I’ll finish this season out and I want to get at least one more after that.”
“I still love this thing,” Quessenberry added. “I still love coming to work and being part of a group of guys going in the same direction and fighting for the same goal that come from all different parts of the country and the world. It is rare air to be part of a group like that.”
Of his time at La Costa Canyon, Quessenberry said it helped build a foundation for him to lean upon throughout his career.
“Everyone has to start somewhere,” Quessenberry said. “We put a lot of good football players out; we had a lot of talent (future NFL players that played alongside Quessenberry in high school include brother Paul and Kenny Stills). “Just being around guys that were driven, the group that we had really motivated me. I would think, ‘Hey I want to be one of those guys that comes back when I’m in college on a bye week and be on the sideline for games.’”
