JV Football Coach Kevin Kline plans on tying up his laces and getting back out onto the gridiron once again. Kline has been playing football for all of his life and had the opportunity to play in college at Grand Rapids Community College, Ferris State and Adrian College. Just coming back from surgery, Kline plans on getting to work after recovery. Kline had 65 tackles in his senior year at Adrian, which is a very high number compared to the national average. The special teams coach Jimmy Allen played with Kline in 2010 and was able to see him as an athlete.

“I played with Kevin in 2010 at Grand Rapids Community College,” Allen said. “I definitely believe that he has what it takes to play at the next level. With the dominance that he had at GRCC, I think he could absolutely play and do well.”

Being a coach and an athlete are two different positions, but some people go about it the same way. Allen believes that Kline is one of those people.

“One of the unique things about him is that mentally there is no difference for him from a coaching standpoint and a players standpoint,” Allen said. “He goes into everything he does with a mentality that he must do the best that he can and make the others around him do well also.”

Other than being a teammate, having Kline as a coach is one experience that the JV football team has had the honor of having. Kline coached his athletes not only during practice but even working with them after practice in his free time. Many of the JV athletes have full support for Kline.

“I think it is really cool that he may have this opportunity,” sophomore Richard Giltrop said. “I think it also means that the fact that our team was able to learn from him and use what he taught us successfully is important because it gives him credibility and he must know what he is talking about. It means that we had a good opportunity to learn and get better as athletes. He was always willing to stay after with kids and work with them to give them an edge on the competition.”

As a lineman coach, Kline’s job was to teach the lineman proper technique and to work with them on a day to day basis. Some of the lineman are the athletes that would stay after and work with Kline.

“It was really helpful to have him as a coach,” sophomore Cole Patterson said. “He really cared to make sure that we did our best on and off the field. He was able to show me more techniques and moves to be successful on the defensive line. He absolutely deserves to go pro, he’s definitely got the skills. It also really cool to know that I had a coach that is a professional.”

Kline had surgery a month ago on the metacarpals in his foot. He had to have screws put into his foot to hold its structure, but he is expected to make a full recovery.

“The surgery went really well,” Kline said. “I have been walking on it for a little bit now and have been able to go to the gym a couple times. I think I can get back into it by late spring of next year, maybe going into summer.”

Having surgery is not the only thing that Kline will have to do in order to be back in football condition. Physical training is necessary for Kline to get into the football body style.

“In order to get back into the game, I will have to definitely get back into football shape,” Kline said. “I will have to bench, squat, focus on lower/upper body. However I will start with doing light reps but going down very slowly and coming up quickly. And definitely will have to do some box jumps.”

Kline has a very experienced football background that is something that will appeal to coaches and recruiters. And having multiple years on upper level football teams only appeals to coaches more.

“I played at Davison High School,” Kline said. “I received a 20 percent scholarship from Ferris State but after a couple days there, I could tell that it just was not for me. So I left Ferris and went straight to Grand Rapids Community College. The coach there got me set up with classes and a place to live and it worked out well. After that I continued my football career at Adrian College. Then I decided that I wanted to go into physical education.”

A proper mindset is something that Kline believes is very important. He believes that he must be determined and disciplined to succeed and “tackle” the competition. Kline plans on getting a tryout for the Iowa Barnstormers, but no date is set up yet.

Gallery • 3 Photos