Ohio Football Camp Day 13: Will Kacmarek
8/19/2021 2:00:00 PM | Football
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ATHENS, Ohio-- The Ohio football team finished day 13 of fall camp on Thursday morning at Peden Stadium. After practice, we caught up with freshman tight end Will Kacmarek to talk about how his first fall camp is going.
Coming out of high school, Kacmarek didn't have a ton of opportunities to play at the Division I level. The freshman from St. Louis then received an offer from Ohio and hasn't looked back since.
"I thought I had a really good senior season, it was during the COVID year so scholarships and recruitment were very hard to come by," Kacmarek said. "Ohio reached out to me and they're the only ones that believed in me. I talked to a bunch of the coaches, they all love me and I love them back."
Kacmarek knew that the jump from high school to college would be huge, so he got his body ready over the summer with intense workouts before even arriving on campus. Once the freshman reached campus, he was welcomed by the staff and his teammates.
"Coach Albin, that guy's an awesome head coach, he reached out to my family and he reached out to me," Kacmarek said. "I'm surrounded by all these good players and all these nice players, they all welcomed me very easily."
The St. Louis native has plenty of people around him to learn from. He said his position coach, Brian Metz, is the best tight ends coach he has ever had.
Additionally, Kacmarek is in one of the most experienced position groups on the team, led by "super seniors" Adam and Ryan Luehrmann, as well as redshirt junior Alec Burton.
While the first team is getting reps and Kacmarek is watching from the sidelines, he stands next to his more experienced teammates who help him when he has questions.
"They're always teaching me every step of the way," Kacmarek said. "If I have any questions, they are there to answer them for me. I feel really blessed that they're around me and I'm being given all this information whenever I need it."
Kacmarek has learned quickly that college football is no joke. The scout team sessions, when he gets most of his reps, are often the most physical parts of practice.
When Kacmarek is in with the first team players, he's found that one of the most important skills to add to his game is more refined technique.
"Technique is all you have at that point," Kacmarek said. "Obviously you have the strength and speed that you have, but to get from point A to point B and make those key blocks and key routes technique is huge."
As Kacmarek homes in on his skills in his first training camp, he will be fortunate to have all of those experienced players and coaches around him to get better. Kacmarek and the Bobcats will have their first opportunity to show off their improvement from camp at home against Syracuse on September 4.
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