How many of you remember the show from the 70s, Happy Days? The long-running and very popular television show had a character on it who epitomized for the television audience, as well as viewers world-wide, the concepts of being cool, poised, and tough. His name was Arthur Fonzerelli but he was called, throughout the show’s running, either Fonzie, or simply, The Fonz.
Kentucky has a football player who reminds many of us around KPGFootball of The Fonz. He, to us, epitomizes concepts of being cool, especially under pressure, remaining poised, and he is off-the-charts tough like one would expect form a big-time middle line-backer. Make no mistake either, he is definitely a big-time MLB.
He plays for one of Kentucky’s premier football programs at one of the defense’s most prestigious alignments (MLB). His name is Joe Kuerzi and, being as fond of nicknames at KPGFootball as we are, we refer to him around the magazine as The Kuerz. Man-o-man is this one cool customer, both on and off the field.
Kuerzi (or The Kuerz, as we call him) had a tremendous 2018 in the middle of the Bulldog defense. He tallied 117 tackles, had 11 TFLs, 3 QB sacks, and housed an interception he carried 30-yards to pay dirt. One has to play pretty darn well to get selected by the Country’s largest newspaper, USA-Today, to its All-Kentucky Football Team (1st Team).
Kuerzi is listed at 5-11 and 215 pounds on the Male roster. He has run a 4.7-second forty-yard sprint; bench pressed 315-pounds; squatted 450-pounds; and power-cleaned an incredible 335-pounds. That power clean is significant in many ways other than being a prodigious amount of weight to lift from the ground to one’s chest.
For starters, there are many in the field of football’s strength and conditioning industry who consider the power clean the consummate football lift. It incorporates many of the explosive movements used in the actual game of football. It is a measure of power, explosion, and what coaches call both good-hips and good-feet. As a friend of mine put it to me over the phone recently, It is an athletic lift, one has to be a good athlete to power clean heavy weight.
Well, all of the indicators seem to point to Kuerzi being quite an athlete. His film demonstrates he has both good hips and feet and is quick to the football. Kuerzi flows to the play as effortlessly as someone who may have actually heard the play called in the huddle.
With Kuerzi quarterbacking the Bulldogs’ defensive efforts in 2018 from his MLB post, the Bulldogs went 14-1 and won the State Football Championship in Kentucky’s 6A Classification. In 15 games, Male allowed only 140 points, held opponents to 1,134 rushing yards while permitting them to pass for only 1,212 yards. In an average game, playing the best competition Kentucky can boast at the high school level, the Kuerzi-led defense gave up 9.33 points per contest, allowed 75.6 yards rushing, and only 80.8 yards through the air.
Now we have no idea how you, the reader, define cool. You may think coiffing your hair, wearing a cool-leather jacket, and getting all the girls in a prime-time TV show is cool. Truthfully, one could do a lot worse.
At KPGFootball, we think leading your team in tackles is pretty cool. We believe working devilishly to make yourself one of the strongest and most powerful and explosive kids at your position anywhere in Kentucky is pretty cool. We believe being instrumental in a defense’s becoming one of the stingiest in Kentucky is pretty cool. Finally, we believe helping one’s team win the Class 6A, State Football Championship is pretty cool too.
Basically, you can have The Fonz with no disrespect intended. At KPGFootball, we elected to roll with The Kerz. To us, and as far as we are concerned, one just can’t get any cooler than Joe Kuerzi.
Reporting for KPGFootball, this is F.W. Long, reminding all of you ballers out there to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE.
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