Never the most outspoken Bobcat, Kendrick Nossaman made noise on the football field in other ways.
Whether it was the clank of weight plates hitting the floor after a workout or the crack of shoulder pads crunching an opponent, it was all welcome music to the Ignacio coaches’ ears.
“His leadership is big. Being a leader and just trying to be the best on the field …. He just (leads) by example,” head coach Alfonso ‘Ponch’ Garcia said. “He’s not very vocal, but he does by example – and the kids really like that part because their eyes are all, like, ‘What’s Kendrick going to do today?’”
Thursday afternoon, what the senior did was something which could have been jeopardized by a serious injury. Still working his left leg back into optimal condition, but eager to finish out his final track-and-field season after missing most of a much-anticipated wrestling grind, Nossaman put pen to paper and declared his intent to continue his student-athlete days playing football at Kansas Wesleyan University.
“I was really excited and really nervous at the same time,” Nossaman said, following an assembly in IHS Gymnasium attended by parents, grandparents, coaches, teammates and friends. “But I’m definitely more excited; the nervousness is, I think, just from not knowing what’s going to come next. But I’m just excited to be able to have this opportunity,”
Nossaman described how he’d never had an injury as bad as the one he suffered, dislocating his kneecap and spraining his MCL. He tried to come back for wrestling season but couldn’t do it. He knew he had to trust the process and keep living.
“He’s really matured as a young man and an athlete,” father and IHS assistant coach Jake Nossaman said. “With athletics it’s not a matter of getting them; it’s about how you handle injuries and bounce back – just like in life. That’s the great thing about football: the life lesson. You’re going to get knocked down in life, so it’s about the getting back up. We’re just super proud of him and wish the best for him.”
Probably in much the same way as fans in Salina, Kansas, are hoping for great things this fall after a strong finish to KWU’s 2024 season and subsequent offseason change at the top.
With spring practices approaching their final week before an intrasquad scrimmage inside JRI Hospitality Stadium at Graves Family Sports Complex next Saturday, the Coyotes are adjusting to the ways of new, but well-traveled boss Matt Middleton – who’d spent the ’24 and ’23 campaigns in Searcy, Arkansas assisting 2023 NCAA Division II National Champion Harding University.
His KWU predecessor(s) hadn’t done a terrible job, either; the Coyotes – guided to a 2-4 start by third-year head coach Matt Myers, before co-interim HCs Chris Snyder and David Leonard oversaw the next six outings – finished 7-5 overall last fall, and went 5-0 in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference’s Franklin ‘Gene’ Bissell Division after winning 23-3 at Sterling College in the teams’ regular-season finale.
Coincidentally, Nossaman had a pretty good view of it.
“My dad went to … Sterling, and one day in November he got me a game-day visit to Sterling,” Nossaman said, through a widening grin. “They were playing Kansas Wesleyan! After that trip I kind of started talking to the coach … and I guess they liked me, then gave me an offer.”
Interested in Pre-Engineering coursework at Kansas Wesleyan, Nossaman said he expects to continue playing linebacker, but will also keep his options open if it means more time on the gridiron.
“He really enjoys working toward what he’s doing; he wants to better himself every week,” said Garcia. “He’s a kid that devotes his life to football – it’s like being in church for him; that’s how he is. And he’s been hitting the weight room a lot; I think he’s probably gained, like, 10 or fifteen pounds already since football and wrestling. So he’s working hard to get ready.”
Kansas Wesleyan’s 2025 season will begin Aug. 30 at Gene Bissell Field against division rival Ottawa University (1-10, 1-4 in ’24).
