Blue White Illustrated

In a quest to 8nd the best football players in the country, it's probably easy to chase the biggest, fastest and strongest prospects and worry less about how good they are at playing foot- ball. Some players, though, stand out by simply executing their assignments. They don't wow you with high-end plays but are just ruthlessly e;cient on a down-by-down basis. Kobe King is no slouch athletically, but his best attrib- utes are largely in the second category. He has all the ingredients to be a 8eld general at linebacker. King could be the heartbeat of Penn State's defense for years to come. STRENGTHS READ AND REACT King has uncommon patience for a high school player. It's very easy to get revved up and run all over the 8eld, only to miss your assignment as a defender. Yet King never seems out of control on 8lm. He simply reads his keys, 9ows to the ball and 8nishes. His vision and patience are also evi- dent as a runner when he's lined up at tailback. James Franklin has said that a good linebacker should see and feel holes at the line of scrimmage the same way a running back does. King embodies this idea better than most young line- backers. CONTACT BALANCE One of the most disrespectful things you can do to an of- fensive lineman is to act as if he's not there. Linemen want to engage defend- ers. They want the shoving match, their goal being to take up time as much as space. Defenders who can treat blockers like speed bumps rather than roadblocks are special. This is the core of King's highlight video. He gracefully eludes blocks, disengages quickly and rarely ac- knowledges their presence. He's looking past the block and working one step ahead to 8nd the ball. A

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