Kornacki: Squared Circle Could Be In Kalis' Future
10/20/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 20, 2016
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Michigan offensive lineman Kyle Kalis sees himself in the wrestling ring when his football career concludes.
Kalis grinned and said, "I've had some guys in the professional wrestling industry coming up to me and saying, 'You should be a professional wrestler one day.' I say, 'Yeah, maybe, whatever.' But more and more people are saying it, and it would be such a cool job to just wrestle in front of people.
"I mean, that's all fake, but it's literally the best job ever. You just wake up, lift, eat, train, wrestle and pump the crowd up. That's the best job ever."
The Steiner Brothers were former Wolverine collegiate wrestling standouts Rick and Scott Rechsteiner. The sport has featured a "Hulk," "Diesel," and Ric "The Nature Boy" Flair, a big Michigan fan who took part in the "Signing of the Stars" show at Hill Auditorium in February.
What would Kalis, who has red hair and a beard, choose for his wrestling nickname?
"We go back and forth on that," he said. "I don't know if we can be 'Big Red' or something like 'The Irish Destroyer.' Me and my manager will have to get together on that, and it will be fun."
What about "The Lost Art (of Toughness)" as a ring moniker?
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, who just happens to be a huge wrestling fan, used that term to describe what Kalis, a 6-foot-5, 305-pound banger of an athlete brings at right guard.
"Intensity, that's his forte," said Harbaugh. "He brings our whole offense a great deal of intensity. He brings very physical play, strength and the lost art of toughness in football, also a valuable talent that is toughness. That's a respected quality."
Before becoming a wrestler, Kalis has the second half of his senior season to play for No. 3 Michigan (6-0, 3-0 Big Ten), which hosts Illinois Saturday (Oct. 22), and is projected to follow in his father's footsteps in the NFL.
When asked for the root of his toughness, Kalis quickly cited his father, Todd, who played for Arizona State against Harbaugh and Michigan in the 1987 Rose Bowl before spending eight seasons as an offensive lineman for the Minnesota Vikings (1988-93), Pittsburgh Steelers (1994) and Cincinnati Bengals (1995).
"By playing football," said Kalis, "that (toughness) was ingrained in my head. If I didn't play well in practice, my dad would be brutally honest. Growing up, I always wanted to please my dad and make him proud of me. The way I found I could really make him proud was to have that nasty attitude, that edge, and that carried to my game today. It's part of who I am."
Kalis, a five-star recruit who was coached at St. Edwards High in Lakewood, Ohio, by current Wolverines defensive analyst Rick Finotti, played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl and was a Parade All-America selection. He flipped from Ohio State to Michigan and came to Ann Arbor with high expectations.
He's started 35 games, was an All-Big Ten third team pick by the media in 2015 and is ranked as one of the top seven or eight offensive guards on mock draft lists for the 2017 NFL Draft.
Kalis has gotten better every season and had to learn to harness that intensity that's his calling card.
"I can credit a lot of that to Coach (Tim) Drevno," said Kalis of the offensive coordinator and line coach. "Him coaching me has allowed me to refine my game and bring out my intensity when it needs to come out. I can harness it now."
Kalis said the offensive linemen are "lucky to be in the room with him" because Drevno brings advanced NFL coaching techniques from his days with the San Francisco 49ers staff.
"We take advantage of every second we've got with him," said Kalis.
The offensive line meeting room can become a lively place once business is over.
It wouldn't take any stretch of the imagination to envision Wolverine right tackle Erik Magnuson and center Mason Cole joining Kalis as wrestlers bringing both a strong physical nature and a fun, wacky vibe to the ring.
"Me and Mags roomed together for the first time during Summer Bridge (Scholars Program)," Kalis said of the academic program offered to incoming freshmen. "And we just kind of clicked. People notice that we have the same type of personality and type of humor.
"I'd describe our humor as very strange. We tend to think we know everything that's going on, and everyone else is outside our bubble. It's a lot of inside jokes and us just laughing at people but not in a bad way. People look at us when we laugh, and they say, 'What the hell are they laughing at?' But we're really just laughing at ourselves and the jokes we make. We also like the same types of music: beach alternative, reggae, folk, classic rock."
Magnuson and Kalis, now fifth-year seniors, arrived together in 2012, while Cole joined forces with them in 2014.
"We took Mason under our wings in his freshman year," said Kalis. "Immediately, he became one of the guys. Mason all of a sudden became part of our inside jokes, and so now it's three people laughing at our jokes instead of just two.
"We're the 'Three Amigos,' and we have a lot of fun together."
They sport long hair, beards and tattoos and make penetrating from the center to right side of the offensive line a tough challenge for defenses.
"The three of us really play well off each other," said Kalis. "We're at center, guard and tackle together (in order). On Saturdays, when we see a guy finishing a guy on one play or cleaning a guy up on the pile, that gets everybody going.
"Everybody on the entire line sees that, and that attitude is something that we carry with us on the O-line."
Michigan has four running backs -- Chris Evans, De'Veon Smith, Ty Isaac and Karan Higdon -- each with between 253 and 400 yards rushing. The Wolverines rank second in rushing offense in the Big Ten at 255 yards per game and second in the nation with 50 points per game.
Runners are working in sync with their blockers, hitting holes at just the right instant by showing patience.
"I don't know if it's the coaching or if they trust us more," Kalis said of the running backs, "but the patience is, for any running back, that's the key. If you hit a hole too fast, the play isn't going to work."
But when they hit the hole at just the right instant, it provides great satisfaction for linemen.
"As a lineman," said Kalis, "that's what you work the whole offseason for -- to have those moments in those games. You block somebody, and the next thing you know, they shoot out behind you, and you say, 'Yesss! I've done my job.' "
Kalis said he feels "rejuvenated" after the bye week, termed "improvement week" by Harbaugh, that allowed more rest than normal and a chance to head home to Pittsburgh to watch his eight-year-old brother, Jimmy, play football; go bow hunting for deer (none spotted, though); eat "home-cooked meals;" and visit a pumpkin patch and haunted house that got a rise out of everybody.
"They had these clowns who have become rampant these days," said Kalis. "So, the clowns with chainsaws were chasing us. It was pretty scary. They had blood on their faces, chainsaws revved up. I was going fast; I was sprinting."
There never seems to be a dull moment with Kalis, who fills the bill as "Big Red" on the field, in a haunted house or, perhaps someday, in a WWE Monday Night Raw ring near you.
