It didn’t take Donnie Militzer long to see something special in Vann Kavals.
Militzer, who just finished his third year as head football coach at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, arrived prior to Kavals’ sophomore year. And even though Kavals – like many freshmen — hadn’t played all that much, Militzer saw “a special kind of athlete” when he watched the film.
At the time, Kavals stood 6-foot-3 and weighed about 185 pounds. As a freshman, he played quarterback and linebacker, although later he would move to defensive end.
Militzer, who had previously coached at Robert Morris, Carnegie Mellon and Washington & Jefferson in addition to several area high schools, said he sat down with Kavals and told him, “With your size and speed, we know you play quarterback, but if we can teach you how to play defensive end, you’ll have a lot of people interested in you.”
That proved to be prescient, and earlier this week, Kavals became the first player in the 15-year history of OLSH’s football program to sign a letter of intent to play football at the Division I level, as he accepted a scholarship offer from the University of Akron.
As one might expect, Kavals was thrilled to put his name on the dotted line.
“I’m definitely excited about it,” he said. “It’s a big step. It’s always been a dream of mine since I was younger to continue playing football (after high school).”
He certainly had to clear some roadblocks along the way – roadblocks in the way of major injuries.
He tore the ACL in his left knee on the third play of his first game in his sophomore year, a noncontact injury that sidelined him for the rest of the season. Although disappointed, Kavals tried to look at the positive side.
“It was definitely hard, but the best part about it was, I still had time in front of me and I was young,” he said. “It was way better than if I’d been a senior.”
Kavals, who lives in the South Fayette school district, said he saw his rehab period as an opportunity to get better. “The first six months, I lived in the weight room – I just lifted nonstop,” he said. “I knew how much better I had to get for the next season if I wanted to make all the things I wanted to happen, happen.”
That time in the weight room helped Kavals gain about 40 pounds, bringing him from 185 to about 225. He was cleared to practice late that summer, and was ready to roll at the start of his junior season when another injury occurred. This time, he sustained a broken right femur in the second quarter of his third game.
“That was tough,” Militzer said. “He had worked as hard as any kid I’d ever been around. And we had expected big things from him.”
Undeterred, Kavals attacked his second rehab stint with the same fervor he’d shown in his first. He was told the recovery time could take up to five months, but three months later, he was playing in OLSH’s first basketball game. He felt no ill-effects other than some soreness in his shins from not being able to run for three months.
Although he hadn’t played much at all during his sophomore and junior years, word had gotten out about Kavals’ athletic ability, and he began drawing interest from several D-1 programs. Late last spring, Akron offered him a scholarship, and he committed during the summer before officially signing his letter of intent Wednesday.
Although it’s not unsual for college freshmen to sit out that first season and take what’s known as a redshirt year, that’s not what Kavals has in mind. “The plan is to work as hard as I can and earn some playing time, but we’ll see how the cookie crumbles,” said Kavals, who hopes to major in physical therapy.
Kavals credits many people with helping him to get this far, including a couple teammates – Dereon Greer and Iseia Fields-Schulz – his coaches and his personal trainer, Craedl Kimbrough, who is based in the Hopewell/Aliquippa area. He said Kimbrough instilled in his mind as early as his freshman year of high school that playing college football was a realistic goal. And with each injury setback, he reinstilled that thought as his training and rehab intensified.
“I started working really hard for it,” he said of the opportunity to play beyond high school. “After missing those opportunities to play, I knew that was the only thing I could do.”
Militzer is convinced that if Kavals hadn’t missed so much playing time, he would have attracted much more interest – and interest from schools larger than Akron.
“Most coaches I’ve talked to said if he hadn’t gotten hurt his junior year, his Signing Day would probably have been with a Power 4 school,” he said. “He’s 6-5, 240 and a freak athlete. He has length and size you can’t teach, but he’s also athletic. You can’t find kids like that. If he had more film, I think you’re talking about a big-time power conference kid.”
Militzer said Kavals’ attributes go beyond the measurables. “It’s also the way he carries himself,” he said. “He’s a hard-working kid and he’s a winner. A lot of kids nowadays, they don’t have that ‘tough’ gene. You could tell right away he had that ‘tough’ gene. Some kids that age, they get a sprained ankle and they’re done. This kid fought through two major injuries and is still dominating.”
Militzer said Kavals’ desire to improve and learn also set him apart, as does his maturity. “I’ve been coaching for 20 years, and you know when you have something,” he said. “I knew he had it. But I’ve also seen kids with ability and size who don’t have that work ethic to get where they need to go. I could tell pretty early that he checked all the boxes.”
Although Kavals is an accomplished athlete, Militizer said he’s not a finished product. “I think he’s going to get a little bigger,” he said. “I was talking to the Akron coaches and they’re really excited. I told them that he was dominant this year, but that I don’t think you’ve seen his best football yet.
“If he continues to work and stay healthy, he could play on Sunday.”
In addition to Wednesay being a big day for Kavals and his parents, Robert and Nicole, it was also a major plus for the OLSH program, Militzer said.
“We’ve had a lot of success as a program in its infancy, but as good a players as we’ve had come through, we never had someone sign with an FBS school,” he said. “Having that (Wednesday) was really special. It showed a lot of kids on our team that it can be done.
“It was a big day for the entire program.”
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