True Freshman leaves the gridiron to focus on mastering the hardwood
Chris Langin
From 2005 until 2017, all 19 winners of the Lincoln Journal Star boy’s athlete of the year award signed with a division I program. When Kanon Koster was announced the winner in 2018 after an incredible senior season at Kearney High School, that changed.
The last player besides Koster to win the award and not sign with a Division-I school?
Danny Woodhead.
“Honestly (Woodhead) never came up and I wasn’t even worried about it,” said Koster.
All Danny Woodhead did during his career at Division-II Chadron State was run for more yards than any player in College Football History from the FBS, FCS, or Division-II. He topped that off with an NFL career that spanned over nine seasons and led to nearly 5,000 scrimmage yards.
Despite having the talent (offer from D-I McNeese St.) Koster decided to stay in his hometown and play at a lower level school in UNK. Additionally, he’s given up football to completely focus on the sport he is most passionate about, Basketball.
“It was weird at first (not playing football) but it’s been nice to focus on one sport and be able to spend the Fall season getting better,” said Koster.
Koster also acknowledges the coaches and teammates as a reason for picking UNK over his other offers.
“I was more comfortable with the coaches and players already here at UNK and I didn’t want to be far away from home,” said Koster.
Koster has already gotten off to a strong start during his career, he is currently leading the team in points (16.8) rebounds (7.7) and assists (3.7) as a true freshman. However, while a high usage rate is partially the cause, Koster has also averaged 3.8 turnovers a game through the season’s first six games.
“The game is definitely faster,” said Koster. “You have to have more knowledge for the game, you have to be smarter than before.”
While Koster’s current goals are to simply get better and win games, he has some goals down the road in mind by the time his career is over.
“I want to win a conference championship and get to an NCAA tournament,” said Koster. “And when we get there, I want to be able to win games.”
