Redshirt Offensive Lineman Kyle Koehne: From Hoosier Country to the Gator Nation
Tuesday, November 12, 2013 | Football
By Emily Padgett, UF Communications
Kyle Koehne grew up in the heart of basketball country.
The Indianapolis, Ind., native was more focused on playing hoops than football until a successful program in the South caught his eye. He then shifted his attention to the football field -- and the Gators.
“It became my main focus in my sophomore year of high school when I started getting recruited. I was mainly focused on basketball until then,” he said. “I decided to be a football player, and with my size and everything, it kind of worked out well.”
Now a redshirt senior, the 315-pound, 6-foot-5-inch lineman is known for his ability to play multiple positions for the Gators. But, growing up, Koehne, who's been a football player since third grade, said he never considered Florida until he received a surprise in the mailbox.
“One day I received a random handwritten letter from Florida and decided to come down here to camp. I ended up liking it a lot,” he said. “On my official visit, I came for the LSU game. It was under the lights, and it was right after (Tim) Tebow had made his famous speech after the Ole Miss game. We beat LSU and I was like, 'All right, I want to come here.'”
While the Florida football program was winning national championships, Koehne's high school team was experiencing success of its own, winning two state championships.
“It was awesome. My sophomore year when we won it, my brother (Cameron) was on the team,” he said, “That was a really cool experience. Then, winning out my senior year was the best thing that could happen.”
His team won the Indiana state championship in both 2006 and 2008 -- coincidentally, the same seasons that the Gators won the BCS National Championship.
“I picked the best school I could have. We had just won the national championship and so basically I was on top of the world. I went to the best school in the nation,” he said.
Although UF is almost 900 miles away from Cathedral High School, Koehne was ready to make the big move.
“I wanted to go off and grow up on my own away from home and see what it was like, and it was a great opportunity. This is a great school for academics and football, and so I decided to capitalize,” he explained.
Although his parents, Robert and Liz Koehne, live four states away, Koehne said that they attend almost every game.
“They're Gators.” he said. “I've turned everyone up there into Gators.”
That Koehne has transformed his supporters into Gators was especially obvious at one game this season.
“I had to get 49 tickets for the Kentucky game,” he said of the meeting in Lexington on Sept. 28 that saw the Orange and Blue notch a 24-7 victory. “Forty-nine people came. That's pretty cool.”
Koehne, who will graduate this December with a bachelor's degree in anthropology, reflected back on his first Gator game running out of the tunnel and into The Swamp.
“It was pretty surreal. I couldn't believe I was here and actually doing it. But, it kind of made me hungry because I redshirted my freshman year, and so I wanted to play,” he said.
That first year when he redshirted gave him a taste of Gator football. The next year, he was raring to get in the game.
“One of my strongest memories is probably after the first game I actually played in and we won because I felt like I really took a part in that win,” he said.
Koehne went on to play in all 13 games in 2010 and the 2011 season would be even better for him.
“He's a real technical kind of guy,” Florida guard Jon Halapio said at the start of that season. “He has a few plays where he's killing guys.”
Koehne saw action in every game in 2011, made his first career start in the Furman game and collected the team's Scrap Iron Award for his performance versus Kentucky, a dominating 48-10 win for the Gators.
In 2012, Koehne had three more starts and once again was on the field for every matchup, grading out above 80 percent four times.
“He's just smart, real smart, and he's very flexible. We joke around sometimes like he's the Trey Burton of the offensive line,” teammate Halapio said.
This season, Koehne has appeared at right guard, right tackle and left guard.
“Probably my biggest strength is my versatility because I can play any position on the line,” Koehne said, “I would say that another strength of mine is my football intelligence. I'm pretty good at reading defenses, so I know what's coming and what to do at the right time.”
Halapio echoed those thoughts.
“He knows what to do on the field, and you can clearly see that on film,” Halapio told the media a couple of years ago.
After graduation, Koehne said that he is interested in pursuing an NFL career or becoming a graduate assistant coach.
He believes that his attention to detail could make him a good coach and acknowledged being an offensive lineman has taught him that one small thing in the game could have a huge effect.
One detail he notices off of the field during home games is the fans singing, “We Are the Boys.” Koehne named it his favorite Gator tradition.
“I love seeing when everyone's swinging,” he said.
Koehne will only get to see that as a player a few more times and has mixed emotions about finishing his last season.
“It's definitely bittersweet and I'm kind of nervous. I'm not too sure what the real world is like. I've just been playing football my whole life,” he said. “I'm kind of nervous for the next step, but I'm excited at the same time.”
Although his time as a Gator player will end soon, his takeaways from Florida football won't.
“Something that will stick with me for the rest of my life is our coaches' saying because we say it every day,” he said. “It's AIO, which stands for adapt, improvise and overcome, and so that's what we do as a group. We need to AIO everything we get.”
