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Miami's Kokal follows family football tradition, sort of

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Staff photo by Pat Auckerman Miami's Anthony Kokal is shown during the school's football practice Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009.

By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer Updated 7:53 AM Thursday, August 13, 2009

OXFORD — Anthony Kokal is a renegade of sorts within his family.

“I came up in a quarterback family,” Kokal said. “My dad and brother were both quarterbacks.”

But not Anthony, who began his career in typical family fashion but today is an anti-quarterback, a sophomore strong safety at Miami University who hopes to foil the quarterback on every play.

The younger brother of Mike Kokal, who started for the RedHawks in 2006 and ’07, is trying to earn a starting spot of his own during summer camp.

“Right now, I’m with the twos,” he said. “I’m trying my best to work my way up.

“I was on special teams and the scout team last year. It was a good learning experience,” Kokal noted. “It really helped me mature as a player.”

His father, Greg Kokal, played at Kent State and was the starting quarterback for four seasons, competing a total of 405 passes for 5,587 yards and 30 touchdowns. He was a two-time All-Mid-American Conference selection.

Greg was on the field during one of the more memorable games in Miami history, on Nov. 9, 1974, when David Draught’s field goal with 3 seconds remaining gave the Redskins a 19-17 victory over KSU in the regular-season finale at Miami Field to clinch the MAC title.

The elder Kokal went on to play briefly in the NFL with the New Orleans Saints and New York Jets.

Mike played four years with the RedHawks, completing 278 passes for 3,173 yards and 15 touchdowns, mostly during his injury-riddled junior and senior seasons.

“Now Mike lives and works in Cleveland,” Anthony said. “He always calls me up and says, ‘I’m going golfing, and you’ve got to go to training camp.’ He deserves that because he went through so many camps.”

Anthony’s own experience as a MAC quarterback consists of playing the role of running QB for Miami’s scout team last fall during preparation, fittingly enough, for the Kent State game.

Anthony started out as a quarterback when he was a youngster.

“Then they put me in, mostly as filler, as a safety in the ninth grade,” he said. “Right away I had two interceptions and some tackles, and played the rest of my varsity years at safety.”

Kokal recorded 14 career interceptions at John F. Kennedy High School in Warren and was named all-state as a senior.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.

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