Gibbs, playing for new head coach Matt Napier, became one of the state’s most productive running backs, and he rushed for more than 1,700 yards while averaging close to 10 yards per carry. A team that won a combined six games the previous four years went 8-4 in 2020 and won a playoff game for the first time in a decade. Defenses knew what was coming, but Gibbs still managed to put up massive numbers week after week. For Gibbs, it was all about the preparation heading into his senior season.
KALE GIBBS
While the school was shut down for months because of COVID-19 and the players were not able to train together, Gibbs didn’t let that slow him down.
By Kevin Eckleberry
He’s following in his father’s footsteps. Kale Gibbs, who enjoyed a memorable senior season as a member of the LaGrange High football team, is playing football at a military academy, just as his father Chuck Gibbs did decades ago. Chuck Gibbs, who was LaGrange High’s head football coach during the 2018 and 2019 seasons, was a football and track standout at the United States Military Academy (Army) in West Point. Now, Kale Gibbs is in the early stages of his own college journey as a freshman running back at the Air Force Academy. 72
SIDELINE PASS
Gibbs, who helped the Grangers win eight games and reach the second round of the state playoffs in 2020, was one of a handful of LaGrange players who signed a letter of intent during a signing ceremony in February.
year with no offers, and then my senior year blessing after blessing came along, and the ability was given to me, and now I have the opportunity to go and serve and play at a Division I school. That’s just a dream come true.”
“To be able to play Division I, that’s just a dream I’ve had since I was young,” Gibbs said. “My dad was always a football coach. My granddad was a football coach. It’s been in my family for so long. That, and being in the military and serving the country. Those two things have been embedded in my family, and I always dreamed about being able to achieve it, and I never thought I could. I went into my senior
Kale Gibbs joined the LaGrange football program in 2018 when his father was hired as the new head coach.
“He made the most of it, training six days a week from March on,” Chuck Gibbs said. “We set up a gym in the garage. I’m a track coach and a strength coach. He didn’t miss. His relative gains, relative to everyone else, were huge. So many other people took three or four months off (because of COVID-19). I think that made a huge difference in his life was the work ethic and the preparedness.” Matt Napier took over the LaGrange program in 2020, was proud of what Gibbs was able to accomplish during his remarkable senior season. “He didn’t have a lot of film before this year with injuries and things like that,” Napier said. “He went all out. His accomplishments are well-deserved.”
and his commitment and his effort and his personality are exactly how you draw it up. He just played with an effort that you ask all kids to play with, but you don’t get it from them all. His leadership and his work ethic are second to none.” While Gibbs will no doubt be laser-focused on making the most of his time in Colorado Springs, he’ll also be keeping an eye on what the other college football players from the LaGrange High class of 2020 will be doing. “The rest of these guys have worked hard alongside me,” Gibbs said. “I have no doubt that they’ll find success. Hard work is the core of this program.”
Napier added that “his heart
Gibbs was a productive player as a sophomore and a junior, but his time on the field was limited because of injuries, and there was little interest from colleges. Everything changed during a memorable senior season. SIDELINE PASS
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