New role in backfield is a runaway success

Kirtland junior Neibecker has rushed for 490 yards in four games

All it takes is an opportunity.

For most of his childhood, Jake Neibecker sat attentively at Kirtland’s varsity football games in awe of the Hornets’ vaunted running attack.

From Christian Hauber to Damon Washington to Sam Kukura to Adam Hess to Joey Bates — all of them — Neibecker watched enviously as the team’s star running backs put their team on their shoulders en route to great things.

A quarterback throughout all of his youth football and junior high playing days, Neibecker figured he’d be the guy handing the ball off to guys like that.

But because of a change of positions, Neibecker finds himself in the situation he might have always dreamed of being in.

Through four weeks of the 2017 season, the quarterbackturned-fullback leads Kirtland in rushing in his first year of full-time varsity action.

It’s an opportunity he is thoroughly enjoying.

“It’s been a ton of fun,” said Neibecker, who has run for 490 yards and six touchdowns this season. “When we were little, we looked up to all these guys on the field. It’s cool to be part of the team now.”

Neibecker smiles fondly of his youth football days, leading the Kirtland Blue team as its quarterback, while the Kirtland Gold team was led by classmate and fellow quarterback at that time Joey Torok.

It’s not like Neibecker was whipping the ball all around the field.

He characterized himself as “a running back who took the snap and ran.”

He figured that’s where he’d always play.

That is until he got to high school.

“I thought I was a quarterback,” he said. “But when I got to high school, I made the transition to running back. I think that was a really good decision for me.”

And it made sense, with Dylan Fulco, Mike Zeuli and Tommy Powers well capable of handling the program’s quarterback duties.

The only variable was physical size, something Neibecker addressed this past offseason, developing himself into a 5-foot-11, 195-pound battering ram with speed.

A perfect fit in the Kirtland offense to go with Fulco at quarterback, returning 1,500-yard rusher Torok at running back and others.

“Jake is a speed guy and I was very worried about him playing fullback and taking that pounding,” Coach Tiger LaVerde said. “His offseason training increased his weight up to 190 pounds. He gives us a big-play threat at fullback to go along with Joey at tailback.”

Because of Neibecker’s emergence at fullback, four-year starter Brett Diemer (5-11, 240) was able to go back to left guard to further strengthen the line.

“Overall,” LaVerde said, “Jake’s ability to catch, block, run inside and run outside has made our offense more dynamic.”

The multiple sets that include Neibecker are a defensive coordinator’s nightmare.

When the Hornets go double-wing, double-split, Neibecker is alone in the backfield behind Fulco, with Torok and Zeuli at wingback.

When the Hornets go to their vaunted Stack-I, lining up Neibecker between Kevin Dages and Torok — or with Dylan Aquila, Zeuli or Ryan Lipps — makes for a tough power game to slow down, let alone stop.

“The biggest thing really was blocking. I had never done that before,” Neibecker said. “I was bad at it at the beginning of the year. It took me a while to get used to the blocking schemes, but I have them down now.”

A glance at the NewsHerald’s rushing leaders to this point reveals few surprises.

Wickliffe’s Isaac Pettway and Newbury’s Johnny Chambers? Each ran for more than 1,500 yards a year ago.

Kenston’s Jack Porter is the gem of the 2020 running back class.

Few are shocked by Euclid’s Ronald Lee’s stellar start.

It’s the fifth guy on the list — Neibecker — that has many muttering, “Who?”

“Oh yeah, I expected it,” Torok said. “We saw him on JVs last year and he did a great job. He hits the hole hard and breaks long runs for touchdowns.

“(His emergence) makes everyone better. Teams now have one more person they have to focus on.”

Neibecker, a superb student in the classroom with a sparkling 4.08 GPA, almost goes out of his way to credit everyone else but himself for his breakout season, from the coaches who made the position switch to the linemen who block for him to Torok who demands so much attention from the opposition.

But he does crack a faint smile when talking about his role in the Kirtland offense, one even he might not have expected when the season started, but one he relishes now that he’s part of it.

It’s the offense he grew up watching and admiring.

“We just run between the tackles, run it down their throats,” he said of opposing defenses. “Teams don’t want to take that the whole game. They soften up and that’s when we hit our big runs.

“Our goal is take it week by week. When playoff time arrives, we want to make a run for a state title, like we always do.”

With emphasis on the word “run.”

PAUL DICICCO — THE NEWS-HERALD Jake Neibecker, who was a quarterback for six years in the Kirtland football program, has moved to fullback this year and is the team’s leading rusher through four games.