Last week, Penn State football became the latest to join the recruiting push for a Class of 2026 defensive end from Texas’ Duncanville High School.
Kevin Ford Jr. started playing football when he was eight, and he wasn’t a fan of it at first.
“I hated football,” Ford told Nittany Sports Now.
Most of the time, when people try new things, it doesn’t go well at first, and that was the case with Ford.
Now, Ford comes from a football family. His oldest brother, DeAndre, was an offensive lineman at Middle Tennessee State. Another older brother, Donovon, played at California’s famous Mater Dei High School and is now playing at Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas.
Even still, Ford didn’t start to love football until he was in the seventh grade.
When he was in the ninth grade, he realized he was good enough to play at the Division 1 level.
So far, at least six Division I schools agree, and Penn State’s one of them.
Blessed to receive an offer from Penn State University @DBarnes_18 @CoachShelton10 @CoachSamuels11@TEP5252 pic.twitter.com/IWVzImhgzg
— Kevin “KJ” Ford Jr 🛸 (@KJ4ord) May 22, 2023
Defensive line coach Deion Barnes was the one to offer him, doing so after watching Ford perform in pass-rushing drills live last week.
Ford feels he can play anywhere on the field. Primarily, he plays defensive end and tight end for Duncanville, and it’s at defensive end where Ford feels most comfortable.
Ford admires USC DE Korey Foreman and is quick enough to run the 200-meter dash in track.
The 6-foot-4, 220-pounder loves to get after the opposing QB.
“That’s probably my best feature,” he said. “Just getting to the quarterback, getting sacks.”
Pass rushing is Ford’s strong suit, and he has three more years of high school to continue to improve.
He also wants to improve on his run blocking, and although he’s “already a big person,” he wants to continue to develop physically, too.
Although Ford plays his high school ball in Texas, he isn’t a native Texan.
He was born in Chicago and moved to Texas within the last five years after his father got a job.
Neither Illinois nor Texas is particularly close to Happy Valley, but from afar, Ford is impressed by something Penn State has to offer that, well, impresses many recruits.
“Probably the White Out game,” he said. “Ya’ll got a good fanbase. Ya’ll are like very strong on the football team. The White Out games are packed. Most of the games are packed.”
Ford doesn’t wanna be watching the White Out on TV come Sept. 23.
“This season, I’ll probably go to one,” Ford said. “It’s the Iowa game. That’s when they have the White Out, right? Yeah, probably the Iowa game, hopefully. Whenever they want me out there.”
Ford’s hoping to visit Penn State this summer.
He plans on going to North Texas June 1 and also wants to visit Arizona State and SMU, with SMU likely to come first since it’s in-state. Along with those four schools, Ford has offers from Marshall and Texas State.
Of the six schools, Ford said he’d put Penn State in the top half at the moment.
“I like the school,” he said.
