Johns Hopkins running back making a Kase for attention

By Abby Sondak
Special to The Examiner 9/5/08

BALTIMORE – Johns Hopkins running back Andrew Kase rushed for 939 yards the final seven games of last season, yet the junior rarely is recognized on campus.

Johns Hopkins, which fields mostly Division III teams, is known for its academics and a national championship-winning men’s lacrosse team, whose players are well known throughout the sport’s community.

Johns Hopkins junior running back Andrew Kase needs to average 725.5 yards in his final two seasons to become the school’s all-time leading rusher. John Strohsacker/For The Examiner

“I’ve had some smaller classes where the teacher might know who I am, but none of the student body does,” Kase said. “They definitely know who the lacrosse players are, but I doubt anyone knows who I am because of football.”

But if Kase plays even better this season than he did last year when he rushed for 1,009 yards and five touchdowns on 194 carries, he’ll likely become much more recognized at Homewood.

Kase, whose 1,009 yards last season were second-most in school history behind Adam Cook’s 1,047 in 2003, enters his final two seasons with 1,319 career yards — 1,450 behind Cook’s school record 2,769.

The 6-foot-1, 220-pounder who tied a 48-year-old school record with six 100-yard games, will be counted on to power an offense that returns five starters from last year’s team that went 4-6 and finished seventh in the Centennial Conference with a record of 3-5. It was the Blue Jays’ first losing season since 1999.

“He’s only a junior right now, but he’s our single captain for this year, which is the first time that’s happened in a long time,” Johns Hopkins coach Jim Margraff said. “But he’s a terrific guy. I know our players are very confident in his abilities, both his athletic abilities and leadership abilities.”

Kase always has been involved in athletics. At Wyomissing Area High School in Redding, Pa., he was an all-state wrestler and envisioned playing football in Annapolis, not Baltimore.

But Margraff saw it differently.

“We got a hold of one of his game tapes pretty late into the recruiting process, but once we saw him we went after him hard,” Margraff said. “I know he wanted to go to the Naval Academy, but I think Hopkins ended up being a really good fit for him.”

Margraff's recruiting effort paid off, as Kase emerged as the biggest surprise of the season, when he kept the Blue Jays competitive by rushing for an average of 112.2 yards per game.

“It’s great playing with a guy like Andrew because he never gives up on a play, he just keeps running,” junior offensive lineman Tim Miller said. “Whenever you have a guy like that, it shows the rest of the offensive line that he cares about the play. He’ll have two or three guys hanging on him and he just keeps running.”

HOPKINS ESSENTIALS

Coach: Jim Margraff
Last year: 4-6 overall, 3-5 Centennial Conference
Returning offensive/defensive starters: 10/5
We’d pay to watch: Junior running back Andrew Kase, whose 1,009 yards last season were second-highest single-season total in school history.
A playoff berth if: Kase takes advantage of a very experienced offensive line. The line returns seven players who combined to start every game last season.
Home for the holidays if: The Blue Jays struggle to fill the void left by graduated wide receiver Corey Sattler, who amassed 611 yards on 44 receptions, which were 17 more catches than any teammate. Sophomore Tucker Michels is the team’s top returning receiver, as he made 27 catches for 279 yards and three touchdowns.

BY THE NUMBERS:
4 — Place the team was picked to finish in the Centennial Conference in the league’s preseason coaches poll.
75 — Percent of the Blue Jays’ starting lineup filled by players who have at least two years of eligibility remaining.

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