These wrestlers excel on defensive line
By Blake Sebring
More than 30 minutes after the season-opening game with Eastside ended, Garrett’s Bryan Trubey was sitting in the shower, trying to regain the energy to stand and head into the locker room.
“I could barely walk, but it was the best feeling ever because the team won,” the senior said. “That’s all that was on my mind.”
Though he’s only 5-foot-8 and 165 pounds, Trubey is a nose tackle on the Railroaders’ defense. He has started every game there since he was a sophomore, when he weighed 150 pounds, and Garrett coach Andy Thomas credits Trubey with making many plays that have been a part of many victories over the past few years. Trubey said he succeeds as a defensive lineman going up against bigger offensive linemen because of what he has learned as a wrestler.
“At first it was intimidating, but now it’s just another guy,” he said. “It’s not always about size, sometimes you have to worry about speed. Not too many offensive linemen can run with me.”
Trubey is part of a growing trend of wrestlers who have become excellent defensive linemen. Sometimes they are undersized in terms of weight and height, but not in terms of heart.
“Wrestling develops balance, core strength and acceleration,” Columbia City senior Bryan Deutsch said. “Pretty much all of that carries over into football because it makes it easier to get by offensive linemen.”
Deutsch was the state runner-up last winter at 152 pounds. He’s joined on the Eagles’ defensive line by fellow wrestlers David Ernst and Kyler Kearby, whose father just happens to be Columbia City’s wrestling and defensive line coach.
“The big thing in the defensive line is leverage, and low pads win,” Randy Kearby said. “Wrestlers learn leverage and it carries over into the football season. The thing is, too, it’s the character of the kids who play. In wrestling, it’s one-on-one, and you get that so much with line play. The kids learn how to compete and battle.”
They also learn the things that sometimes happen in the neutral zone on a football field that can relate to wrestling, such as stance, getting low, technique and learning to disengage and get around an opponent. Quicker hands and feet also help.
“When you engage an opponent, you have to know how to shift your weight in order to get rid of the man, and that’s one of the first things we learn in wrestling,” said Northrop’s Samuel Emedobi, a standout defensive end. “Wrestling advocates a lot of footwork, moving your feet all the time so your opponent can’t shoot on you. In football, you have to move your feet so the offensive lineman can’t get underneath you and throw you down.”
Emedobi also said wrestlers learn to deal with pain and block it out of their minds, which also comes in handy on the football field.
“If you wrestle, you pretty much don’t have that much fear of anybody,” he said.
Concordia heavyweight Ryan Harpel said he’s been able to use specific wrestling moves, such as a duck under, to help his pass rushing. The defensive tackle has wrestled since the third grade, but he didn’t begin playing football until he was a freshman. He started on the varsity last year as a sophomore.
“In wrestling, it’s just you and that guy on the mat, and it’s just you and that guy on the (football) field,” the junior said. “Whomever you are lined up against, you have to battle with him to get to the quarterback or the ball carrier.”
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