Kruse control starts with smart approach

Gulf High junior Jeff Kruse doesn't fit the normal lineman mold. He's not 6-foot-6. He doesn't weigh 300-plus pounds. And he's probably the most intelligent player on the Buccaneers.

But when Gulf opens its season, the 6-foot-2, 270-pounder will be firmly in the trenches between the hash marks.

"Jeff is probably one of the best offensive linemen I've ever coached," Bucs acting offensive coordinator Ken Hollar said. "His intelligence and his ability and his speed and his strength, it's all one package."

Kruse will be the starting offensive strong tackle and also will start on the defensive line.

"He's not the 6-5, 6-6 big kid but he's probably the smartest kid I've ever coached," Hollar said. "He'll go both ways. If you ask me, since I'm an offensive coach, I think he's a better offensive player. But if you ask a defensive coach, they'll probably tell you he's a better defensive player."

Brandon Rusche, Gulf's defensive coordinator, did just that.

"He's everything you want in a defensive lineman," Rusche said. "He's big, strong, tough, quick hands. You better bring two to block him every time."

Kruse really doesn't have a choice, although he indicated he gets a little more excited about defense.

"I kind of like defense," he said. "It's a little bit more chaotic. It's a little more fun to just go wild with it. That's my preference but that doesn't mean I don't like offense, because I love blocking for people.

"That's what I do."

Hollar said Kruse probably will be a guard or center on offense at the next level.

"I think a major Division I school will take a chance on him because of his intelligence," Hollar said. "Is he big-time? I think he's probably a Mid-American Conference-type player. Maybe Vanderbilt or Kentucky. He's definitely a Big Ten-type player - maybe Indiana or Northwestern."

The time between his freshman and sophomore seasons, Kruse gained about 100 pounds.

"He was working out with myself, Leon (Orr, now a freshman at Florida) and a few other kids," Rusche said. "We got in there and hit it pretty hard. ... A kid like that is just unnatural. He dropped about two pants sizes. He lost about 15 pounds of baby fat and his bench (press) went up and his squats went up - right on course."

Kruse is smart enough to know the difference between an offensive lineman and a defensive lineman. And he plays accordingly.

"It's two separate mind-sets," he said. "When you're on offense, you have to think a lot of things out. You're always trying to make sure you're doing the right things.

"On defense, it's completely selfish. If you're looking at the two, it goes from being selfless on the offensive line, where you're protecting everybody and blocking everybody, to defense, where you're just straight stingy and you're looking for anything and everything you can do to get the person with the ball.

"It's kind of cool how the mind-sets change."