FINALLY HITTING HIS POTENTIAL; MOORPARK LINEMAN KOS AT THE TOP OF HIS GAME AFTER SETBACKS, LOST YEARS.

Byline: Jim Inghram Daily News Staff Writer

The 1997 season has been one big adjustment for Moorpark's Kevin Kos.

The biggest was switching from the offensive line to the defensive line. Throw in playing his first competitive football in four years, a bite from the venomous brown recluse spider, broken wrists and broken fingers and it would be fair to say that it could have been too much too handle.

Not for Kos.

He heaped part of it on himself making the move from one side of the ball to the other, but, he said, ``it was something I had to do for myself.''

The transition went so well that Kos was selected to the Western State Conference's first team defense.

``I'd always been an offensive guard,'' Kos said. ``My dad (Gary Kos who played for the Rams in the '70s) was and so was my brother. I wanted to switch. When you're an offensive lineman everybody blames you when the quarterback gets knocked down, but when you flatten somebody no one really notices. On defense if you don't make the tackle no one sees it, but when you do everyone knows. I guess you can measure yourself more subjectively.''

Kos, a 1994 graduate of Clovis West High near Fresno, hadn't played a down of football since his senior season. ``And when I played, I was a fat slob,'' he said. ``I knew technique and what I was supposed to do, but I got by on being big.''

In the interim between the fall of '93 and his freshman season at Moorpark this fall Kos worked and he worked out.

``I dedicated myself to getting bigger and stronger,'' Kos said. ``I didn't like working. I didn't want that to be the rest of my future. I want to do something with football.''

Kos was in the weight room religiously from January on. He's 6-4 and weighs 250 pounds and runs the 40-yard dash in 4.7.

``I'm faster, healthier and my stamina is good,'' he said. ``The hard work really has paid off.''

Although he showed up at Moorpark an unknown quantity, Kos quickly worked his way into the starting lineup and impressed his coaches. Kos has anchored the defensive line from his nose-guard position, often drawing double teams and freeing up teammates to go one-on-one.

``He really did a great job for us all season,'' Moorpark coach Jim Bittner said. ``He really gets going out there. He's all excited and running around all over, he's just an outstanding player.''

Said defensive linemate William Caldwell: ``He's great at stopping the run. He's fierce and goes non-stop.'' Not everything went right in 1997 for Kos. The bite from a poisonous spider gave him a blood infection.

``Somehow when I was sleeping this spider bit me,'' he said. ``It caused my arm to swell up. I had to take some antibiotics to clear a blood infection, but I only missed part of a game.''

Another time he got so excited on the sidelines over a teammate's big play that he head-butted him without wearing his helmet. He laughed about the head-butting incident and noted that he had two broken wrists and broken fingers throughout the season, too.

``I put myself in an awkward position and I managed to do a good job,'' Kos said. ``It was real important for me to do well. Football isn't my entire life, but I do take it seriously. The first-team thing is cool. I overcame a lot this season, and to be honored that way is nice. But I'm still going to keep working hard. I'll still be in the middle going at it. This is the start. I want to go as far as can. NFL, CFL, arena league, wherever. It's my goal to get to one of those levels.

Somehow you can picture it, as long he stays away from spiders and keeps his helmet on.

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1--2) Defender Kevin Kos (66), whose dad played for the Rams, is one of Moorpark's top defenders after blossoming late.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News