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Alex Krutsch Gives Extra Effort

The senior defensive lineman began his career at NIU as a walk on



Alex Krutsch has achieved his goals by working twice as hard as those in front of him.

Oct. 23, 2008

Brad Taylor

NIU Media Relations

Thirty-three games played. Twenty-four total starts. Seventy total tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. Not the type of career statistics one would expect from a former walk-on.

Add in a major foot injury during his junior season and Alex Krutsch's career as an NIU Huskie has been remarkable.

A 6-3, 265-pound senior defensive tackle, Krutsch began his Huskie career trying out for a walk-on spot as a freshman in the fall of 2004. While recruited by several schools, he did not receive any scholarship offers coming out of Schaumburg High School. Krutsch made a visit to NIU and liked what he saw in the NIU program. So he decided he'd attempt to further his football career as a Huskie, even though he wasn't on NIU's radar as a preferred walk-on.

"I was recruited by a couple other schools but I just felt like I connected with the people here," Krutsch said. "There were just good people here and that was important in my decision."

Coming off memorable wins over Maryland, Alabama and Iowa State in the 2003 season, NIU football was officially on the national map. However, the Huskies new fame did not influence Krutsch's college choice. He just wanted a chance to play the sport he loved.

"Not really," he said when asked if NIU's 2003 season swayed his college decision. "I just wanted an opportunity to play Division I football and the coaches gave me that chance."

Krutsch took the opportunity to play major college football seriously and learned a lot as a redshirt freshman during the 2004 season.

"I was on the practice squad my first year and I got to battle four All-Conference offensive linemen everyday in practice," he said. "I was beat up pretty good by those guys. You learn how to take double teams at this level pretty quickly when you are blocked by Doug Free and Brian Van Acker every day."

 

 

In addition to the rough on-field growth, Krutsch spent extra time improving his football skills off the field.

"My philosophy was always if the guys with scholarships had to lift twice a week, I'd lift four times a week," Krutsch said. "If they watched two hours of film, I'd watch four hours. I was behind all of them, and I figured if I worked twice as hard as everybody else then I'd end up playing."

All that hard work and sacrifice in the off-season paid immediate dividends for Krutsch during the 2005 season. He made his NIU debut with seven plays at the end of the Huskies' season-opening loss to No. 4-ranked Michigan in front of 100,000-plus fans in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Krutsch was impressive in his first collegiate game at Huskie Stadium two weeks later. He collected three total tackles, including two solos in the Huskies first win of the 2005 season, a 42-3 victory over Tennessee Tech.

He would appear in seven games during the 2005 campaign, a season that saw the Huskies play Akron in the MAC Championship game at Detroit's Ford Field.

Krutsch's debut season and continued hard work in the off-season impressed Joe Novak and the rest of the NIU coaching staff. So much so that the 2006 season began with what Krutsch considers the most memorable moment of his Huskie career.

"Starting against Ohio State when they were No. 1 in the nation in 2006 was incredible," Krutsch said. "That was the first start of my career and my stomach was just wrenched. That's a big step up, playing against the top team in the nation in front of all those people."

He was fully entrenched as a on the NIU defense line and started the first six games of the 2006 season. But a foot injury in the Huskies' 28-25 win at Miami (OH) would sideline Krutsch until a brief appearance in the Poinsettia Bowl loss against TCU.

Krutsch was happy he was able to recover in time for the second bowl game of the Novak-Era, but did not feel like he had done enough to earn a permanent starting role for 2007.

"I was still incredibly out of shape from taking those two months off to recover," he said. "I knew I would have to put in extra hours in the weight room to regain my starting spot. But I love the offseason. That's when you really get a chance to make yourself better."

Krutsch bounced back from that broken foot to earn third-team All-MAC honors as a junior in 2007. He was one of only 10 defensive players to play in all 12 games and led all Huskie interior linemen with 44 total tackles.

His impressive season, in addition to his continued improvement from his freshman year, earned him the 2007 Jawan Jackson Award, given to the former walk-on who makes the greatest impact on the team.

The award meant a lot to Krutsch, who considers earning a scholarship just as rewarding.

"That was the first football award I've ever received," Krutsch said. "For my coaches to think that highly of me was very satisfying. Earning a scholarship after walking-on meant a lot as well because a lot of guys try to walk on every year and most of them don't make it. So to make the team and eventually earn a scholarship is very rare and special."

Krutsch, who is in his third season with a football scholarship, has advice for future walk-ons who want to achieve their goals.

"Working hard is not enough," he said. "Everybody works hard. You have to make sacrifices and work twice as hard as everybody else if you really want to accomplish your goal. It's what you do when people aren't watching that makes the difference."