DV's Kennard larger than life

It's tough for one two-hundred-fiftieth of an inch to capture the story of a 6-foot-4, 255-pound, nationally-ranked defensive end. And while this particular one two-hundred-fiftieth of an inch -- a heavy, gold, personalized piece of paper of that thickness -- came close, it in itself couldn't tell the story.

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Rather, it was what that defensive end did with this piece of paper, handed to him by a representative of the University of Notre Dame, that tells his tale.

As his school's athletic director remembers it, this piece of paper, a scholarship offer -- the ninth among the more than 30 the defensive end would accumulate before the start of his senior season -- was the best he'd ever seen.

"I've never been in awe of a piece of paper in my life, other than probably when I graduated, and I'm going, ‘Ohhh!' I mean I'm more excited than he is," says Desert Vista athletic director Jim Bell. "And he looks at it, and he goes, ‘Thank you very much,' and he puts it in his backpack and he goes to class. He was just so nonchalant about it. And I don't think he was trying to show them up, he was just so even keeled about it. He was like, ‘Thank you, I appreciate it, we'll get back to you.'"

Maybe it's the redundancy. Maybe he is just that good at hiding his excitement. More likely, it's that DV's Devon Kennard, the No. 2 overall prospect in the nation according to the recruiting service Rivals.com, and the No. 1 overall defensive end, knows how to handle his recruitment, the most high-profile the Ahwatukee Foothills has seen in years, if not in its history.

For the record, Kennard says, the paper was, "amazing, by far the best offer letter I got." But, he adds, "You can't get too into something."

"You have to realize that it's a business, and they're trying to go after good players," Kennard says of the recruiting process as a whole. "They think you're a good player, and that's an honor, but they think somebody else is a good player, too. If you get all caught up, your head is going to get huge. I consider the whole process a business. It's a business on my end and on theirs. They've got to try to get the best players and I've got to try to go to the best program for me."

‘How it starts'

To say the least, there may be as much football running through Kennard's veins as red blood cells.

His father, Derek Sr., was an offensive lineman for 11 seasons with the NFL's Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals. His brother, Derek Jr., also went to DV and had, by his estimation, 17 scholarship offers before ultimately selecting Nevada.

It was while Derek Jr. was at Nevada that Devon's prowess began to emerge in Pop Warner.

"I've always seen something special about him," Derek Jr. says. "After every game, he would send me game tapes from each week and I would tell him things he would need to work on, and the next week he would send up the tapes or my mom would bring it (during visits), and he would execute the things that I told him to do."

Devon continued to improve as the years went by. By the time his freshman year at Desert Vista came around, others were starting to take notice, too.

"He came into high school ahead of the game as far as dedication," says Derek Jr. "I didn't hit my switch until I was going into junior year. I let two years go by."

Not only did Devon make the varsity team as a sophomore, but also led the Thunder with 81 tackles and seven sacks. Slowly, letters from schools expressing interest began to trickle in.

"Going into junior year, I got mail from ASU and mail from USC," Devon says. "Then, it seems so awesome, but later on, I realize that was just junk mail. That's how it starts, you know?"

Then last season, he exploded on national recruiting radars everywhere with a jaw-dropping 24 1/2 sacks.

Though only a junior, Devon Kennard was already the best player nearly every time he stepped onto a football field. Not coincidentally, scholarship offers poured in.

"It's really crazy," Devon says. "You have people from all over trying to get your number, and trying to get a hold of you, some guys you may not mind talking to, but others you do. I mean it's definitely crazy.

"I've got buckets of mail," he adds. "I get mail from (DV), I get mail at my house, and my brother gets mail. Stacks of them, each one. I've got three or four buckets just full of mail."

It was around finals last spring when it all become too much. Derek Sr. said he took between 120 and 150 calls -- recruiters, scouts, services and reporters all wanting to talk with Devon.

"They were contradicting themselves about how academics are so important, but this kid is trying to study for his finals," says Derek Sr. "I've got to be the bad guy on this and let them know that, ‘No, you can't talk to him tonight because this kid has six finals in the morning, and he's got to get them done.'

"But," he adds, "I'm more than happy to be the bad guy with that."

‘What makes him tick is getting better'

Last month, Devon was notified by Rivals that the service was moving him up to the No. 2 overall prospect in the nation. While he met that news with excitement, Devon also remains cautious about the ranking.

"It's an honor to be known as the No. 2 recruit in the nation," he says, "but at the same time, that's not my goal. It's not my goal to just be a good high school player. It's my goal to be good high school player, try to get a state championship, and go to college and try to do the same thing. I definitely put it in perspective."

Adds Derek Jr., "That doesn't make him or break him, as far as him being No. 2. What makes him tick is getting better."

It's something that doesn't only apply to football. Devon carries a 3.9 GPA. 

"Look," Devon says, "school is school, I hate it like any other kid. I hate school. I would rather be at home sleeping and then go to football practice every day. But I look at it as you've got conquer everything in your life. I think some high-schoolers don't realize that, but if you want to be successful, if you want to get the wife you want someday, if you want to get the job you want someday, you've got to go to school, you've got to be a worthwhile person.

"I'm not the smartest kid in the world -- people mistake that, I'm not some genius or anything -- but at school I do my homework, I study for tests. When I don't understand something, I get help," he adds. "I mean you have to do it, so why not be successful in it?"

There has been one day Derek Jr. says that stands out in his mind, even more than all those sacks his brother has racked up over the past two seasons: The day Devon came home with the only B of his high school career -- an 89.7 percent, nonetheless.

"I'll tell you what," says Derek Jr., "I've never seen him more serious than the day he got that 89.7."

But Devon Kennard is also pretty serious on the football field, where he carries a commanding presence. As one of four captains, coaches pass down instructions, teammates come to him for advice -- and the intensity around any given drill he's involved in heightens.

Still, with all the attention he's received, nothing about Kennard is self-absorbed.

"Coaching Devon," says Dan Hinds, DV's coach, "you would never know that he's the second-ranked kid in the nation just by the way he acts. By the way he plays, it's very obvious that he is, but with his personality and his demeanor and his attitude, (the attention) hasn't affected him at all."

"It's not just a show when he's in public," adds Derek Jr. "Even around the house, you wouldn't know a day in his life that he was the No. 2 recruit in the nation, or the No. 1 defensive end in the nation or a top recruit like that."

Much of that is thanks to Hinds, Derek Sr., his mother, Denise, and Derek Jr., who has been there every step of the way throughout the recruitment. In addition to running a personal training studio, he also serves as DV's defensive line coach.

"One thing he always tells me is, ‘When you think you're going 100 percent, go harder,'" Devon says of his brother. "Some days, it's hard. I'm not going to act like it's an easy thing.

"Some days, I hate his guts," he adds. "Some days, you'll see me pissed off, not talking to anybody. It's happened already this season. Some days, he's getting on me for ridiculous things, but I mean, at the end of the day, I understand it. He wants me to be the best defensive lineman I can be, just like any other D-lineman on the team."

"We have a phenomenal relationship," says Derek Jr., "but at the same time, if we're on that football field, or anything else in life, and he does something, I'm very critical on him ... because I know what he can be. If he doesn't get it now, when he gets to college, it's going to culture shock, and I don't want that to happen."

Derek Jr. says he's most proud of the mental aspect of his brother's game. That extends to Devon's recruitment. Because even though Derek Jr. wasn't able to prepare his brother for the 24-7 culture that recruiting has become, he didn't have to.

"I didn't experience anything like he's experiencing," says Derek Jr., "and the recruiting process for me was the most stressful and the worst process I ever went through, and now he's dealing with it and it's no sweat off his back."

‘I have all this time, so why would I rush things?'

The list was narrowed to five over the summer: ASU, Cal, Texas, UCLA and USC were the schools Devon selected as those he was, and is, still considering.

He did it at the onset of an NCAA-mandated quiet period over the summer, so there wasn't an immediate and noticeable cut in the amount of schools that were contacting Devon. Still, the trickle-down effect should mean this season won't be as hectic and crazy as it had the potential to be in terms of his recruitment.

"If I never did that," he says, "there would be about 35 schools contacting me right now."

Choosing from five of the nation's top programs on the West Coast is certainly a tall task -- three of the five (USC, Texas and ASU) were ranked in top 15 of the Associated Press' preseason poll -- but Devon seems to be pulling information from everywhere.

"He looks at things totally different than myself or Derek Jr. would look at it because he's academically outstanding," says Derek Sr. "He has questions and concerns that are above and beyond our comprehension. We talk to him with all the information we know, so he's able to process it."

The eyes of Ahwatukee, Arizona prep football and of fans from ASU, Cal, Texas, UCLA and USC won't soon leave Devon Kennard. So perhaps it's a good thing that early on, Derek Jr. took Devon aside in terms of making a decision.

"You're on no one's timeline," he told him. "You're not on mine, you're not on any school's; you're on your own timeline. When you know and you're ready, then that's what it is. I can't tell you, mom and dad can't tell you, those coaches can't tell you. No one can tell you. You have to know. When you know and you're ready to make that commitment and verbalize that, there you go."

He took those words to heart. When asked about an eventual commitment -- that ever-present question -- Devon smiles, then pauses for a moment.

"Really," he says finally, "it could be tomorrow, it could be on signing day. It's just when I know what school I want to go to.

"Some of the top recruits that don't commit right away, you hear about how they're trying to linger it on. I'm not one of those guys lusting for the attention. I don't care. If you don't want to talk to me as a scout, then don't talk to me. It's just more about knowing exactly where I want to go. I have all this time, so why would I rush things?"