Kos chases Carmel career rushing, TD records

After years of watching Jimmy Potempa from afar, Jordan Kos was about to talk with Potempa from afar.

And he was nervous. Really nervous.

Potempa was a hero to Kos when he was a kid. In grade school, Kos used to go to Carmel football games and watch in wonder as Potempa ran like the wind and gobbled up yardage like Pacman does pellets.

Potempa, a short but speedy fullback, graduated from Carmel in 2007 as the school's all-time leading rusher with 3,543 yards.

“As I watched him when I was a kid, I tried to envision myself out there someday,” Kos said of Potempa. “He was a great back. He stayed low, he was fast. I really liked what he did.”

Now, Kos is on the verge of out-doing what Potempa did.

Kos, a senior fullback at Carmel, is currently sitting on 3,188 career yards, just 355 yards behind Potempa with at least three games to play, and probably more if the 5-2 Corsairs meet expectations and make a decent run in the playoffs. Kos is presenting a major threat to Potempa's all-time rushing record, and all-time touchdown record as well.

Potempa finished with 45 touchdowns and Kos currently has 39.

Recently, Kos and Potempa “talked” about the numbers that separate them.

“I got the guts to say something to Jimmy on Facebook,” Kos said. “I was nervous because he was like this idol of mine. He was someone I really looked up to.

“I ended up talking to him a lot about college and Eastern Illinois, which is where he played. The whole thing about the records got brought up, too. He was cool about it. He didn't care. He was like, ‘Go break them all.'”

Kos might as well be dreaming.

The thought of becoming Carmel's all-time leading rusher, and surpassing his childhood idol to do it, is beyond anything he could have ever expected from himself.

“I never pictured things going like this at all,” Kos said. “I just wanted to be a good running back. I just wanted to work hard. The way this program goes, the stress is on team, on doing things for the guy next to you, and I know that I wouldn't even have a chance out there without my offensive line.

“It's all been about the team, and I really never gave any thought to any records.”

The records are hard to ignore now, though. Especially when Kos has games like he did last Friday in leading Carmel to a 51-32 win over St. Viator. He had a personal-best 5 touchdowns and 214 yards on just 19 carries.

“We ran a play (against St. Viator) that was supposed to go to the left and Jordan went right and there was no one there and he easily scored a touchdown,” Carmel head coach Andy Bitto said. “Jordan has great vision, maybe the best of any back I've ever coached. He's also got great balance.

“He's just a great runner and a great receiver, just like Jimmy (Potempa).”

Jimmy and Jordan…Jordan and Jimmy.

So who is the very best runner in Carmel's long and storied history of really great ones? Honestly, it might be too close to call.

But in honor of Carmel's 50th anniversary year as a school, let's take a look at the other four backs that join Kos in the Top 5 of all time.

The rest of Carmel's Fab Five

Jimmy Potempa, 2004-2006He may have been small #8212; only 5-foot-7 and 168 pounds, but Potempa gets big praise from Carmel coach Andy Bitto.

#8220;Pound for pound, he is the best player I've ever coached,#8221; Bitto said of Potempa. #8220;For his size, he was amazing. He was the toughest player and the most athletic player. He could have played linebacker or he could have played guard.#8221;

But Bitto sure is glad Potempa wanted to play fullback.

Potempa finished his three-year career at Carmel in 2006 as the school's all-time leading rusher, a position he still holds today. He tallied 3,543 yards on 512 carries for an average of 6.9 yards per carry. He also scored a school-record 45 touchdowns.

#8220;He could get you a fourth-and-one, or he could get you 85 yards,#8221; Bitto said. #8220;He was really strong, really fast, he had great balance and was a great faker. And he was just so tough.

#8220;I remember one day at practice, he cut his nose on his helmet somehow and he had to get six stitches but he was back the very next day ready to play. One time against Joliet Catholic, he broke two tackles and then his shoe fell off. But he kept running and ran 80 yards for a touchdown. Jimmy was just a really tough dude like that.#8221;

Despite his size, Potempa found his way onto the squad at Michigan as a walk-on and played there for two years before transferring to Eastern Illinois to play on scholarship. He is now playing semi-pro American football in a league in Mexico while he takes graduate school classes in business.

Jon Styx, 1996-1998Styx is part of the P.O. era at Carmel.

That's pre-option.

Styx graduated from Carmel two years into head coach Andy Bitto's tenure, before Bitto adopted the wildly successful triple option offense that has churned out quarterbacks, running backs and fullbacks who gobble up yardage like nobody's business.

#8220;I feel bad when it comes to Jon,#8221; Bitto said about Styx. #8220;I always think that if he had been a fullback in the triple option, he would have had so many more yards.#8221;

As it is, Styx rolled up 3,175 yards in his three-year career at Carmel. He graduated as the school's all-time leading rusher before Potempa passed him up by a few hundred yards eight years later.

Styx also finished with 36 touchdowns and an average of 7 yards a carry.

#8220;Jon was built really well, thick legs and really strong,#8221; Bitto said. #8220;He wasn't breaking 50-yard runs all that often, but he kept getting those 8- and 10-yard gains. We relied on him to make a lot of plays for us.#8221;

Back then, Carmel wasn't quite the juggernaut it is now. The Corsairs posted losing seasons in two of the first three years of Bitto's tenure.

#8220;We were losing, but Jon still had 3,000 yards,#8221; Bitto said. #8220;He was the guy, and everyone knew it and defenses still couldn't stop him.#8221;

Styx did stop eventually. He played one year of football at Wisconsin-Whitewater and then went into construction with his father.

Styx now has children himself.

Eric Luna, 1999-2001Last weekend, Luna was inducted into Carmel's Hall of Fame.

Someday, Bitto may find himself in a Hall of Fame, thanks in large part to Luna.

Luna teamed with his quarterback Matt Roe to successfully debut Bitto's new triple option offense.

#8220;I don't think I'd have a job anymore if it weren't for the way those guys ran our triple option so well in those first years,#8221; Bitto said. #8220;We used to run a lot of Wing-T and counters and Eric and Matt helped me get our coaches and our community believing in the triple option.#8221;

Luna graduated as Carmel's second all-time leading rusher, just 16 yards behind Styx with 3,159 yards. He also scored 32 touchdowns and averaged 6.6 yards per carry. Meanwhile, Roe rolled up another 1,861 career yards.

#8220;We had exactly what you need to have a good triple option: a quarterback in Roe who made great decisions and a fullback in Eric who as tougher than nails,#8221; Bitto said. #8220;He got hit on almost every play but always managed to keep moving forward. He was one of those players who always got a couple extra yards on every carry. He'd turn 3 yards to 5, 5 to 7.

#8220;Eric also had great instincts and did a great job of getting into the seams.#8221;

A sparkplug at 5-foot-8, 170 pounds, Luna kept it up at the next level. He was a three-year starter at Elmhurst and graduated as the school's all-time leading rusher with 3,561 yards and a school-record 41 touchdowns.

Luna, now No. 4 on Carmel's rushing list, is recently married and is a procurement manager.

Matt Simmons, 1988-1989Since adopting the triple option offense about 10 years ago, most of Carmel's backs have been shorter and smaller than the average back.

They're typically speedy little waterbugs who shoot through seams and holes seemingly with little effort.

But Simmons was the exact opposite and perhaps was perfect for the type of smash-mouth football Carmel played prior to its shift to the option.

#8220;Simmons was big, like 6-foot-2, 215 pounds and he was built like a tank,#8221; Carmel coach Andy Bitto said. #8220;He would just run over people. We ran the I-formation and it was great for him. He was big, and he was a big-time player.#8221;

Simmons rolled up 2,348 yards in two seasons and scored 26 touchdowns. He averaged 6 yards a carry and led the Corsairs to the quarterfinals for the first time in school history as a senior in 1989. He graduated as Carmel's all-time leading rusher and is currently fifth on the list.

#8220;I remember his junior year we were playing Marist and they had gone to state two years before and the semifinals the previous season,#8221; said Bitto, an assistant coach at Carmel at the time. #8220;We actually beat Marist that year, but it was all Matt. We didn't get a block on Marist all night. They were too good. But Matt rushed for 175 yards and we won.#8221;

Simmons went on to play football at Harper, starting both ways as a freshman.

He then transferred to Western Kentucky before eventually trying to walk on at Nebraska. He was the only player of more than 100 hopefuls to make the squad. But ultimately Simmons did not play at Nebraska.

He still lives in Nebraska, though, and is a car salesman and a father.

pbabcock@dailyherald.com