Kevin Jobity on Syracuse Football's Radar Despite Being New to the Game
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Class of 2022 Cheektowaga (N.Y.) Maryvale defensive lineman Kevin Jobity has an interesting story. He has only been playing football for a year, talked into it by Maryvale head coach Nick Todaro, and fell in love with the game after the first practice.
"I've been playing soccer since I was six and I gave football a try when I moved back to Buffalo from Binghamton in fourth and fifth grade, and played little loop," Jobity said. "It was fun but I didn't love it at the time. I gave it a break and continued to play soccer up until junior year, when covid happened and allowed me to play soccer in the fall and football in the spring.
"At first I wasn't interested but coach Todaro pulled me into the athletic director's office and convinced me to come out for a practice. I did. I went to that practice nervous, and left in love with the sport. I could use my size to my advantage, unlike soccer where it slowed me down."
That size is 6-4, 255 pounds, a frame that allows him to bulk up and play tackle at the next level, or stay around his current weight and play end. He is long and athletic but still learning the nuances and fundamentals of football. Parts of the game came naturally while others required more work.
"As far as making tackles and sacking the quarterback, yes (it came naturally)," Jobity said. "However, it took me a while to learn the terminology of the game as well as schemes and how to read an offense. Film study with coach helped a lot with this."
The fact that the pure athletic part of the game came naturally should not be a surprise given his bloodlines. Jobity's father played four years of basketball at Niagara, averaging 16 points, eight rebounds and two blocks per game during his senior season as the starting center. After participating in Atlanta Hawks training camp, Jobity Sr. enjoyed a professional basketball career overseas.
Despite really learning the game for the first time, Jobity had a strong senior year at Maryvale. He accumulated 68 tackles, 25 tackles for loss, 7 sacks and 3 forced fumbles in 9 games. That led to colleges taking notice of his potential. He has 20 offers, including Army, Rhode Island, Villanova, Princeton, Harvard, Penn, Yale, Columbia, Lehigh, Cornell, Holy Cross, Bryant, Brown, Fordham, New Hampshire, Central Connecticut State, Colgate, Wagner, Saint Francis and Lafayette.
There is an in-state power five school that has picked up its interest recently. Syracuse. Jobity spoke with Syracuse defensive line coach Chris Achuff on Thursday.
"Coach Achuff is going to visit me Monday or Tuesday, and he said he wants to have me up for an official visit next weekend (28th)," Jobity said. "They said they have one DL spot left and they want that to be me. So hopefully the offer comes when they visit me."
What would an offer mean to Jobity's recruitment?
"They'd be my top school," he said.
Jobity added that despite growing up in the Empire State, he did not pay much attention to Syracuse football. That is not due to anything related to the Orange, he did not follow college football much at all until recently. He did, however, attend a football game in the Dome in second grade after he received an invitation from a friend.
In addition to his offer list, Jobity says he is speaking with Rice, UTSA and West Virginia.