Pinckney football freshman Bobby Kanka 'still a kid' despite interest from Big Ten powers

PINCKNEY — Bobby Kanka called his father to ask for a ride home from school last week, not an unusual request for a 15-year-old high school freshman who isn’t old enough to drive.

“Normally, I get a ride home from a friend’s sister,” Kanka said. “I had to call my dad and said I’d be 15, 20 minutes later and I needed him to come pick me up.”

Kanka’s reason for running late wasn’t at all typical for most high school freshmen.

He stuck around after school because Taylor Stubblefield, an assistant football coach from Penn State, was at Pinckney High School on a recruiting visit to establish a connection with Kanka.

“It’s pretty surreal, because I’ve always watched them play Michigan and all those big Power 5 teams like that," Kanka said. "Having them come out to Pinckney, of all schools, is pretty cool, being able to talk with sombody who coaches at that caliber of school.”

Colleges aren’t allowed to have direct contact with recruits until Sept. 1 of their junior year, but they can talk with players if they “happen” to run into them during a visit that’s prearranged through a coach.

Penn State is the first school from a major conference to make a trip to Pinckney to recruit Kanka, but won’t be the last. He received his first non-binding scholarship offer from Syracuse on Sept. 14 after playing only three high school games. Miami (Ohio) made an offer last weekend after he took an unofficial visit.

Schools like Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Iowa, Wisconsin and Cincinnati have already expressed interest in a player who can’t sign a national letter of intent until three years from now.

Recruiting battles like the one involving Kanka occur regularly in other regions of Michigan like Detroit, Oakland County, Grand Rapids and Flint.

They rarely, if ever, involve a player from Livingston County.

The last high-profile recruiting battle for a Livingston County prospect revolved around Brighton quarterback Drew Henson, a 1998 graduate who played football and baseball at the University of Michigan before playing both professionally at the highest level.

A small handful of other county players since then have received scholarships to Power 5 schools — those which compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 Conference and Southeastern Conference.

None of those previous players were receiving this type of interest while still in ninth grade.

“It’s really cool, but at the end of the day, I’m still a kid, still a 15-year-old, still a freshman,” Kanka said. “I’m still a kid at the end of the day. I’ve got to go to school and focus on academics and all that stuff.”

This much attention from high-profile programs could be overwhelming for a junior or senior, let alone a freshman.

Helping to keep Kanka grounded is his father, Tom, who played football at Hillsdale College and briefly in the NFL in the 1980s.

“His mom and I have always told the kids their goal should be to find a school that finds them worthy enough to pay for their education,” Tom Kanka said. “That’s it; the rest is gravy. All the kids have dreams of making the NFL. When I played, it was 1%; it hasn’t changed in 30 years.

“The goal is to get an education. He understands these offers, in reality, don’t mean anything, because you can’t commit until you’re a junior. What it does is validates what you’ve done so far, validates all the hard work you’ve done to get to this point, to be considered the No. 3 player in the state of Michigan for 2025.

“He’s on the radar of the Big Ten. It just validates what you’re doing is working. Don’t lose sight of the fact that if you don’t continue to put in hard work or continue to improve, they’ll be gone. Until you can sign on the dotted line, just thank the coach, tell them you appreciate their interest, you’re humbled by their offer and looking forward to talking more later.”

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What makes Kanka such an attractive prospect is his blend of size and athleticism. He was one of the biggest players on Pinckney’s roster as the school’s first freshman starter last fall at 6-foot-4, 255 pounds.

He played offensive line and defensive line. He has also competed in baseball, basketball and track and field.

Kanka travels to Athletes Edge in Waterford a few times a week to work on speed and strength training.

“It’s always good to be big,” Kanka said. “If you’re big and can move, it’s pretty special. That’s what I’m working toward right now.”

Whichever program gets Kanka to sign on the dotted line won’t have to worry about his performance in the classroom. Kanka, whose mother, Beverly, teaches in Pinckney, has a 3.94 grade point average.

Kanka first got noticed as an eighth-grader while attending the Elite Big Man Camp in Waterford. He was doing drills against highly recruited high school varsity players.

The first drill was a wake-up call, as he was flattened by a four-star lineman from Belleville.

“If I’m being honest, it was extremely humbling, because I played eighth grade football and I was more than half a foot taller than every defensive back I caught a touchdown on and every running back I tackled," Kanka said. "Going against 6-6, 280-pound Belleville guys with knee braces on and getting my butt kicked a couple times was good for me. It got me used to that type of football. Going to that camp was the best thing I’ve done.”

In a sign of the times, the college recruiting battle isn’t the only one taking place for Kanka. He said a few high schools in the area tried to lure him away from Pinckney a year ago. With the resignation of Rod Beaton as head coach, those efforts have intensified.

It’s a possibility that Kanka won’t finish his high school career at Pinckney, which is close to hiring Beaton’s replacement.

“Bob’s goal was always to stay here and play with his buddies,” Tom Kanka said. “So, we thanked all the coaches for their interest, because in eighth grade you can transfer and play right away.

“This year, we’re not sure what will happen with no coaches on the staff. Our numbers are dramatically down. I talked with Brian (Wardlow, Pinckney’s athletic director). My concern is can we field a team? Can we field a competitive team that’s going to win? In the past month or so since Rod quit, all of that has started back up again. It kind of forces us to sit back. We’re going to do what’s best for Bob academically, athletically.”

Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Highly recruited Pinckney football freshman Bobby Kanka 'still a kid'