His military future set, Cory Kennedy gives his all for North Tama

TRAER, Ia. — Cory Kennedy spent his summer 718 miles from home, isolated from the outside world for a little more than 10 weeks. But that didn’t stop him from preparing for his senior football season with North Tama.

Four days after school let out last May, the 17-year-old shipped out to Fort Sill in Oklahoma for basic training to join the National Guard. His phone was taken on arrival, and the only way he could contact everybody back home was through written letters.

So he wrote, as often as every other day, to his parents and friends, keeping them up to date on his daily training regimens while they filled him in on everything else. But one day in July, he felt antsy about the upcoming football season, and penned a letter asking for his playbook so he could prepare.

“He said, ‘See if (North Tama football coach Austin Pink) will get me a playbook,’” mother Dahn said. “I was like, 'I don’t know if he can receive this,' but it was just a few pieces of paper, front and back. I’m like, 'OK, try it.' And he got it.”

But there was a catch — Kennedy, a 6-foot-2, 220-pound two-way lineman for the North Tama football team, had to do pushups in order to receive his mail. He submitted the proper number to his superiors before gaining possession of his playbook, which consisted of two pages with different blocking and pass-rushing schemes on both the front and back. He scanned it over in his free time.

In mid-August, Kennedy graduated to become an official National Guardsman with still his senior year of high school to go. He returned to the football team a few days later, reclaiming his leadership position and starting spots on both the offensive and defensive line. The Redhawks, at 1-2 overall, host No. 9 Hudson this week in their second district game.

Kennedy’s 10-week stint at Fort Sill prepared him in more ways than one. He returned in better shape for his senior football season, no doubt, but it also set the foundation for his future in the military, which has long been a strong interest. He underwent the same boot-camp regimen as those who enlist in the Army, and another few weeks of training await him after he graduates high school.

“I just figured it was something that needed to be done,” Kennedy said after practice on Tuesday. “We’ll always need people to serve the country. I might as well be one of them.”

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Kennedy was exposed to the military at a young age. His mom spent five-and-a-half years in the National Guard. She remembers 10-year-old Cory trying on her old uniform in the family living room. Seven years later, he now has his own.

“They were huge on him then, and now, he’s like twice my size,” Dahn said. “It was like it was always just natural for him.”

Growing up, Kennedy hunted often, becoming comfortable with guns. His father, Shaun, serves as a full-time paramedic for Traer, a different form of serving. It helped, too, that other family members were in the military — he has a cousin in the Air Force and his grandfather served in Vietnam, his flag prominently displayed in the entryway of their home. It all piqued his interest.

“Ever since I was young, I had been thinking about it — just like, ‘Oh, that’d be cool,’ you know?” Kennedy said. “Then last summer, I really started thinking about it and the benefits. There’s a lot of college benefits that come with it, and there’s a lot of things you can learn just by going through it.”

He turned 17 last December. A week later, he officially enlisted with the Army National Guard. He’s the only North Tama student, current or former, to enlist in the National Guard in the past two years. Dahn figures another eight or nine students and graduates from town have joined in one form or another in that same time period — an admirable trend for a town of just 1,657 people.

After formally signing on, Kennedy drove to Camp Dodge in Johnston one weekend a month to get in shape for the summer, all while playing basketball in the winter and throwing the shot put and discus in the spring. Four days after school let out, he flew south to Oklahoma.

For 10 weeks, his routine was the same. Wake up at 4:30 a.m. for physical training, which involved plenty of running and push-ups. Then shower and eat breakfast. Some weeks, he took classes. Other weeks, he handled guns and grenades. It was all similar to what Dahn went through when she first experienced basic training.

Perhaps the hardest part was the lack of constant communication, and so the letters were huge, both for Kennedy and his family. Dahn said she signed up for the postal service’s informed delivery and would race home each day the family received a letter from her youngest son.

“It was emotional,” Dahn said. “He mostly just kept us up-to-date on everything he was doing. We’re proud of him — I mean, he’s just 17. To me, that’s amazing. He’s still in high school, and he made the decision to go through that all on his own. It was hard.

"It was a big deal to get the letters.”

Kennedy addressed all of his letters the same way. On notebook paper, he signed the date in the upper-left corner, writing “Mom and Dad,” on the first line before beginning a new note. In July, he added the number of days remaining until he was finished in the upper-right corner.

One day, the playbook idea popped into his head. Kennedy asked his mom to see if coach Pink would send him the goods.

“I had been sitting around for a couple of days and I wanted something else to do,” Kennedy said, “so I asked for the playbook in one of my letters so I could start learning. I didn’t know if much would change, but I wanted to start studying just in case.”

As such, junior Chase Morrison sent him a copy. Before Kennedy could read it, he was forced to do push-ups, a requirement for every piece of mail he received. The first three weeks, Kennedy needed to do 10 push-ups in order to get his mail; the second three weeks, 15 push-ups; and the final weeks, 20.

Kennedy’s final few letters revealed an antsiness to return home. He had already missed summer workouts with the football team and would miss the first week of official practice by the time he got back to Traer. He was ready for his final football season.

He completed his training in mid-August, and Dahn and Shaun flew south to meet him for his graduation. Afterward, with Kennedy still in his uniform, they went out to eat. A couple of older men approached him and thanked him for his service, and the weight of his decision finally hit home.

“These guys had to be 50 or 60 years old,” Dahn recalled, “and they had served before, so they talked to Cory about it. That was huge. Like, you’re 17, and these veterans are thanking you. It’s a big responsibility and an honor.”

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Leaner, stronger and more agile than he was a year ago, Kennedy returned to Traer, where he had earned first-team All-District honors. He’s down 15 pounds and continues his early-morning runs he grew accustomed to at Fort Sill. He joined the football team Aug. 14. Four days later, he was on the field in full pads for a preseason scrimmage against Alburnett.

Studying the playbook in his spare time paid off. Through three games, Kennedy’s third on the team with 13 total tackles and leads North Tama with 3.5 tackles for loss. Both figures are a slight uptick from last year, when he recorded 30 total tackles and five for a loss in nine games.

“He’s a smart kid,” Pink said. “We changed up some stuff, some verbal communication from the quarterback to the line. He picked it up pretty quick. He jumped in and solidified his spot. The game slows down for him, at times, because he’s familiar with everything.

“I figured they’d put him through a workload that’s pretty intense. He came back pretty well built. They shaved off some of his baby fat. He’s in great shape. He still goes on runs before we lift at 6 a.m. He could play at the next level if he wanted to.”

Kennedy shrugs at the thought. He already has a plan. He will continue his monthly drill sessions at Camp Dodge. Once school ends, he’ll spend eight weeks at Fort Rucker in Alabama for job training. Afterward, he plans to study Northern Iowa, where he’ll join the ROTC program and belong to the aviation unit in Waterloo. The National Guard will help pay for his education.

Until then, Kennedy will help lead a youthful North Tama football team, wherein 17 of the 39 players listed on the roster are underclassmen. His teammates give him trouble because the experience didn’t change him, but his leadership-by-example persona has been welcomed.

On a recent Tuesday, Kennedy helped many of his teammates with different pass-rushing and blocking techniques, showing proper stances and hand placements. During one live drill, he continued to block a smaller player long after the play wrapped up 20 yards downfield.

“Every play, we’re going,” assistant coach Tom McDermott said aloud. “Every play, until the whistle.”

It is hard to distinguish Kennedy from his teammates on this day. He blends in seamlessly, save for his No. 78 jersey and a black elbow pad on his right arm. But once practice ends, it is much easier to pick him out.

The sun continues to beat down as Pink huddles the players together. Many are slumped over, hands on their knees, exhausted from the 85-degree heat. Others take a knee and catch their breath.

But Cory Kennedy is still standing, breathing just fine, smiling as he listens to his coach, awaiting his next task.

Cody Goodwin covers high school sports, college basketball recruiting and Drake athletics for The Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.