Wideout Kasper in the mix
Steve King, Staff Writer
05.06.2008
http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/article.php?id=8431Kevin Kasper shakes his head and laughs when talking about the oldest of his two children, 4-year-old Kyler.
"He's constantly on the go. He's a real handful." Kasper said. "My parents have told me that when I was that age, I was a real handful, too."
That's a challenge in that it keeps Kasper and his wife, Lisa, on their toes all the time. But it might turn out to be a real positive as well if Kyler follows in his father's footsteps and parlays his always-busy, always-moving personality into a spot in the NFL.
The 30-year-old Kasper, signed by the Browns as a reserve/future free agent on Jan. 10, is as busy as any football player can be. A wide receiver, he also plays on all the special teams and excels as a kickoff returner, with a career average of 24.3 yards per return in four previous NFL seasons.
His greatest asset? You guessed it: Speed.
"I was clocked at 4.3 (seconds) in the 40 coming out of school," he said.
"School" is Iowa, where he walked on originally and then rose to stardom, becoming first-team All-Big Ten as a senior, when he led the conference in receptions with a school-record 82. He also broke the Iowa mark for career catches with 157 and was a two-time academic all-conference selection.
That paved the way for him to get taken in the sixth round of the 2001 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos. As a rookie, he had five of his career total of 10 starts.
It was also there that he met current Browns running backs coach Anthony Lynn, then an offensive assistant and special teams coach for the Broncos.
"When I got to Denver, (head coach) Mike Shanahan said to me, 'You're going to return kicks,' " Kasper said. "But I had never done that. I had never played special teams before.
"So I went to Coach Lynn and asked him about returning kicks. He told me, "Catch the ball and then just run like crazy.' "
He hasn't stopped running, or moving, since.
When he was released by the Broncos halfway through the 2002 season, it began an odyssey that has taken him all over the league.
"I could write a book about my career," he said.
The Browns are his eighth team. In addition to them and the Broncos, he's done stints with the New England Patriots (three), Seattle Seahawks (two), Detroit Lions (two), Minnesota Vikings, Arizona Cardinals and Houston Texans.
He spent most of last offseason with the Lions but was waived at the end of preseason and was out of football for all of the regular season.
At New England, he met Browns head coach Romeo Crennel, then serving the Patriots as defensive coordinator.
"He's a great coach," Kasper said. "I really like his coaching methods. I talked to (former Iowa and now Browns guard) Eric Steinbach and I heard a lot of good things about the program he's been putting together here. So I'm excited to be in Cleveland."
Maybe his most interesting story came during his time with the Cardinals late in 2002.
"I signed on Friday (Nov. 22) and joined the team at the hotel at about 9:30 on Saturday night," Kasper said. "I missed all of the practices and the team meetings. But the next day, I returned eight kickoffs and was on the field for about 40 plays in all.
"I was returning a kickoff, and Mean Joe Greene (the Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Football Hall of Famer who was serving as Cardinals defensive line coach then) saw me and said to (head coach) Dave McGinnis, 'Who in the world is that guy?' "
He's someone who is made to order for special teams.
"I'm perfectly suited for them," Kasper said. "I'm a utility man who has a high motor and high energy.
"I just love playing football. I love the games, the practices, the offseason workouts, the minicamps, training camp and meetings. I love it all.
"Playing football is a chance for me to run around, have fun and release some of that energy I have."
Maybe Kasper is always on the move because he's had to do so to attract the attention of coaches and scouts.
"When I was coming out of high school (in Naperville, Ill., the home of Steinbach), I got only one scholarship offer, and it was just a token offer, from Eastern Illinois," he said. "But I wanted to go to a big school, so I enrolled at Iowa and walked on.
"And when I went to Denver as a low draft pick, I wasn't a high-profile guy there, either. When I signed with the Browns, they said I would have an opportunity to make the team. That's what I always want to hear, that I'm going to get an opportunity. People tell you that you can't do this or that, but when you get an opportunity, you get a chance to prove those people wrong."
Kasper is also busy off the field. He owns and operate a speed (what else?) clinic in Naperville, Ill.,where he lives. He spent the last few months there training Notre Dame safety Tom Zbikowski, taken in the third round by the AFC North rival Baltimore Ravens.
"He worked out with me five days a week for seven weeks," said Kasper, who, like Zbikowski, has dabbled in boxing. "We were able to help him a lot.
"When he got drafted, I felt like a big brother to him in that I was really excited for him. I was so happy."
Almost as happy as he would be to find out some day that his son, Kyler, had gotten drafted as well and was going to get paid for being a handful -- for his NFL opponents.
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