Sports

OXFORD — Alex Kaufman just might be the ultimate team player.

When the Miami RedHawks took the Yager Stadium field for a two-hour scrimmage Saturday, April 19, they had only five healthy linebackers present for duty. One would have to play against both the first- and second-string offenses.

Enter Kaufman, a 6-foot-2, 230-pound redshirt freshman, a middle linebacker who was the 2006 Butler County Defensive Player of the Year for Lakota West High School. That's good.

On Saturday, he also happened to have a plate and eight pins near his ankle, holding his fibula together. He had broken his leg last summer in the Red and White Game just prior to the start of the season and needed surgery. That's not so good.

But if the clamped-together ankle was any sort of aggravation to Kaufman, he hid it well.

"My coaches said I played 74 plays out of about 90," he said.

It's not that Kaufman considers himself something special.

"I've always seen myself as a team player," he said. "I wouldn't be able to do any of this without the other 10 guys on this side of the ball. I like to see myself making plays with other people, being a part of something.

"Playing behind Joey Hudson during the offseason has been a blessing," he added. "Not many linebackers get a chance to be behind and get to learn from a linebacker as smart and talented as him."

It's a common irony of football that injuries can devastate a player one year and help him the next. So it is with Kaufman, though he certainly wouldn't wish harm on any of his teammates. Last year, his true freshman season was wiped out by an injury, and because of a flurry of injuries among the RedHawks, he is now getting a chance and a half to show what he can do.

"It's great, being out there, being able to run around, being with the guys," Kaufman said. "I'm really looking forward to playing Friday night."

The RedHawks will conclude their spring season with the annual Spring Game on Friday, April 25, starting at 8 p.m. at Yager Stadium in Oxford.

While the RedHawks were winning a share of the Mid-American Conference East Division title and a berth in the MAC Championship Game in 2007, Kaufman was going through rehab, "getting ready for the spring. The training staff and doctors did a great job."

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197

or pconrad@coxohio.com.

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