Kimmel closing out storybook career at AU

Denny Kimmel has bulled, zigzagged, sprinted, straight-armed and high-stepped his way to 3,661 rushing yards in his Anderson University football career.

Officially, the senior’s next yard gained firmly establishes the 5-foot-10, 210-pound tailback as the career rushing leader in Ravens history.

Unofficially, the yards Kimmel will walk during halftime festivities on Saturday at Macholtz Stadium promise to be among the most challenging of his life — football or otherwise.

Senior Days have been known to make eyes tear up and reduce legs to rubber. Such may be the case for Kimmel, a 2003 Pendleton Heights graduate, as he walks with his parents, Robert and Vera, and brother Bobby while soaking up the applause of AU football fans.

It’s sentimentality’s forearm shiver, and Kimmel is bracing himself for it.

“I’m excited about them being out there; I’m a big family person,” said Kimmel, who holds 16 AU records entering Saturday’s game against Hanover and remains in range of six others by season’s end. “My parents come to every game, even the ones on the road.”

What they and other Ravens supporters have witnessed since Kimmel first suited up for AU in 2003 is history being made. The scenic route proved necessary due to Kimmel medically redshirting three games into the 2006 season, but it’s history nonetheless.

Kimmel is the first player in NCAA history to lead his team in rushing for five consecutive seasons. Yes, that includes last fall, when he generated 208 yards before being sidelined by a stress fracture in his foot.

Throw in his avalanche of school records, and it’s safe to assume the Kimmel surname will be a part of the AU football record book for generations to come.

Then again, there are some convinced that Kimmel has been a Ravens starter since the era of straight-on kickers.

“After games, I’ve had players shake hands with me and go, ‘How old are you?’” laughs Kimmel. “One of the nicest things said to me was from coach (Mike) Leonard from Franklin College, who told me he didn’t think I was done playing.

“He said he sees something left in me.”

Kimmel hopes that something is a spot on a National Football League roster, though the senior realizes he’s a long shot coming from a Division-III college football program.

If he could somehow secure an invitation to the 2008 NFL Combine, scheduled for Feb. 20-26 inside the RCA Dome, and show off that 4.4 set of wheels, 375-pound bench-press and 435-pound squat.

“Whatever they wanted me to do. I would be their waterboy if they wanted,” said Kimmel, who is kidding. Probably.

Regardless of what the future holds for Kimmel, a criminal justice major who would like to eventually find himself part of a different kind of team — SWAT — what he’s accomplished at AU ventures beyond impersonal football data.

“Obviously, Denny means a lot in terms of his impact on the field,” said Ravens coach Jeff Judge. “What people don’t see is his leadership off the field. I am so blessed to have a role model like him for the younger players.

“This is a guy who gets up every morning to lift weights at 5:30 a.m., and his workouts are legendary. He’s done everything in his power to maximize his ability. There is nobody in our program that works harder than Denny, and we have a lot of guys who work hard.”

Kimmel’s growth as a human being is equally as commendable.

The kid from Markleville has come a long way since arriving on campus as a 175-pound prospect who, 6,019 all-purpose yards and 43 trips to the end zone later, understands the final chapter of his college football career is about to be written.

“When I leave AU, I’ll be leaving a new family that I’ve established here,” he said. “This team is my second family. I would say my extended family for the rest of my life.

“I think I’ve realized the importance of relationships between God and family. Friends will come and go, but God and family will always be there for you.”

Saturday afternoon at Macholtz Stadium being one such example.

— Mike Beas is a reporter for The Herald Bulletin in Anderson. Story republished with permission.

Anderson University is a private Christian university of 2,700 undergraduate and graduate students in central Indiana. Anderson continues to be recognized as a top Christian college: in 2008, U.S. News and World Report ranked Anderson University among the best colleges and universities in the Midwest for the fourth consecutive year. Established in 1917 by the Church of God, Anderson University offers more than 60 undergraduate majors and graduate programs in business, education, music, nursing and theology.