MOON TWP. — Our Lady of the Sacred Heart senior Vann Kavals has had a less-than-ideal first three years of his high school career, suffering back-to-back season-ending injuries during the 2022 and 2023 seasons, respectively.
But over those two years, while working back from his injuries, his aspirations of playing football at the next level never wavered and on July 6, the defensive lineman and quarterback committed to the University of Akron ahead of the 2024 regular season.
“It feels amazing to be able to commit to a school after everything that I have had to go through,” Kavals said to the Beaver County Times. “When I was working to try to get back, I knew that I was special and I knew that I could do it.
“It was just a matter of if I did it or not, so when I was able to commit to Akron it just felt amazing.”
Those aforementioned injuries that Kavals faced during his football career made the recruiting journey for the senior a little more difficult than most due to him not being able to compete on the football field for extended periods of time.
Time after time during the recruiting process, Kavals heard the same sentiments from coaches, but that did not deter the senior as he looked to find a home at the next level.
“I did not have the opportunity to play too much because of my injuries, so I heard a lot of the same things from coaches that they wanted to see me play another year and that was tough,” Kavals said. “But as the process went on, it was nice to see coaches taking a chance on me and have trust that I am the player that they think I am.”
More: OLSH’s Vann Kavals takes long, hard road in return from multiple injuries
Over the course of the past year, Kavals secured offers from a number of schools including Robert Morris, Penn, Miami (OH), Lehigh, Cornell, Air Force and Akron.
With all of the offers that the two-way player fielded, it was the Zips and the coaching staff that he grew to have a deep connection with, even when they did not meet in person.
“I had a great connection with the coaches,” Kavals said. “Having that connection with the coaches was very important to me. Myself and coach [Nyeem] Wartman talked a lot during the process and I saw him a lot at a number of camps that I was at. He also stopped by my school a couple of times as well.
“Even when we weren’t even meeting in person, we would still talk over the phone and it just feels good to be able to put my trust in him.”
Kavals committed to the Zips program as a defensive lineman, which has been a position where he has found a lot of success throughout his high school career. In limited action last season, the senior recorded six sacks, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery in just three games.
The Chargers’ defensive lineman is comfortable playing both ways, but this opportunity at the University of Akron provided the perfect fit for him.
“I am willing to play either position [defensive line or quarterback], but whatever school provided me the best opportunity was where I wanted to go and Akron did,” Kavals said of playing defensive line. “It feels great and I am going to work as hard as I can.”
As he enters his senior season, Kavals looks to build upon a short season last year which was cut short due to injury.
Even while only appearing in just three games before his season was cut short during the team’s Week Two game against Clairton, Kavals not only found success on the defensive side of the ball, but he also provided a spark offensively from the quarterback position throwing for over 600 yards.
With the success that he had in his short season last year, Kavals is eager to get back out onto the field during the 2024 season for his senior season.
“I just want to have a healthy season and the team can perform well like we all believe that we can perform and we can hopefully make a run and win a ring,” Kavals said of his goals for 2024.
OLSH is looking to rebound after a tough season last year after dealing with a multitude of injuries as it posted a 4-6 record overall while missing out on a spot in the Class A playoffs by just one game.
Kavals and the Chargers will travel to Rochester in its first game of the regular season on Aug. 23.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Shaking off injury bug, OLSH’s Vann Kavals commits to Akron
Beaver County Times
