From Bearcats to Lakers

Eric LaBuhn, with parents Steve and Vicky, and Jordan Kaufman, with parents Robin and Dave.

LaBuhn dominates the line against Reading.
Kaufman stops this Royal Oak Shrine running back.

Ubly’s Kaufman and LaBuhn sign with Grand Valley
BY CHRIS OGRYSKI
EDITOR

UBLY - It was an opportunity that was too good to pass up.
For as long as they can remember, Jordan Kaufman and Eric LaBuhn have been teammates. It started at the earliest levels of football and continued through to their senior year of high school, where the duo was an integral part of an Ubly team that made it to the state finals.
It was only fitting that when these two players were deciding where to play college ball that they would opt to remain teammates for several more years and both commit to Grand Valley State University.
Kaufman and LaBuhn, who will be roommates at GVSU, signed their letters of intent last Wednesday (National Signing Day), and become a part of a program that is 102-6 over their last eight seasons with four NCAA DII National Championships (2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006) and five title game appearances (2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006).
“Our coaching staff did an outstanding job of identifying talent and then recruiting those kids to be a part of…our football program,” Laker’s head football coach Chuck Martin said in a press release about this year’s recruiting class.
He added, “We always want to recruit the State of Michigan first and I am extremely happy with what we were able to get from our home state.”
What Grand Valley got was a versatile athlete in Kaufman who, despite earning first team All-State honors in Division 7 & 8 as a quarterback and being named All-Thumb Player of the Year in football with 40 TDs and nearly 2,500 all purpose yards, is probably better suited for defense at the college level. Kaufman, who had 69 tackles and four interceptions as a senior, will play defensive back for the Lakers.
“He is an unbelievable defensive player,” Bearcats coach Bill Sweeney said during Ubly’s post-season run. “As good of an offensive player as Jordan is, he may be better on defense.”
In LaBuhn, GVSU picks up an extremely agile and cerebral 6’5”, 300 pound offensive linemen, who earned All-State accolades. LaBuhn was also a first team All-Thumb selection on both the offensive and defensive line.
“As Grand Valley said (about him), he is big, he’s huge, he has great feet and gets off the ball. He really is a ‘can’t miss prospect.’ They are really excited about his ability,” Sweeney explained.
He added, “That’s all they talked about was his striking ability and they couldn’t believe how well he got off the ball.”
While GVSU is getting two talented athletes, the players recognize what a true opportunity it is to play for this DII powerhouse. “I wanted to go somewhere where we were going to win games and I want to play for a National Championship on a college level,” LaBuhn explained.
“At Grand Valley, I’m not (necessarily) saying we are going to, but we have a very good chance to,” he added. “It is just a really good program they have going on over there and I know that is the best school for me to help me develop as a football player.”
Kaufman agreed with LaBuhn’s sentiments. “We came out of really good tradition here in Ubly and to go onto the college level to a place that has a better tradition then we do here, it is going to be a great steppingstone for us as football players and student athletes,” he said.
LaBuhn’s size and agility sparked the Laker’s interest very quickly. “Grand Valley offered Eric pretty early in the process,” Sweeney said.
It was an offer that was too good for LaBuhn to turn down. “We (Jordan and I) were getting recruited by the same schools and I made the decision two or three weeks before him that Grand Valley was where I wanted to be,” LaBuhn remembers. “I called coach (George) Barnett, he is the offensive line coach, and I told him I wanted to come play there for him.”
“And then Jordan committed a little bit later,” he added.
Kaufman was still undecided at that point, but in some ways, so was Grand Valley. “One of the big things for Grand Valley was, and I had a few other colleges ask me, ‘Is he bent on playing quarterback?’” Sweeney said.
“I told them he is a quarterback, because that is what we needed. He is a football player, he plays everywhere, he does everything and he’ll play wherever you ask him to play,” he added.
“You really had to get it in their heads, no (he didn’t necessarily want to be a QB), he wanted to play football and I thought defense would be the best spot for him all along.”
Once the Lakers took a look at what Kaufman could do on defense, their decision became a lot easier…you could say it was love at first sight. “Grand Valley called me and they wanted a highlight of him just hitting and I said no problem. They took one look at the tape and called me and said, ‘This is a no-brainer, he’s just that good,’” recalled Sweeney.
Kaufman was equally smitten with GVSU, when he visited the campus. “I wanted to still play with Eric, but Northwood was definitely up there (on my list), too,” he explained.
“I went and took my visit to Grand Valley, when I went down there and saw the atmosphere and I saw the facilities; I knew on my way back that it was where I was going,” he added.
“I had a lot of time to think about it on the ride home and it gave me a lot of insight about what I wanted to do,” said Kaufman.
Knowing he’d be playing with his long-time teammate, helped make a tough decision much easier. “I knew I would have someone there that I know and we could work out in the first year and all that makes things easier,” he said.
Also making the transition to college easier is the fact that both Kaufman and LaBuhn will be playing the positions they truly love. “My whole life I have preferred playing offense,” said LaBuhn. “There is just something about run blocking that I like.”
“I like knocking people down and I like being a part of putting points on the board,” he added.
“I think the deciding factor (in being on offense instead of defense), was the guy who recruited me was the offensive line coach and he…figured I’d be more of an asset to the team playing left tackle and protecting the quarterback than anything else,” said LaBuhn. “He figured I could really come in there and help out.”
Sweeney explained that LaBuhn is so well-suited to play tackle in college, because he “is so cerebral, he has great footwork and it won’t take him long to figure out blocking schemes.”
He also noted that with LaBuhn’s ability “to dominate one side of the line” and his ability to communicate to the other players, that he believes Eric will be successful at the next level.
“I think they will help out GVSU tremendously if they stay injury free, if they stay focused and do well on their grades.
Much like LaBuhn, Kaufman enjoys the opportunity to hit people as well, just on the other side of the ball. “The hitting aspect is the part of the game I like most,” he said. “Going up and being able to pop someone is probably the best part.”
He added, “The physicality and intensity of the game is above all others. You don’t get the same kind of intensity (in other sports) like you do on a football field. The intensity…makes it so addicting.”
Kaufman admitted that the increased physicality in college likely hurt his chances of playing on offense. “With my mentality, I probably wouldn’t make a very good quarterback; I’d be liable to get hurt very easy,” he said. “Defense is kind of a second nature now with the preparation we’ve had with coach (Jim) Becker training us.”
Sweeney agreed that Kaufman belongs on defense for the Lakers. “Big hitters get (big) hits three or four times a year, Jordan was getting three or four a game, because he is just so talented, quick and his closing speed.”
“He had people sized up, it is just ability, it is a talent,” he added, noting he has never coached a player with Kaufman’s closing speed before. “You wish everyone could do it, but that is why there are high school players and why there are college players.”
And Sweeney knows that Kaufman and LaBuhn are definitely in that next echelon of player. “These two are the most talented players we have ever had (here at Ubly),” Sweeney said, noting they are the only Bearcat football players he knows of who have played DII football (they have had some DIII players).
“These guys are just really, really special players,” he added. “The recruiter said these two kids will put Ubly on the map.”
In terms of the school itself, this year’s football team set the bar for what all other Ubly teams will hope to achieve. Kaufman and LaBuhn offered some advice to the future generations of Bearcat players looking to leave their mark. “Football has always been my favorite sport and I’ve always loved doing it,” Kaufman began. “(To be successful at it) you have to be in the weight room, you have to get faster and stronger than your opponent.”
LaBuhn added, “If I could sum it up in one word it would be ‘commitment.’ That was my mindset all year, it was 100 percent football; it was all I worked on.”
Kaufman and LaBuhn will head to Grand Valley for the annual spring game on April 11, at which time they will be fitted for their uniforms and gear. They will report to camp later in the summer.
While at Grand Valley, LaBuhn plans to major in Business or Movement Science, while
Kaufman is also considering those fields.