Cover Story: ECC’s Andre Kates is back where he belongs — on the football field — and major colleges are taking notice
ECC's Kates is the real deal
Andre Kates tried to give up on football. Really, he did. After watching his mom go through some rough times, Kates just wanted to stay close to home. His plan to go to junior college in California en route to one of the Division I colleges that were recruiting him changed and for two years, Kates stayed at home in Maryland, working, coaching and generally staying near his mom, Priscilla, and younger sister, Brittany.
But football was part of Kates’ being — something he really couldn’t deny any longer.
So, with the help of a former high school coach, he started making calls and ended up back in school and on the football team, starting as a defensive back for Erie Community College.
Now, he’s poised to help the Kats make a run at a junior college bowl game while continuing to attract the attention of major Division I football programs.
Dennis Greene remembers all the hype that came along when word got out that Kates was going to play for ECC.
“We recruit kids from questionnaires and coaches and having names up on boards and I got three or four phone calls and e-mails [from Division I coaches] asking how good is Kates,” Greene said. “All I knew was a name on that board. I said I don’t even know who the guy is. I don’t even know if he’s coming. Why are you guys so interested?”
Then came the first practice of training camp this year. Kates was playing defensive back for the first time in his life. He broke on an out ball, picked off the pass and started running with the ball. As Greene explains, he did everything wrong but he had athleticism and a nose for the ball.
“I had never seen anything like that,” Greene said. “And then once we taught him where we wanted him to be, he made the play every time. I e-mailed back the Florida coaches and said he’s the real deal.”
Kates has been a potential major Division I player since high school. He’s been the real deal for some time, only his journey to collegiate football took a detour — a two-year detour — that made him realize how much football was part of his future.
Kates was the starting quarterback for Surrattsville High School in Maryland, though he played running back, wide receiver, kick returner — you name it, he probably played it at some point. Though not the biggest player on the field (he’s currently listed as 6-0), Kates has always been one of the most athletic, being able to make plays with a combination of skilled moves and football knowledge.
“He is such a versatile athlete that we played him everywhere,” said Tom Green, his high school coach. “As far as football goes, he always does an excellent job on the field. I told Andre since he was in the ninth grade that once you focus on academics and get your stuff in line he could go wherever he wanted to.”
Major colleges were interested in Kates as he was graduating from high school in 2006, though he was a non-qualifier by NCAA academic standards. West Virginia, Kansas State, Rutgers, Maryland and Ohio State were among the schools courting Kates. He also took an official visit to Florida with his best friend Joe Haden, who played at a rival school in Maryland.
Haden went on to play 12 games for the Gators as a freshman and is now a starting defensive back.
Kates was planning to attend junior college in California to remedy his poor grades and fine tune his game as a defensive back, where most Division I schools wanted to place him.
But in the end, Kates balked at going out West. He enrolled briefly at Coppin State, a school with no football program, but withdrew to keep his NCAA playing eligibility intact.
“I was going to give up on football,” Kates said. “I didn’t have a dad in my life and my mom was having a hard time so I kinda wanted to stay home and be close to her and try to help out with the bills and make sure she was OK. I have a little sister [13- year-old Brittany] and I didn’t want to take away from her.”
“When Andre decided not to go to junior college and gave up football, I could not believe it because football was his life,” his mother, Priscilla, said. “It especially hit hard for me because as all parents do, we try to instill in them the importance of education. So to me, I wasn’t too disappointed in the fact that he didn’t want to play football, but it was the education I worried about most.”
Kates spent the last two years working, helping around the house and volunteering as a coach little league football.
He also continued to train with Haden when his friend returned home from Florida, but all the football talk bothered him a bit.
“It was real hard,” Kates said. “That’s my best friend and he’s always talking about football this, football that. His dad is a great mentor also, so everybody would come around and say, ‘Whatcha gonna do? You gonna play? You gonna play?’ ”
“Really he kinda stayed away from us for the football season because my dad always asked him when he was going to get back on the field,” Haden said. “He had a lot of scholarship offers, including one from Florida which we committed together on the official visit we had taken.”
Eventually, Kates spoke with some of the college coaches who had recruited him in high school. They said he had talent and should enroll in a junior college. Eventually, he got his focus back, started working out in earnest and looked around for a program to take him.
“To be honest what I think motivated him was people saying, ‘Dre you have talent don’t waste it,’ ” Haden said. “His mom was struggling so I told him imagine if you make it to the NFL then her struggling would be the least of your worries. He even told me he was still receiving handwritten letters from the [college] coaches.”
Kates and his high school coach looked at junior college programs and originally spoke with the program at Lackawanna. The Pennsylvania school already had a full roster but suggested trying ECC and Greene gladly told him to enroll in school and come to training camp.
“Andre is a special kid,” Greene said. “He’s a clown and he’s everybody’s friend.”
And if friends are judged by how much mail they receive, then Kates is a pretty popular on the college circuit.
“Florida is where I want to be, but recently Coach Greene gave me a stack of letters that came through — Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Boston College, Miami, Purdue, West Virginia,” Kates said. “I talked to Coach Greene about what I should do about the whole school situation; he’s like don’t worry about it. We’ve got a season ahead of us and we’re trying to get one of those [junior college] bowl games.”
“Honestly, I don’t think Andre knows how good he is,” Greene said. “He’s just the clown and he brings a smile to your face. I can sit him down and say, ‘Son, do you really know what you can do? Do you really know your next level?’ He can play any position on the offensive side of the ball but the line. He can play anything on the defensive side of the ball but the line and linebacker. He’s just an athlete. He doesn’t know. And if he does know, he won’t ever tell you.”
