Homewood-Flossmoor defensive back Khadari Kurns decided what he’d study in college in an interesting way.
“As a kid, I did a lot of building around the house because stuff breaks. As kids, you break it and you try to fix it so parents don’t find out,” the senior safety said. “I had siblings and we used to tear a lot of stuff up.”
After high school, Kurns wants to major in engineering at either a historically black college or university or the University of Indianapolis. He hopes to do so on a football scholarship.
There’s some rebuilding to do with the Vikings, too. The slogan for H-F’s football season is PTP, short for “point to prove.”
Coach Terrell Alexander is a new coach, replacing the successful Craig Buzea. Graduation and transfers took away a lot of last year’s biggest contributors. The spring season, moved from the fall due to the pandemic, was the first in 10 years in which the Vikings didn’t qualify for the postseason.
Homewood-Flossmoor has a goal to prove that it’s still one of the area’s top programs. Perhaps no player has a bigger chip on his shoulder in that regard than Kurns.
“There’s more love, more excitement (this season). We’re coming out here every day ready to ball, ready to work hard and give it your everything,” Kurns said. “I’m trying to help all my teammates become the best players they can be. I know a lot of us want to go to college for football on scholarships.”
Kurns is one of the captains on a defense that returns seven starters. With the offense only bringing back two, winning drives when the other team has the ball will be important.
Alexander, who comes over from Rich Central, has been on the defensive side for most of his coaching career. He was a linebacker at Northern Illinois in his playing days. Alexander won’t be any more involved with the defense than the offense for the Vikings but H-F looks like it may make scoring difficult for opponents.
“Offense, they going to do they thing this year but I’m going to hold the defense to a very high level,” Kurns said. “We’re going to get a lot of stops.”
The scheme is a little different than it was a year ago but still is aggressive. Kurns said it’s a fun one in which to play.
Alexander said Kurns and cornerback Jyles Walton are developing into the captains they’ll need to be as upperclassmen. Both will also play some wide receiver.
“They’re taking steps toward being those effective leaders that we expect them to be,” Alexander said. “They’re all taking steps to being as good as they can be.”
Winning the Southwest Suburban Conference and advancing deep into the playoffs are the big items on the checklist. The Vikings have to prove to outsiders that they can win in a new administration.
Kurns is the right guy to help. He’s a fixer.
“Everybody’s bringing the energy that they want so we can win state. It’s not only us, it’s also coaches. Coach (Alexander), we have to help him put his name up there,” Kurns said. “It’s coaches and players included. It’s one unit.”