At 6-foot-7 and 285 pounds as a 15-year old sophomore, Kadyn Proctor already has five Division I scholarship offers before ever playing a varsity game in high school. Next week, Proctor will make his debut at left tackle for Southeast Polk when the Rams travel to Waukee for their season opener on August 28 and looks forward to showing that all the hype is well worth it.
“I want to show everyone what I can do,” said Proctor. “Going into my sophomore season, I feel really good about it and I think our team can make it really far this year.”
With a talented group of teammates, including Class of 2022 prospects Xavier Nwankpa and Jaxon Dailey, Proctor saw several college coaches stop by Southeast Polk last winter. It was not long before they were asking about the biggest kid on the team, who at the time was still a freshman, and that eventually led to his first scholarship offer.
“One day my coach, Coach Zelenovich, came in and said I had a call with Kansas State,” Proctor said. “That’s when I got my first offer is the first time I ever talked with a college coach. It kind of all started from there because after that more schools starting coming.”
Offers from Michigan, Iowa State, Nebraska, and Oregon followed to give Proctor five full rides before his freshman year ended last spring.
“It’s crazy. I got those offers as a freshman at 14 years old,” said Proctor. “I never thought I would be in the position that I am right now, but it just makes me want to work even harder.”
That has been the primary focus this summer as Proctor has improved his strength and quickness to get ready for his sophomore year.
“I’m really good at getting off the ball and my pass sets are pretty good too,” Proctor said. “Then I’ve been working a lot on getting my strength up so I can really bully dudes this year.”
At 285 pounds, Proctor has been timed at 4.9 in the forty this summer, but thinks he can improve on that as well.
“I’ve been working on my speed a lot,” said Proctor. “Most 6-7, 285-pound dudes aren’t that quick, but I’m trying to get my forty time down to a mid 4.8 if I can.”
In addition to the five schools that have offered early on, Proctor is receiving interest from Iowa, Georgia, LSU, Northwestern, Virginia, and Syracuse, among others. For the Hawkeyes, it is lead recruiter Jay Niemann staying in touch as the Iowa coaching staff continues their evaluation process.
“I’ve been calling them and talking with Coach Niemann the most, just trying to build that relationship,” Proctor said. “They’ve said they’re going to be watching what I can do this season.”
That remains the task at hand for Proctor as more scholarship offers are sure to come if he plays the way many expect him to this fall.
“I just want to focus on my season and try to be best player I can, the best student I can, and hopefully start getting more offers after my sophomore season,” said Proctor.
