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Patience, perseverance pay off for Kohls

MVL grad earns starting role on SMSU defense

By Travis Rosenau 6 min read

MARSHALL -- Malachi Kohls' confidence has never wavered.

While he had to have patience, he knew what he was capable of doing on a football field.

Since joining the Southwest Minnesota State University Mustangs football team, the 2023 Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School graduate has been chomping at the bit to get on the field consistently and leave his mark. But much like many other standout high school athletes that go on to compete at the collegiate level, Kohls didn't jump right to the front of the line in college as a freshman.

After putting in the work and being patient, however, the 6-foot-5, 274-pounder is getting that opportunity to help lead the SMSU defense as he's now a starting defensive end during his senior year.

"I never doubted my potential, but coming in I think every freshman kind of realizes, 'OK, I was the top guy or a guy in my high school, and now I'm coming in and there's 30 other people here that were also the guy,'" Kohls said. "You kind of go from being a senior and being at the top, then you go back down to the bottom of the totem pole and it's just kind of a reset.

"So for me, it was more of a mental reset where it was just like, 'I'm not the guy anymore, but I know I have the potential to get to that level again at the college level. Now just put my head down and work.'"

Kohls, a 2022 All-Journal Football Defensive Player of the Year, is currently in his fourth year at SMSU after redshirting his freshman season of football. While it isn't uncommon for defensive linemen to redshirt their first year, Kohls had the added challenge of going from the linebacker position he played at MVL to the defensive line with the Mustangs.

"It was tough, for sure," Kohls said. "Coming from MVL, 2A football is its own kind of football, and then coming to try and play college football, it's a big adjustment physicality wise, technique wise. Game gets more complicated game plan wise. It just adds levels to your game when you get to college.

"It was tough. Transitioning from linebacker to defensive end was its own challenge. I knew I was going to play defensive line, so it didn't come as a surprise, but I had some older guys and a good coach help me along the way with just the basics of playing defensive line."

Kohls started a few games last year as a nose tackle but worked himself to a starting spot this season as a defensive end. The expectation to start this season was there for Kohls, but it wasn't a gimme and required showing up, putting in the work and having his coaches trust him.

Kohls opened this season with a sack against Valley City State in a 10-7 win at home. He then went on the road and had a career-high nine tackles against Bemidji State. A tough 30-3 home loss to Northern State this past Saturday saw Kohls held off the stat sheet, but games like that aren't likely to deter the defensive end, who continues to grow on and off the field.

His senior year at MVL saw him finish with 113 solo tackles, 13 sacks, three fumble recoveries and an interception. He was a big athlete that year, but he hasn't always been the big man on campus as he showed up to MVL as a 5-7, 135-pound freshman.

"Physically it's been a big change," Kohls said. "My senior year [at MVL], I was like 6-4, 230. Right now I'm 6-foot-5, 270, so I put on the weight and I've gotten stronger. There's always a joke that if you breathe college weight room air that you automatically put on five pounds of muscle. So, I've put on a lot of muscle through the strength program here and it's been really great. Workouts here have been really, really good and I feel like I've changed my body to play at the college level."

As for the game itself, there are more things to think about at the college level, but it's nothing Kohls shies away from.

"Games have gotten more complicated, I would say, but nothing [I] can't handle," Kohls said. "It's just kind of mentally focusing. It's just the nuances. I actually just talked about this, there's two other guys on the defense line, Avery [Johnson] and Jules [Julius Brown], where we really like to build off each other and bounce ideas off of each other.

"We were talking the other day about where we're kind of at the point where as far as mentally goes, you're not making huge leaps and bounds. Now, you're working on the nuances of football and just working on those little [things]. Maybe it's something really little like fixing your feet or hand placement, and that little thing elevates your game. So it's really taking the time to focus on the little, little aspects of football and finding joy in the little things of football."

While fond memories of flying around the football field and piling up sacks and tackles with the Chargers are there, Kohls knows the game has changed for him and he's focused on simply playing his game to the best of his ability.

"If I go into a game thinking, 'Oh, I've gotta have a sack or I gotta have two sacks, I've gotta have so many tackles for a loss,' it kind of just gets me out of my rhythm," he said. "For instance, if I'm getting down in my stance and it's second-and-3 and it's like, 'Oh, I haven't gotten a sack yet this game,' and I'm thinking so hard about that, the ball gets snapped ... and it's a duo or inside zone right up the middle, all the sudden I'm getting blown off my assignment. I kind of do my best not to think about a number, but just go out there and play football."

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