Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Football at the junior high level is all about learning.

When Theo Kolie arrived for his first day of football practice in seventh grade at the urging of a classmate he had a little more learning to do than most of his teammates.

Or more accurately a lot more learning to do.

“In seventh grade he basically knew nothing about the sport even,” Regina junior Ashton Cook said of Kolie. “Every year he’s learned more and more and asked so many questions of the coaches and players and now he’s playing really well.”

To say Kolie is playing well is a bit of an understatment.

The first-year starter is coming off a career-high 202-yard rushing performance in a quarterfinal upset of fourth-ranked West Branch and has gone over 100 yards in four of the last seven games entering Regain's Class 1A semifinal matchup with No. 2 Van Meter (11-0) on Saturday at 10 a.m. a the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

“He’s a great kid to be around,” Regina coach Marv Cook said. “He is still learning the game. There are times where we’ll be talking about a concept with football and it’s like it’s a different language for him but once you tell him he gets it.”

What makes the breakthrough season for Kolie this fall so impressive is that four years ago Kolie didn’t know a thing about football.

Nothing.

“I didn’t know anything about football before I started playing,” Kolie explained. “I used to live in Africa and we only played soccer so I didn’t know a thing about football.”

Kolie came to the United Stats from Guinea when he was eight and shortly after he began attending Regina where he met Ashton Cook.

“I remember when he first came to Regina in fourth grade and he was really fast on the playground and I told him he should come out for football I think you’d be really good at it,” Ashton Cook said.

Kolie didn’t take Cook up on his request to try football immediately but the son of Regina head coach Marv Cook kept asking his classmate.

Finally, as a seventh grader Kolie decided to give football a try.

“Just knowing the rules and what to do and how the game works has been the biggest things I had to figure out,” Kolie said. “It’s been hard sometimes but now I love it.”

It took some time and a lot of questions to coaches and teammates but Kolie began to learn the game.  

Kolie admits early he didn’t have much interest in football outside of junior high practices.

By high school he was hooked and began spending his weekends watching college and NFL games to learn more about the sport.

“When I first started playing I wasn’t that into it so I didn’t watch football, I basically just went to practice,” Kolie said. “Once I got to high school I really started watching college football and NFL.”

This season Kolie has been one of the biggest surprises for Regina (9-2) which will make its ninth semifinal appearance in 10 years when it faces No. 2 Van Meter in a rematch of the 2017 1A title game on Saturday.

In his first season as a full-time starter Kolie leads the Regals in rushing and ranks seventh on the team in tackles from his outside linebacker spot.

“It’s unique when you can watch a guy literally get better every week and that’s what he’s been able to do sine seventh grade,” Marv Cook said. “He just gets getting better and better every day.”

Just as he has since he showed up at his first junior high practice Kolie has gotten better every game this season.

After rushing for 160 yards and three touchdowns in the first four games of the season the 6-foot-1, 165-pounder has averaged 104 yards per game over the last seven games.

“He will actively work on his weaknesses, over and over and over again,” Marv Cook said. “He’s really worked on catching the football, he wants to make that a strength, he’s a more physical runner than he used to be and he’s obviously a pretty good slashing runner. He’s been playing really, really good football.”

Kolie has rushed for a team-high 890 yards and eight touchdowns while averaging better than six yards per carry.

In his last game Kolie had his first 200-yard performance, rushing for 202 yards and a score on a career-high 27 carries against West Branch.

“We felt like he would be a big part of what we were doing this year but we weren’t sure how big,” Marv Cook said. “He’s done a really good job and he’s gotten more and more involved every week.”

Kolie is still learning football but one thing he picked up on quickly is the goal is end your season in the UNI-Dome.

“Not a lot of teams get the opportunity to go to the Dome and play and for me to have that opportunity is something special for me,” Kolie said. “I’m excited for that.”

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