When Gabe Kaminski enrolled at Nazareth as a freshman, he had high hopes for football.
But Kaminski didn’t know how he compared to players already in the program.
“In the summer, I didn’t even think I was going to be on varsity,” he said. “I didn’t think I was that good, I guess.”
Kaminski might be the only one who thought that. Nazareth coach Tim Racki knew he had a future star.
“It took us all of one practice,” Racki said. “We knew he was a good player coming in, and he wanted to try varsity, and so we always do that in the summer with kids. After the first practice, I told him he had a varsity jersey, so we saw it right away.”
Kaminski not only made the varsity team. He dominated at defensive end, becoming the first player in Racki’s career to earn all-conference honors as a freshman.
Now a senior, the 6-foot-3, 230-pound Kaminski is poised to become the Roadrunners’ first four-time all-conference player. The Stanford recruit will go down as one of the greatest players to come out of Nazareth, a program that in the last decade has produced Seattle Seahawks safety Julian Love and Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
“I’m not afraid to say he falls into that category of a Julian Love type or a J.J. McCarthy, who are not only great players but took school seriously, were selfless players, team players,” Racki said. “They’re more concerned about team success.
“You’re blessed as a coach to have a kid that checks the boxes, and he knew about those kids, so that’s one of the reasons why he wanted to come to us. A lot of high schools were after him at the time, and luckily we landed him, and he fit right in from day one.”
So did quarterback Logan Malachuk, who also made the varsity team as a freshman that year and started right away. He first met Kaminski in seventh grade.
“We played 7-on-7 together, and that’s when we started talking, like, ‘Yeah, we’re both going to go to Naz,’” Malachuk said. “And that’s what happened.”
Yet neither foresaw the success the Roadrunners would have. They lost to Fenwick in the Class 5A state quarterfinals in 2021 but then won back-to-back state championships in 2022 and 2023.
Kaminski, who got his first offer from Iowa during his freshman year, dominated all over the field last season. He led Nazareth with 132 tackles, including 43 for loss and 19 sacks, and also had two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and an interception.
Kaminski did that despite switching to linebacker midway through the season. That’s the position he will primarily play this season and at Stanford.
“The first third of the season, when we had him with his hand down as a defensive lineman, teams were just checking and running away from him and doing a good job of keeping him out of the games,” Racki said. “So we made the decision to put him at linebacker deeper into the year, and it was a great move because you can’t run away from him when he’s standing in the middle.”
Malachuk knows this all too well. Quarterbacks, of course, are not allowed to get tackled in practice, for which he’s grateful. Facing Kaminski can be kind of terrifying, right?
“Oh, yeah,” Malachuk said. “I’m definitely glad he’s on our side because he’s a beast. He’s super fast. Even if I wanted to run, he could still catch me.”
Malachuk said he has never seen a kid as big as Kaminski move as fast. Kaminski is also a threat on offense. He caught six passes for 101 yards last season.
“He’s super slick,” Malachuk said. “He can move anywhere. The amount of moves he does and how he counters a lineman, I don’t even know what he does. But there are many different ways he can get around them and use his speed.”
Kaminski said he believes quickness is one of his biggest strengths.
“I go to a speed trainer, so he helps with that,” he said. “And I’ve been playing the sport as long as I can remember, so it’s just like second nature to me.”
Yet football wasn’t Kaminski’s first sport. That was wrestling. He’s a two-time Class 1A state runner-up at 220 pounds.
“Me and my brother Jacob (who wrestled and played football at Fenwick) started wrestling when we were really young, and I started football a few years after that because my brother wanted to try it out,” Kaminski said. “I tagged along, and it took off.”
Along the way, football became Kaminski’s favorite sport. He enjoys it even more than wrestling or rugby, which he played when he was growing up, and feels Nazareth is the ideal place to play football.
“The best part about Nazareth is all the guys on the team,” Kaminski said. “We really have a great culture, so it’s a privilege to step out there every day with them. Football is a great team sport, the best team sport, in my opinion.”
Kaminski’s talent is undisputed. His ceiling is the only unknown.
“I think he can do whatever he wants,” Malachuk said. “He’s so versatile that if you put him anywhere on the field, I’m sure he’ll dominate.”
Racki also foresees a bright future for Kaminski, an honors student.
“It’s a win-win,” Racki said. “I think he will excel at Stanford, and with his work ethic and his intelligence and how he takes care of his body, there’s no doubt that I see the NFL in his future.”
Kaminski’s goal is to play on Sundays one day. But he plans to major in computer science and knows he’s set up for success regardless of whether he reaches the NFL.
“If everything works out, that’s obviously another dream of mine,” he said. “I know (football) is going to end at some point and I’m going to fall back on my degree. I can’t think of a better place to chase those NFL dreams and also have an amazing degree.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
