He was awfully close.
Getting cut after one year as a preferred walk-on at Arizona State, Aurora University offensive lineman Matt Kickel wasn’t quite ready to walk away from his dreams of playing at the next level.
Not yet, especially after hanging with such elite company.
“I’ve always dreamed of playing professionally,” said Kickel, a 2019 Benet graduate. “My mom (Sharon) still has drawings I made at a young age when we were asked what we wanted to be.
“It was a year before the transfer portal really became a thing. I had a great time, and I was kind of getting to feel how to act like a pro.”
Arizona State’s recruiting class that year for coach Herm Edwards included quarterback Jayden Daniels, who’s now with the Washington Commanders after winning the Heisman Trophy at LSU.
Also in that group were NFL first-round draft choices Brandon Aiyuk, a receiver who went to the San Francisco 49ers, and N’Keal Harry, a tight end taken by the New England Patriots.
Several others have made it to the league, too.
“I got to see how pros act, but at the end of the day, I couldn’t get my body in the right build,” said the 6-foot-4 Kickel, a Bolingbrook native whose weight was 240 pounds at the time.
“I knew it wasn’t the healthiest I could be. Plus, they were pretty deep at offensive line. Several players told me it might be coming, but I kept my head down and kept working.”
He credited Joe Connolly, ASU’s head coach of sports performance, for laying the groundwork for what came next.
“Coming out of high school, I had an offer from Aurora,” Kickel said. “I had worked at coach (Don) Beebe’s House of Speed since seventh grade. I was really familiar with him and his program.
“It was kind of like a no-brainer to come here.”
It has worked out well.
Kickel, who has completed his bachelor’s degree in sports management, is one semester away from finishing off a master’s degree in business administration.
His work on the field also has gone well, too. He started 11 games in 2021 at left tackle. He then moved to guard to play alongside tackle Chris Toth, originally a Big Ten player who found his way to AU and played in the Hula Bowl All-Star Game before getting a tryout with the Chicago Bears.
Toth also had short stints in the USFL and with the Canadian Football League’s Calgary Stampeders franchise. It’s a path Kickel hopes to follow one day.
“I would assume he’s going to be an All-American again this year,” Beebe said of Kickel. “He’s never missed a game, never missed a down and just dominated. Chris (Toth) was very athletic, but as far as potential, Matt might be a better fit for the NFL.
“You’ve gotta be real mean in the trenches, and while Matt is the nicest guy in the world when you meet him, when he straps it on, it’s go time and he gets after it.”
Off the field, Kickel has gotten after it with his conditioning, following a diet plan laid out by Chad Trudo, AU’s strength and conditioning guru, and nonstop workouts with senior fullback Jon Alstott.
It has helped Kickel maintain his weight at 300 pounds, losing 9% body fat and putting him in shape to earn All-American honors again from both The Associated Press and D3football.com.
Kickel, who stays within 300-315, was named the conference’s offensive lineman of the year last week before the Spartans lost a second-round playoff game to Hope in Holland, Michigan.
Having made the jump from a small school to the NFL, Beebe has valuable insight.
“The biggest thing most people would say is dealing with the speed, and rightfully so,” Beebe said. “But I think the biggest thing is the mindset. You have to go and know you can dominate.
“I lived it and had to get that confidence. Believe me, Matt has that in spades.”
