GRANBURY, Texas — The fish tales and the trash talk begin in a phone call, before Kevin Kolb even launches his boat into Lake Granbury. “Y’all ready to lose?” Kit Getchell says, claiming to know where the fish are as he eggs on Kolb.
Kolb has pre-fished, so, after not getting a bite in two h
ours of scouting, he knows where the fish “aren’t”. Kolb and his partner, Jeff Gilbert, the owner of Fun-N-Sun Boat Sales, are competing in a weekly Working Man Tournament.
Kolb is at home here.
He and his wife, Whitney, still live in the modest four-bedroom house they bought in a gate
d community on the lake soon after the Philadelphia Eagles made Kolb a second-round pick in 2007. A year ago, they bought land on the other side of the lake to build their dream home for their growing family.
Kolb and Whitney Huddleston became high school sweethearts when Kolb’s family moved
to Stephenville his freshman year. They married in 2007, two months before Kolb was drafted, and they decided to build their future in Granbury, which is 29 miles from Stephenville.
Philadelphia is their second home, but, with the Eagles committing to Michael Vick as their starting quarterback, Kolb surely will build his NFL future elsewhere. Their home, in a suburb a half hour from the Eagles’ NovaCare Training Complex, isn’t up for sale yet, but they hope it will be soon.
San Francisco needs a quarterback. Arizona could use a quarterback. Minnesota doesn’t have Brett Favre anymore. Tennessee has announced it is parting ways with Vince Young. Miami doesn’t appear sold on Chad Henne. The Seahawks, whose starter, Matt Hasselbeck, is a free agent, showed interest in trading for Kolb last year.
But the NFL lockout is preventing player movement as well as organized team practices, called OTAs.
Gift of patience
So Kolb works out at Glen Rose High School, where former Stephenville assistant Tommy Dunn is the head coach, and he waits. Being a fisherman, Kolb has the gift of patience. He showed it the three years he spent on the bench behind Donovan McNabb before the Eagles traded McNabb to Washington last April. Kolb showed it again last season when a concussion in the season opener cost him his starting job to Vick.
Kolb, 26, has made seven starts in four seasons. It is past time for him to get his chance, and Eagles coach Andy Reid knows it.
“I want to be starting somewhere next year. I really want to be,” Kolb says. “I’m in my fifth year now, so it’s time to prove myself as a starter. Andy and I have a great relationship. It’s always, ‘You tell your side, and I’ll tell mine, and hopefully we can make this thing work.’ That’s usually what happens. I know he’ll do the right thing here.”
Kolb doesn’t listen to sports talk radio, and his TV is on Nicktoons for his 27-month-old daughter, Kamryn. (His other daughter, Atley Rose, celebrated her first birthday last week.) Kolb talks to his agent, Jeff Nalley, every few days for updates on the lockout.
He knows no more than NFL fans know about whether the season will kick off on time in 2011. But the sooner an agreement is reached, the better for Kolb.
It’s not for financial worries. Kolb’s rookie contract was a four-year, $4.285 million deal. Last year, after McNabb was traded, the Eagles handed him the starting job and a one-year extension through 2011 worth $12.25 million, including a $10.7 million signing bonus.
A self-proclaimed “country boy,” Kolb lives like it. He drives a 2008 Ford Super Duty monster truck he bought cheap from teammate Juqua Parker, and he complains about gas prices after spending $170 to fill the tank on his Skeeter i-Class boat, which Fun-N-Sun Boat Sales provides him.
Kolb’s only big purchase this off-season was land. He recently closed on 2,500 acres in West Texas, an investment he plans one day on which to build a ranch for hunting.
But the lockout is preventing Kolb from getting a new team, a new offense, a new playbook, a new head coach, a new offensive coordinator, new teammates. And, depending on how long the lockout lasts, it could keep Kolb in Philadelphia, on the bench, for yet another season. “I’ll go to work as a backup if that happens,” Kolb concedes. “That’ll be my job. That’s a possibility. I hope it doesn’t happen.”
Throwing practice
Kolb, who purchased disability insurance this off-season, works out at Glen Rose four days a week. He recently started throwing, mostly into a net, but sometimes to friends. Eagles receiver Chad Hall, whose girlfriend attends TCU, has promised to work out with Kolb.
In a week or so, Kolb will travel to Houston to throw to former UH teammate Donnie Avery, a receiver for the St. Louis Rams who is returning from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.
For now, Kolb is alone with his iPod and his thoughts on the turf at Tiger Stadium. “I try to visualize great plays from last season,” he says. “That gets you fired up and gets you going.”
With four game balls the Eagles shipped him, Kolb warms up before a fast-paced session throwing at various distances and various angles. He misses the net only four times, admonishing the ball on one high throw, and he later jokes his receivers fell down on his misfires.
When he’s done — before the six gassers he runs the width of the field — Kolb has no idea how many throws he has made. “Seventy something?” he asks. Actually, he has thrown 99 passes.
In the indoor facility, Kolb does an upper-body weight workout, following the basic plan the Eagles’ strength and conditioning coaches designed for their players. He never rests more than 30 seconds between sets, figuring that’s as much of a breather as he’ll get in a game.
Kolb bench-presses 275 pounds, 90 pounds shy of his personal-best, and pushes a sled loaded with 110 pounds. He also works his core, his biceps, his triceps, his shoulders and his back. The two-hour workout leaves him pouring with sweat and in need of lunch.
During one of his 30-second breaks, Kolb reads a text message from Vick. Vick also fishes, and Kolb is trying to get him to town.
Tournament tough
Kolb got serious about fishing when he got to the NFL.
“I’ve always been a fisherman, but tournament fishing is a whole different animal,” he says. “It’s a thinking man’s game.”
Kolb fishes in 15-20 tournaments a year and has some $3,500 in career winnings. But he’s still an amateur.
“I’m like a seventh-grade football player,” he says. “That’s what it’s like. The guys who do it for a living are unbelievable.”
His biggest catch is a 12-pound, 6-ounce bass, which he says is “equivalent to seven touchdowns in a game.” He caught a 10-pounder last month in a tournament at Hubbard Creek near Breckenridge, winning big bass and $350.
Kolb hasn’t been in Lake Granbury much since a golden algae bloom killed more than 250,000 fish. But even after not getting a nibble in the pre-fish, Kolb remains confident as he picks up Gilbert at Stumpy’s Lakeside Grill for the small Wednesday night tournament.
“Usually, you’re going to catch something,” Kolb says when asked if he ever comes back empty-handed, “but it happens.”
Minutes before the start of the tournament, Kolb and Gilbert discuss where they should start.
“Can you tell we have a game plan?” Gilbert, 46, asks. “It’s 30 seconds until kickoff of the Super Bowl, and we have no play.”
“This is not even a preseason game,” Kolb corrects him.
But as soon as the air horn blows, the competitive Kolb runs the Yamaha VMax 300 motor wide open. It can go as fast as 72 mph. Kolb and Gilbert have nine rods and reels on the deck of the boat and more underneath. Nothing works. Not the spinnerbait. Not the frog. Not the change of spots.
In three hours, Gilbert gets one bite and Kolb catches a sand bass, which he throws back because it’s the wrong species. They return home with sunburn and windburn but little else. Their live tank is empty.
“Better luck next time,” Gilbert says.
And that’s just what Kolb is hoping.
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