King twins form two-pronged attack for Cass Tech, want to be college teammates

David Goricki
The Detroit News
Detroit Cass Tech looks to defend its PSL title behind twins Kalen, left, and Kobe King.

The King twins plan on doing some damage when they take the field for Detroit Cass Tech this fall to try and help the team defend its PSL title while making a deeper run in the state playoffs.

Cass Tech veteran coach Thomas Wilcher said his team will be younger than normal this season, but still will have some impressive talent, led by 6-foot-1, 230-pound junior linebacker/running back Kobe King and 5-11, 170-pound junior cornerback/receiver Kalen King.

Kobe and Kalen are both three-star players and each have 25 offers, including seven from Big Ten teams, including Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State.

Kalen King was a fixture in the back end of Cass Tech’s defense last season while Kobe King had multiple starts at linebacker during his sophomore season.

And, now Wilcher will have even bigger plans for the King twins with Kobe King expected to play on both sides of the ball, getting his share of the carries while joining speed back Donny Scott in the backfield, along with his duties at linebacker.

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Kalen will be a target of first-year starting quarterback Sebastian Brown as well as playing cornerback. Brown will be taking over for Jalen Graham (Purdue), as will Kobe King and Scott for Lew Nichols (Central Michigan) and Jaren Mangham (Colorado) at running back.

“Kobe is a very humble, very brave young man,” Wilcher said. “We had big running backs last year, but Kobe carried the ball a bit too. He’ll be the main back this year, and Donny Scott will be the speed back.

“Kobe’s brother Kalen started every game last year. Kalen has a great defensive back skill set and is very athletic. He’ll also play receiver for us this season.”

Cass Tech has won three state titles (2011, ’12 and ’16) this decade, also losing to Romeo in the 2015 Division 1 state championship game.

Cass Tech dominated Detroit King in last year’s PSL title game, 42-8, and carried a 10-0 record before falling to Dearborn Fordson 41-14 in a Division 1 district title game, ending a run of eight straight years of at least advancing to the state semifinals.

Kobe King was thrilled when he received an offer from Michigan last winter. Michigan State offered him a month ago. He took an unofficial visit to MSU with his brother last month and liked what the Spartans had to offer.

And, Kobe would like to play his college ball with his brother alongside him.

“That’s our plan, to go to the same school,” Kobe said. “We’re close. I remember Michigan offering me on January 15th. I was excited. Michigan State recently offered me. I toured the school, toured the campus. I like the coaches, like the environment at Michigan State. It’s a home feeling. I feel like it’s somewhere that I can play, the same thing with Michigan.

“I’ve been a fan of both. We’ve (Cass Tech) had players go to both schools, so I can’t root for one over the other.”

Kalen feels his play last fall has led to the majority of his offers.

“After last season my recruitment started to pick up a lot,” Kalen said. “A year ago I had a couple of offers, maybe three, but now I’m getting a lot. It would be great to play college ball with Kobe. That’s the plan. It would be nice because it would save my parents a lot of time and money and stress.”

When asked if his personality was similar to Kobe’s, Kalen replied: “I’m more of a goofy type of dude where he’s more serious.”

Brown, a left-handed quarterback, has a 4.0 GPA, and he has Ivy League offers, along with one from Miami of Ohio. He should be Cass Tech’s eighth straight quarterback to move on to play college ball next year with Jayru Campbell (Ferris State) — the Harlon Hill award winner — Rodney Hall (Northern Illinois), Aaron Jackson (Eastern Michigan) and Graham set to play this fall.

“I’m excited for the season,” Brown said. “I have a lot to prove. I have a lot of colleges that want to see me work, be a leader and lead my team to the state championship and go on from there.”

Brown should have time to operate, working behind an offensive line led by four-star junior center Raheem Anderson and three-star junior tackles Terrence Enos and Doran Ray.

dgoricki@detroitnews.com