Fort Collins – Two games at Invesco Field at Mile High. Two different sidelines.
Colorado State free safety Klint Kubiak knows he’ll find the home team’s bench Sept. 9 when the Rams play Colorado. Locating the visitors’ bench Sunday when he’s a sideline guest of his father’s Houston Texans team could be trickier.
“I don’t know which one to stand on. I’ve been on the Broncos sideline my whole life. I used to be a ball boy,” said Kubiak, son of former Broncos offensive coordinator and first-year Texans head coach Gary Kubiak.
“It will be a different experience for me. It’s a good thing it’s a preseason game so it takes the pressure off a little.”
He has known many of the Broncos and most of the staff for what seems like his entire life. Gary Kubiak was in the Broncos’ organization for 21 years (nine seasons as a backup to John Elway and 12 as a coach, including 11 as the offensive coordinator).
While growing up, Klint Kubiak worked out at Dove Valley and was welcomed back this summer, even after Gary moved on. Other than his dad, his only links to the Texans are ex-Rams wide receiver David Anderson, the seventh-round draft pick, and free-agent rookie offensive lineman Mike Brisiel.
“I don’t know who to root for,” Kubiak said. “I really don’t know the Texas team that well. I know every Broncos player because I spent so much time with them. I spent some time in Houston, but I didn’t have 10 years to meet them all. I had two weeks.”
Former CSU offensive coordinator John Benton also is on Houston’s staff, but Benton was gone long before the current free safety arrived in Fort Collins.
The younger Kubiak said he feels sorry for his mom, Rhonda, who for the first time won’t be able to sit with all the other Broncos coaches’ wives.
This is the last weekend off for the Rams before the season starts and Kubiak, without prompting said: “We can start focusing on the next team we play, which is Weber State. We’re all excited about the first game. But the second game is in the back of your mind big-time at Invesco.”
He said he talks to his father daily. Houston’s bye week is Oct. 8, and the CSU safety hopes his father will make the Rams’ home game against UNLV.
“I don’t remember the last time he went to one of my games in high school because he always had to work,” Kubiak said. “I’ll send him the game film of the others with ‘Hey, Dad, break this down for me.”‘
CSU’s defensive secondary has seen the most fierce competition in preseason camp, and secondary coach James Ward said he can tell Kubiak is a typical coach’s son.
“You tell him something once and seldom does he make the same mistake again,” Ward said.
Footnote
CSU picked up an oral commitment from offensive guard James Tigges (6-feet-2, 260 pounds), according to Tulsa Union High School football coach Kevin Wright.
Tigges played tight end but will move inside for his senior season, and Wright said the CSU coaches project him on the interior line. Tulsa Union also produced CSU starting defensive tackle Blake Smith.
Natalie Meisler can be reached at 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com.
