COLORADO SPRINGS — Kai Jarmusz walked into coach Todd Miller’s office three years ago with a request. Jarmusz, then a freshman at Pine Creek, wanted to know if he could skip a football game to go hunting.
He soon after walked out with the obvious answer, along with a little reminder about dedication.
“We didn’t know if he was going to turn it in or play,” Miller recalled.
The coach found out Jarmusz doesn’t know the meaning of quit. The 6-foot-2, 265-pound senior left tackle displays the same tenacious work ethic whether bulking up in the weight room for football or helping his brother in the business they started where they do all kinds of backbreaking grunt work — from landscaping to forestry.
“It’s definitely tough, but it’s definitely set me up for success just working all those long days,” he said.
Jarmusz is the type of player that the Eagles (11-0), the top seed in the Class 4A postseason, need to run their smash-it-up offense. Next to him on the line is all-state senior left guard Ryan Lockwood.
Those two helped pave the way to a 28-7 victory last week over Broomfield. Jarmusz and the Eagles will have to plow their way through preseason No. 1 Heritage (10-1) on Friday night in order to reach the state semifinals.
And while the Eagles have several big and dedicated athletes, it’s Jarmusz’s enterprise Miller finds so refreshing.
“He’s just always into stuff, whether it be cutting trees down in the Black Forest, pulling cars out of ditches, plowing driveways, whatever he could do to make a buck here and there,” Miller said. “Our country has been based upon guys like that.”
School can be a tough place for the Carhartt-wearing entrepreneur. If it snows, Jarmusz is likely going to be late digging out. And while most kids get distracted by thoughts of crushes, pop culture or gossip, Jarmusz is more likely to have his tractor or one of his Stihl chainsaws on his mind.
Jarmusz lives on 10 acres in the Black Forest. He and his brother, Stefan, a 6-8, 235-pound sophomore at the University of Colorado, built a barn/shop with the help of their father and are currently building a guest house.
“There’s always a task around our house that needs to be done,” Jarmusz said. “There’s never enough time to sit and relax on the couch.”
During the summer the brothers landscape and cut down trees damaged by beetles.
“In the summer, he made more money than I did,” Miller said.
Jarmusz and Lockwood call each other brothers, and it’s not just because they love driving big trucks. They’ve worked together doing all kinds of heavy lifting on and off the field, whether it’s hauling logs or peeling back a blocker for quarterback Josh Chance.
“It builds a better and tougher mentality when you work your butt off all day and then come in and lift weights,” said Lockwood, who does odd-job labor to earn money.
The benefits of this can be seen every night on the football field with the run-first Eagles. Later that night?
“I sleep like a rock,” Lockwood said.
