Senior Gameday Program Feature - Kyle Starke
10/23/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
Kyle Starke
By Grace Duggan, Mizzou Strategic Communications
Kyle Starke grew up loving the game of football. Like many other Mizzou football players, Starke began playing football in the fourth grade and continued through high school and eventually the journey brought him all the way to suiting up into a Mizzou football uniform.
Coming from Liberty, Mo., and Liberty High School, Starke grew up a big fan of the Black & Gold and up until his senior year at Liberty, he never planned on playing football in college. However, that plan changed after Kyle's senior year when he began getting scholarship offers from Division II and NAIA schools. Starke also talked to Mizzou assistant coach Andy Hill and was told he had a walk-on spot if he wanted it. Starke eventually signed with a Division II school in Nebraska, but the football program was discontinued shortly after Starke signed his letter of intent. He then had a decision: go to school in Nebraska under scholarship without football or go to the school he had been a fan of all his life and play as a walk-on. Easy choice. Starke chose Mizzou.
"Mizzou always stuck out and I was always a huge fan," Starke said, "I knew coming here would be the right choice."
Starke believes that his father is the biggest role model in his life and has been a supportive force both on and off the football field.
"He has always been there for me," Starke said. "He never made me play football. It was always my decision, but he was always really supportive and always said it is what you want to do and supported me through everything."
The 6-5 offensive lineman has made the most of his time with the Tigers over the past four years. He appreciates the treatment of walk-ons at Mizzou and learned some valuable life lessons with the Tigers. When Starke first got to Mizzou, he found Coach Pat Ivey's mental conditioning a major help to his transition to a much larger college.
"When you get on your own and get away from your parents for the first time and you first get here, Coach Ivey can be a little intimidating," Starke said, "But you really realize how much he cares with each lesson he teaches you and I really appreciate all that he does."
After four years with the Tigers, Starke looked back to see the progress in himself that football has helped develop.
"I have learned leadership, not so much that I have become a great leader," Starke said, "But I have learned who great leaders are and what it takes to become a great leader."
Starke also sees another lesson he has learned from Coach Ivey's mental conditioning not only on the football field, but also in his academic career and values based on teamwork and brotherhood.
Now as the football season is drawing closer to an end and Starke's playing career is coming to an end, he realzies football has taught him about responsibility and becoming a dependable teammate on and off the field.
"It is not just what I am doing, what I do affects everyone else," Starke said, "I have to learn how to not only get my job done, but get it done for everyone else."
An agriculture business management major, Starke will be graduating in May and likes the broad program of agriculture business management to choose a career from.
All-in-all, Starke is another product of the state of Missouri that ended up on Faurot Field. And he won't be the last. And like many who dream of taking the field at Memorial Stadium, Starke still pinches himself that it actually has happened.
"Growing up, I never imagined it," Starke said. "I just wanted to come here to be a student. So actually being able to come here and be on the inside and be part of the team is just great and I wouldn't have traded it for anything."
