syracuse
Syracuse, N.Y.
Paul Woods has seen the crowds pack the bleachers and spill onto the grass that surrounds the football stadium in Western New York.
Hes also seen kids line up after a game in Ohio, waiting for an autograph or to present T-shirts to the star running back when he emerges from the visitors locker room.
Thats the kind of impact Elijah Kimble has suiting up for Canisius High School and the moments his coach lists when explaining how Kimble, a four-star recruit, earned the nickname The Ticket.
Hes box office, Woods said.
Everybody comes to see him.
Kimble, perhaps the top high school football player in New York, plans to announce his college decision Friday evening at his high school.
Live coverage of Kimbles ceremony will be streamed by WNY Athletics on YouTube.
Syracuse is considered the favorite to land him.
Head coach Fran Brown is so confident he can close the deal that he told another running back to look elsewhere to clear room for Kimble.
Brown and assistant running backs coach Dennis Thomas relayed that message to Woods, who has known the Syracuse coaches since their time coaching in New Jersey.
When Syracuse hosted Kimble for a recruiting visit on May 29, it went so well that Kimble was back for another on June 19, a weekend Syracuse reserved for its biggest targets.
Kimble, 5-foot-8, 190 pounds, has rushed for 5,325 yards and 77 touchdowns entering his senior season.
Hes 1,234 yards shy of former Michigan State back Jehuu Caulcricks career record among Western New York players.
Kimbles story began with the local Buffalo Ravens youth football program.
Kimble was the starting running back and always played up in age group.
Despite playing against older and more physically mature kids, Kimble dominated.
Woods received a call one day about Kimble and was subsequently sent Kimbles tape.
Within two minutes, he was telling head coach Kraig Kurzanski that the two needed to take a recruiting trip.
I get a lot of film every day, Woods said.
Respectfully, a lot of parents think that their kid is the next guy.
But this film was a little different.
Kimble made the varsity team instantly.
If he didnt start, he wouldve been the 1a running back, Kurzanski said.
Canisius had two senior running backs, including Dyrell Howard-Dolson, who had Division I offers to play defensive end.
However, both went down with ACL injuries in the preseason, and the coaches didnt hesitate to give Kimble the starting job.
We had known that he was going to probably outcompete that kid anyways at some point, Kurzanski said.
It just happened faster because of the injury.
But I knew right away hes a special kid.
Kimbles first game saw him rush for 121 yards and a touchdown on 10.1 yards per carry.
In his second game, Kimble erupted for 243 yards and a touchdown, including an 84-yard carry.
His first carry in that game went for 50 yards.
After the play, he stood up and yelled, Im here.
Kimble finished his freshman season with 1,821 rushing yards and 20 total touchdowns, which led to an offer from Oregon.
He finished the next season with 1,778 rushing yards and 33 total touchdowns, which led to Syracuse extending an offer.
Last season, Kimble ran for 1,726 yards and 24 total touchdowns en route to being the first player in Canisius history to win the Connolly Cup, which is presented to the most outstanding high school football player in Western New York.
He now has more than 30 offers.
Hes the best kid Ive ever coached in my 36 years, Kurzanski said of Kimble, a top-25 running back nationally, according to the recruiting sites.
Ive had some D-I kids, but nothing like Elijah.
And I think he will be better in college when he gets into a formal lifting program and gets to eat properly and do all those things that are hard to do as a high school kid.
Kimbles production, Kurzanski said, has led to Canisius landing better players with competitive athletes gravitating toward him.
Canisius has gone 20-14 in Kimbles tenure, including a 9-3 finish in 2024.
Canisius finished first in its section that year, won the Class A state title and made it to the New York Catholic State Championship.
Last year, Canisius went 6-0 at home, sometimes playing in front of standing-room only crowds of a few thousand fans, to improve its record to 13-3 in during Kimbles tenure.
Kimble will soon get a chance to make his mark as Power Four player.
He told 247Sports that Syracuse was his top option last month, and that hasnt changed.
The advice from Woods has been to commit to a school, not a coaching staff.
For a program looking to build on a future foundation that includes blue-chip wide receivers in Calvin Russell II and Amare Gough, the addition of Kimble has the chance to be the cherry on the top of what Brown hopes will be an ACC championship offense in the future.
Kurzanski said Kimble wants to go to a school that makes him feel respected and has genuine people.
He said when narrowing his list of schools, Kimble based his list on the coaches he was most comfortable with, which included Brown and Thomas at the top.
He is a kid who wants to change his life using football as a vehicle, Kurzanski said.
Youre gonna get a dawg, man.
He can play.
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