(This is the fourth in a five-part series on Tennessee players whose dads played in the NFL. You can hear interview live on SportsRadio WNML today at about 4:25.)
By Jimmy Hyams
Tennessee fans remember Reggie McKenzie as a star football player at Knoxville’s Austin-East High School and the University of Tennessee.
They remember him as a seven-year NFL player who ascended to the ranks of general manager of the Oakland Raiders.
They remember him as a twin brother of Raleigh McKenzie, who also played at Austin-East, Tennessee and toiled 16 years in the NFL, winning two Super Bowls.
But many don’t remember that Reggie McKenzie was valedictorian of his high school class.
Kahlil McKenzie knows it, because his dad isn’t shy about mentioning it.
Reggie reminds his son not to brag, but to make a point: You can achieve what your mind can believe.
“I heard it all the time,’’ said Kahlil, a junior defensive tackle at Tennessee. “He’d tell me, `Kahlil, I was valedictorian just because I tried harder. … Somebody wants to be better than you and you just got to go to work and show them they’re not.’
“He always told me that if you’re willing to work harder than anyone else, you are going to accomplish what you want to.’’
Against that backdrop, Kahlil was raised in the McKenzie household, where hard work and football were staples of life.
Kahlil said he enjoyed growing up in a football family.
“Football is always important, but you get a different love for the game,’’ Kahlil said. “You see how it brings your family together. It’s kind of the glue that holds us together.’’
Kahlil was born in Green Bay, where his dad was an executive with the NFL team. Kahlil said he was wrapped in a Packers’ blanket and had a football in his crib. He had his picture taken in a Brett Favre jersey at an early age.
“Football has been everything in my whole life,’’ Kahlil said.
Kahlil played flag football before tackle football was introduced in the fourth grade. He played baseball for years. The first sport he tried was soccer, but it didn’t work out for a kid that was much bigger than boys his age.
“I played it for two years,’’ he said. “But all these people are kind of small and when I touched them, they’d fall over and they wanted to blame me for everything and throw me out of the game. So I didn’t really get too much love out of that.’’
Kahlil grew up an NFL fan with the Packers practically in his back yard.
“I was die-hard, bled green and gold,’’ Kahlil said. “College football started to grow on me as I got older. I think the first national championship game I watched was Texas and USC (2005). I was like, `This is pretty cool.’
“I started to be a college football fan and loved everything about it. Now I like watching college football more than the NFL because of the passion and you see how hard guys play. You have fans that are completely vested in it.’’
Speaking of being invested, Kahlil said he “wishes’’ he had bought stock in the Packers like his parents did. His dad later revealed that he bought stock for Kahlil, but hadn’t told his son yet.
Kahlil said he enjoyed watching football film with his dad. Most of the tape came from Tennessee games, where Reggie starred with another Reggie, Reggie White, a future college and pro football Hall of Famer. The Reggies played together at UT from 1981-83.
“My favorite clips is when Reggie White gets a sack and the first guy to congratulate him is my dad,’’ Kahlil said. “It’s just a cool clip.’’
Reggie McKenzie remembers watching that with his son and said the reason he was the first to congratulate Reggie White is that White beat McKenzie to the quarterback by half-a-second.
Reggie McKenzie said he was driven by his competitive nature. It helped him on the football field, in the class room and in the front office of an NFL team.
Is Kahlil as competitive as his dad?
“Well, he is a bad loser,’’ Reggie Mckenzie said.
Kahlil said his uncle Raleigh gigs his brother Reggie “all the time’’ about having won two Super Bowls as a player. Reggie got his Super Bowl in the front office with the Packers.
“My uncle’s a funny guy,’’ Kahlil said. “He likes to get his jokes in when he can.’’
Kahlil saw first hand how his dad climbed the NFL ladder. Reggie started his first two years in Oakland (1985-86) then played for Arizona. His last stop was for a cup of coffee with the 49ers in 1992.
Tennessee called and offered him a graduate assistant job. The next year, Ron Wolf, GM of the Packers, hired Reggie as a scout. Reggie became director of pro personnel then director of football operations then landed a job in Oakland as GM, replacing the late Al Davis. The Raiders have been a team on the rise in recent years.
“My dad is a relationship-builder kind of guy,’’ Kahlil said. “That’s big with him. That’s what’s really grown on me. It’s something I have taken from my dad.’’
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