The Alabama football vs. Tennessee rivalry will feature coaches Kalen DeBoer and Josh Heupel, two South Dakota natives. Decades ago, Mike Busch saw them play high school football.
Busch, a long-time football coach, will be in the Hawkeye State for a family event this weekend. But once 2:30 p.m. CT hits and No. 7 Alabama plays No. 11 Tennessee at Neyland Stadium, Busch will be in front of a television and watching ABC. He wouldn’t be doing anything else then. Busch has too much passion and pride for South Dakota.
“To have two kids within about an hour and a half to two hours of one another,” Busch told AL.com, “on the same highway in South Dakota, to be at Tennessee and Alabama is a great story for the state of South Dakota.”Milbank became Busch’s first head coaching job, when he was about 26. He soon learned he didn’t have to worry about finding a kicker.“Kalen came in and just seemed like a natural kicking the ball through the goal post,” Busch said.
DeBoer shined at wide receiver, too. That’s the primary position he went on to play at Sioux Falls College. Busch praised DeBoer’s hands, hand-eye coordination and ability to make easy and big catches. “It’s just like the quarterback and receiver in the backyard,” Busch said. “They seemed to make plays. Even when the ball wasn’t a perfect slant route or right there, Kalen would go get the ball."Busch left Milbank and took a coaching job at Mitchell High School in the fall of 1994. Soon, he would face Aberdeen Central and coach against the Heupel kid.
“He had a big night against us from what I remember,” Busch said. “We felt like we had a good game plan, but he was just that talented his senior year.”
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