Ikoma goes from Japan to Coe for football

CEDAR RAPIDS - Steve Staker had the same response most guys would have had.

One day three years ago, with fall practice already underway, the Coe College head football coach was approached in the school's cafeteria by this little 5-foot-7 kid from Japan whom Staker had never seen before.

Kazumasa Ikoma, in very broken English, asked Staker if he could try out for the team. Needless to say, the coach was taken aback and rather confused.

'You mean our soccer team, right?” Staker finally asked Ikoma.

No, he really did mean Coe's 'American football” team. The Kohawks have their Iowa Conference opener Saturday at Loras, and the guy affectionately known as 'Ichiro” likely will see playing time as a wide receiver.

A college will go about anywhere to find players. But, in this case, the player came to the college, and from a country you would never, ever associate with the sport.

'They have football in Japan, but it is not popular,” Ikoma said. 'It's getting more popular now. My dad used to play football in high school. When I was 10, I watched an NFL game on TV, a college game, and I feel like I need to play.”

Ikoma attended Waseda University in Tokyo four years ago, with part of his educational requirements there a year of studying abroad. He picked the United States and Coe because his hometown of Misato is roughly the size of Cedar Rapids.

And so he could play football.

His one-year stay has turned into four because of his love of the game. This is his final season of eligibility, and he'll graduate in the spring.

'In Japan, the most popular sports are baseball and soccer, but I almost never played them,” Ikoma said. 'I don't regret that I choose football. I love it.”

'Ichiro” has been almost exclusively a JV player though has improved enough to get into all three of Coe's varsity games this season. He caught a pair of passes two weeks ago in a loss to Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

His grasp of the English language has improved as much as his football, he says in large part because of his teammates and coaches constantly communicating with him. Interestingly, he has never had issues understanding Coe's playbook.

'We figured he'd last about a week,” said Coe offensive coordinator Tyler Staker. 'He goes to our first meeting, it's already about three days into camp, and he doesn't really know what's going on. We put up a bunch of plays, he comes out here (to the field) and has zero mental errors. He knows football. He understands the spacing, understands the game. He just knows it.”

'I knew some football words,” Ikoma said. 'We'd use the same words (in Japan), so learning the playbook was not a difficult thing for me.”

That's quite amazing.

'When you've got a play called ‘Yo Trey Right Pistol Bunch Liz Dart Razor,' you kind of wonder if ‘OK, does he really get all that?,” Tyler Staker said. 'But he does.”

Ikoma will head back home when he's done at Coe, but his football days likely aren't over. He said there is a semi-pro league in Japan that he'd like to try out for.

It's hard to bet against him making it there.

'People there might be surprised by my play because I have experience here now,” he said with a smile. 'I'm very lucky to be able to play here.”

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