Student-Athlete-Soldier: Kalvin Cline Balances Football and the Corps of Cadets in a True Throwback Combination

Back in 1892, it wouldn't have seemed all that impressive for a student at Virginia Tech to both march as a cadet and take the field as a football player.

When the Hokies first started playing football, every student in Blacksburg was a cadet, and every cadet was a student. Adding football to the equation hardly seemed like an unthinkable task at the time.

But in the days of constant practices, bowl games and a glaring national spotlight, it's truly rare to find an athlete willing to take on the burdens associated with military life while still keeping up with the rigorous schedule a coaching staff demands.

That's what makes Hokies tight end Kalvin Cline so unusual.

Cline had a whirlwind first year at Tech. Not only did he have to adjust to the pace of college classes, but he was forced into the starting lineup as the team hemorrhaged tight ends.

Yet after all that, he thought, 'what's next?'

"Coming into college, you can imagine having academics, football and doing the Corps is a lot for anybody. So I decided I was just going to focus on football and school," Cline said. "And then I had a great GPA, with football I had a great year, and then I was like 'I do have some time to do another one of my passions,' and that's the military. So I thought this year it would fit a lot better, so I've been catching up with everything and its been going well."

That passion stems from his father's experiences at Arkansas State. Mike Cline knows a thing or two about juggling football and the military after balancing both in his time at school, which made it an easy decision for Kalvin to follow in his footsteps with Tech's Corps of Cadets.

"He did it in college as well, he did ROTC in college and played football at Arkansas State, and he went in to the Reserves when he went into the pros, so he kept that in his life as well," Cline said. "I just saw the benefits he got from it, and I wanted that in my life."

Yet even with his dad's blessing, it's hard to imagine many college coaches allowing to spend one of their most talented players to spend hours on demanding physical activity outside of football.

But that's exactly what Frank Beamer did.

"I talked with his dad and talked with him, and that's what they wanted to do," Beamer said. "I coached for a long time at the Citadel, so I have a pretty good idea of the military life."

Cline reached out to the Corps before the new school year, and they were happy to have him.

"It's sort of a bridging of two cultures," said Commander Mike Weaver, deputy commandant of the Corps and Cline's battalion commander. "I think football players are always kind of curious about us and I know the cadets are excited to have a football player with us."

Even with this mutual acceptance. the two sides still wanted to meet before the season started to iron out any wrinkles.

"I met with his tight ends coach (Bryan Stinespring) about a month ago, just to make sure we're on the same page and make sure he could do both," Weaver said. "And we want make sure we each support each other."

With each side's agreement obtained, Cline set about getting started with his new double life.

Cline is academically and athletically a sophomore, but that experience doesn't count for much in the Corps.

Instead, he was assigned to the Army ROTC's Charlie Company, made up of roughly 75 cadets, with Cline as one of 25 freshmen in the group.

"Even with students transferring in, if they're a sophomore, they're still a first year cadet," Weaver said. "They have to develop those baseline skills to be successful."

That meant Cline had to participate in "new cadet week" before the semester began, a grueling week designed to physically prepare incoming cadets for the rigors of the Corps.

This, of course, came as the Hokies started their fall camp leading into the season, installing plays and running endless drills.

"His first week with new cadet training, he was going back and forth with football, it was kind of like having two full time jobs," Weaver said. "Other cadets had breaks, but he really didn't."

However, Cline's experience with the discipline of football smoothed the transition into military life.

"With most new cadets there's this culture shock and a lot of stress that goes with it," said Joseph DeWitt, a senior aerospace engineering major and the commander of Charlie Company. "But because of football, Kalvin knew how to handle it. He was able to stay more focused, and that made him kind of a role model to the others."

DeWitt says that, even despite Cline's notoriety on campus, Cline instantly fit in with his peers.

"There was a lot of excitement, especially among the other freshmen when they heard this campus celebrity was coming in," DeWitt said. "But he's remained humble about it the whole time, and they love that about him."

Once Cline made it through his first week with the Corps, it's not as if things got much easier. They're now in the "Red Phase" of training, which Cline calls the "real intense, get after it" phase of the Corps' three sections of the year.

That means more physical work, more room checks and more uniform inspections.

Yet Cline doesn't mind the harsh treatment.

"They're treating me like a freshman. Theres no sympathy about that," Cline said. "But that's part of it, and I don't want to be treated any different. I want to go out there if everyone else is going out there. There are some things I can't participate in just because of the physical limitations with my knee, but besides that Im a full go."

Cline's referring to his left knee, which needed surgery immediately after last season, and is still bothering him now.

"He can't really run right now, but he's able to march, walk to class," Weaver said. "He does participate to some extent. And we trust that his work as an athlete also is up to our standards for physical fitness, so that supplements things."

While his need to rehab his injury for football purposes could clash with the Corps' physical demands, Cline insists everyone has been completely accommodating.

"If it comes down to it, where my knee is hurting, they're totally understanding," Cline said. "I'll do my best, but they want to look out for my health and that's what's important. Whatever I can do, I want to do."

Yet, it's inevitable that Cline will miss out on some things while juggling both roles.

"It's a challenge to do two things at once, having one group of friends in one corner and one group of friends in another," Weaver said. "It's like how you can't date two people. But there's been no tension."

One Corps tradition he will miss out on is the first leg of the Caldwell March, an eight mile march retracing William Addison Caldwell's hike to Blacksburg as the first student to attend Virginia Tech. It's set to take place on October 4, when the Hokies head to Chapel Hill to face North Carolina.

"He has a game on that weekend, so we understand that he can't do everything," Weaver said. "But he's meeting all our standards. He was in formation this morning, he was there for his room inspection. And in spring, as football winds down, we expect he'll participate more."

Yet even as the calendar turns to the spring semester, there's offseason workouts and spring practice to think about.

But Cline's teammates say he's perfectly equipped to handle the balance.

"When he first went in, I was asking what him what he had to do on a daily basis, and he's telling me he has to wake up at 5 in the morning, and I don't know if I'd be able to do that, then go to classes and then go to practice, but he's a driven dude," said fellow tight end Ryan Malleck. "Out of all the tight ends, I could see him as the guy that's doing that. He's always been driven."

Tech hasn't had a player that was similarly driven to juggle football and the Corps since the late 1990s, but Weaver sees the connection as a natural one.

"The Corps has been around since the start, so there's definitely a link between the two," Weaver said. "After all, there's a line in 'Tech Triumph' that says 'the Corps is behind you,' and I think that holds true."

It's a connection made all the more apparent by the athletic department's frequent efforts to honor service members, best exemplified by the school's annual "Military Appreciation" game, like the one Tech's holding this weekend.

Cline's father appreciates the meaning of it, and is trying his best to be there to see the Hokies take on ECU, even if his son won't be suiting up for it because of his injury.

"He's trying to come up because he wants to be a part of it. It's a special day," Cline said.

For Mike, the allure of professional football was greater than that of an army life. He went to the NFL, and got drafted by the Packers, but Cline sees himself walking a different path.

"He's a young guy, so he doesn't know what he wants to do quite yet, but he's really dedicated about going into the Army," DeWitt said. "He doesn't know what he wants to do with them yet, but he's serious about it."

That would be quite a different career path than the coaching staff likely envisioned for someone of his physical gifts, but it's also one that hearkens back to the days of the earliest students at Virginia Tech.

"He wants to do it, and he should do it if that's his future," Beamer said. "If it's not in the NFL, he's interested in the military, that's what he should do."