Colorado Buffaloes tight end Brady Kopetz has spent the last four years building his own story. This weekend, though, the fifth-year tight end playing under Deion Sanders will have to face a school that means quite a bit to his family.
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Both of Kopetz’s parents graduated from Northwestern. So did his grandfather, and when Kopetz was still a freshman at Colorado, his parents already had a plan for this exact moment.
“My parents, even when I first enrolled here as a freshman, were telling me, ‘Oh, you should maybe stay for your fifth year because then you get to play Northwestern,’” Kopetz said on the Buffaloes Prime Time radio show with Mark Johnson. “They’re talking about wearing split coats and stuff like that, thinking they’re Kelsey[s]. I’m like, blood is thicker than water, come on, you are a Buff fan.”
Kopetz listened to them, and now, the fifth-year tight end gets to play his parents’ alma mater when Colorado visits Northwestern this Saturday.
“This is a really important week for me,” Kopetz said further in the YouTube clip. “I’m super excited. The way it worked out, it’s just so magical that I am here and get to play against my parents’ old school.”
The family’s connection to Northwestern goes back generations, but Kopetz’s own path took him in a completely different direction. His mom grew up in Portland, Oregon, while his dad bounced around a lot as a kid before eventually landing in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The two ended up meeting somewhere in the middle of the country.
Kopetz stayed in Portland and found himself drawn toward Colorado during his freshman year at Lincoln High School. He was talking with friends about their families’ college backgrounds and which schools sounded appealing. Colorado quickly stood out.
The school offered the combination Kopetz wanted: strong academics, a vibrant student experience, and Boulder. There was another reason Colorado caught his attention, too.
Kopetz spent a year on Lincoln’s ski team and was part of a state championship squad as a reserve skier. The possibility of skiing in Colorado was a major attraction. But there was one problem, given that four years into his Colorado career, Kopetz still hasn’t skied in Boulder.
“I’ve skied Mount Hood Meadows, that’s my home mountain, so I ski there whenever I’m home,” Kopetz said. “But just last year I brought the skis out here, and they’ve sat in my closet since. So I really need to bring them out.”
The irony isn’t lost on him. He came to Colorado partly because of the mountains, but football quickly took over.
Earlier on the radio show, when Kopetz’s name came up, Coach Prime said, “He’s unbelievable.” No more words of appreciation are needed here.
Kopetz has carved out a role as a physical presence in Colorado’s offense. Listed as a tight end and fullback, he said the two positions can feel almost interchangeable, while the coaching staff has been pushing him to embrace the physical side of being a fullback.
That mindset could be important against Northwestern as Colorado enters the game 2-0 after opening the season with a dramatic 14-13 win over Georgia Tech before beating Weber State 52-21.
The Buffs now face their first Big Ten opponent of the season, with Northwestern entering after a bye week and bringing a new-look offense led by quarterback Aidan Chiles and coordinator Chip Kelly.
For Kopetz, however, the biggest storyline will be much more personal, because his parents wanted him to stay long enough to play Northwestern. And now they have to watch their son line up against the school they spent years supporting.