Kimber Shines, One Way Or Another

FITCHBURG

 —  Jeremy Kimber has done it all when it comes to playing football in the city of Fitchburg.

He played for Fitchburg High for four seasons, quarterbacking the varsity squad his final three years. As a senior in 2007, he threw for 20 touchdowns and more than 1,200 yards to earn Division 1 North MVP honors. Kimber was named as a Telegram & Gazette Super Team member that season after bringing the Red Raiders to the playoffs.

Later that school year, he decided to stay in the city and bring his game to Fitchburg State.

After seeing sporadic action his freshman year with the Falcons, Kimber caught 32 balls in 2009 for 381 yards and two touchdowns. He followed that with a junior campaign in which he had the bulk of the quarterback duties. He finished the year having completed 104 of 194 passes for six touchdowns.

Now the 6-foot-3, 180-pound senior is willing to do anything required of him.

“I’m not sure,” Kimber said of how he will fit in with the team’s scheme this season. “They might use me at receiver, they might use me at quarterback, so whichever one, I’m just going to go out and do as much as I can to help the team.”

He has no preference as to how he’s used.

“No, I love them both, to be honest,” Kimber said. “Either one, I’m gonna go out there and work my butt off because that’s just how I play.”

That uncertainty is more pronounced because there is a new coaching staff. Pat Haverty is returning to lead Fitchburg State after four years away from the Falcons’ sideline.

Haverty is grateful to have a player like Kimber as he tries to work the players into his system.

“He’s probably going to be required to play multiple positions again,” Haverty said. “And he’ll play wherever he has to.”

Kimber feels good about the way the new regime has handled training camp.

“There’s a lot of positivity,” Kimber said. “Even though obviously we’ve had a lot of coaching changes, all the new assistants and a new head coach, everybody believes in them, everybody’s positive, and we’re all looking forward to this year.”

The senior captain also feels good about how his time at quarterback last season has affected his game.

“It gave me a better look at how the defenses run,” Kimber said. “And regardless of whether I play quarterback or receiver, now I’m more experienced and have a better understanding of the game.”

Football is not the only game he understands. Kimber also starred on the basketball court for Fitchburg High and has continued to be a two-sport athlete in college, while majoring in criminal justice.

He obviously has led a full college life and this season hopes to add to it with greater team success, while eschewing personal achievement.

“I’m not looking at personal or individual goals,” he said. “Personally, I’d hope to get a better record than we have the last couple of years.”

There have indeed been recent lean times for Fitchburg State football. The team went 1-9 last year, the lone win coming in a 46-44 shootout with Maine Maritime. That followed consecutive 4-6 campaigns in Kimber’s first two years.

The Falcons were ranked eighth — out of eight — in the New England Football Conference’s Bogan Division preseason poll, something that has become prominently displayed in the Fitchburg State locker room.

“A lot of teams underestimate us,” Kimber said. “And we got picked last — dead last — in the conference, but that doesn’t faze us. That’s just pushing us to get to the championship.”

No matter how the season turns out for Fitchburg, though, it will be cap a wonderful career in the city for Kimber.