Chaparral's Max Kuhns is a football star, but baseball is his passion

During the football season, a little bit of a fuss was made about the lack of recruiting looks Max Kuhns was getting.

The bedazzlement was justified, too. Sure, Kuhns was getting some looks, but not the type one might expect for a quarterback putting up wacky numbers for two straight seasons at the state's highest level.

But here's the thing: it's a moot point. Football isn't Kuhns' primary sport.

"I've always had this love for baseball that I really can't explain," Kuhns said. "It's always been my No. 1 passion in my heart, no matter what anyone has told me. It's always been baseball all the way."

A third baseman and pitcher for Chaparral (Parker), the 6-foot-4, 205-pounder is coming off a junior season in which he batted .500 and clubbed 21 extra-base hits, including eight home runs, in 21 games. The recruiting trail is hot now — all in pursuit Kuhns as a baseball player — and he has narrowed his options to four schools as the season begins.

Santa Clara. San Diego State. UNLV. Grand Canyon.

"He's definitely going to school to play baseball," Chaparral coach Tony Persichina said. "That's something he's been very adamant about."

Persichina believes Santa Clara might have edged ahead as the frontrunner while Kuhns continues to weigh points and counterpoints of each program. What most amazes Persichina about Kuhns' junior season, in which he would have batted .368 if only extra-base hits counted, is that he got off to a poor start.

"We opened the season in Arizona and he kind of struggled," Persichina said. "But once we got back to Colorado, there was a point where I think he went 18-for-21 or something like that, which was pretty ridiculous."

Kuhns also went 4-1 on the mound with a 3.09 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 31 2/3 innings. He is cut from the same mold of former Wolverines Pat Hirschberg (Nebraska, Trinity College) and Jordan Serena (Columbia), surefire Division I prospects that were bound for a future in baseball.

Persichina calls Kuhns a pleasant mix of the personalities of the previous two stars. Hirschberg was a "to the beat of his own drum" type of player and Serena intensely focused.

"He's quirky," Persichina said. "He's free-spirited. You watch him play and he's kind of got that swagger about him. He's not really a vocal leader, but at the same time, he's a go-getter. He's an empowered young man."

Power numbers were down across the board with the institution of the BBCOR bats, but Kuhns appeared immune with a slugging percentage better than 1.000.

"I try to hit the ball to right-center and hit doubles to the gaps," Kuhns said. "I squared up a few balls and got lucky on some and got them to go out. I wouldn't classify myself as a great power hitter or anything like that. I just squared up a few baseballs last year."

Kuhns also is deft defensively, as he committed only two errors at the hot corner last season. Ryan Serena (older brother of aforementioned Jordan Serena and current Chaparral shortstop Logan Serena) is the Woverines' defensive instructor and a wizard with the glove.

Former major-league infielder Jeff Huson, whose son, Cody, is a Wolverines infielder, also has offered some defensive tutelage.

"I'm trying to combine their styles and mine together to be the best defensive player I can be," Kuhns said.

Kuhns is a co-captain along with Brett Wallace, and from now on, is all about the diamond. This despite throwing for 2,401 yards with 25 touchdowns and only six interceptions in the fall, numbers that would have a football-only athlete intensely focused on landing a Division I gig as a quarterback.

"There was a part of me that thought about it," Kuhns said. "During football season I love football, and during baseball season I love baseball. But I love baseball more than football.

"I wasn't getting the looks I thought I would during football, but at the same time it was kind of a blessing, because it made me realize that baseball truly is my passion and what I want to do for the next however many years."