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TORONTO — There are two things that John-Levi Kruse loves about football.
The first is the teamwork required for success. The six-foot-two, 246-pound tight end/fullback from Hamburg, Germany, loves doing his part and seeing his teammates around him do theirs for plays to unfold and for them to ultimately win games.
The second? Kruse loves running over his opponents as part of that formula for success.
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“There was always something missing until I played football,” Kruse told CFL.ca at the CFL Combine presented by New Era.
“As a player, I think I’m the kind of guy you want on your team. I try to get myself in the best position on the field to play the game and be my best for the team.”
When he realized that his role in that could involve flattening someone in his way when he has the ball, everything clicked for him.
“I think the best moment in the game is when you catch the ball and run through defenders. Run them over, just bulldoze over them,” Kruse said.
“That’s one of the funnest parts of the game. That’s also a reason why I (play) the game. Everywhere else you get a penalty for that. In football it’s just, ‘Good job, high five. Do it again and keep going.’”
Kruse played for the Hamburg Sea Devils in the European Football League and will look to make the leap to the CFL through the Global Draft, which takes place on May 3.
At the CFL Combine last month, Kruse tested well, with 18 reps on the bench press, a 32.5-inch vertical leap, a 4.88-second 40-yard dash and a broad jump of nine feet, six and seven-eighths of an inch. He had a 4.42-second shuttle and tied for fifth in the three-cone drill (7.06 seconds).