Whimpey twins competitive at home and on the field
Kevin and Kyle Whimpey are very similar. They share similar likes, including similar sports, games and clothes. They even date similar girls. They also share the same birth date.
Utah State Aggie head football coach Gary Andersen has known the Whimpey twins since they were in high school at Lone Peak in Highland, Utah. Andersen even recruited the two athletes when he was the defensive coordinator for the University of Utah.
“Coach A was recruiting at the University of Utah and me and my brother were always looking for the opportunity to stay together,” Kevin said. “Coach A gave us that opportunity. It just worked out that they needed people at both those positions. We liked the new facilities. We just felt at home from coming up here for football camp.”
Kyle was also sold from day one on playing for the Aggies.
“When we walked into (Andersen’s) office, we knew this is where we wanted to play,” he said.
After serving missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – Kevin served in Ventura, Calif. and Kyle served close by in Riverside, Calif. – they are ready to make an instant impact on a very young and still developing Aggie football team.
“They’ll both have an impact on the team this next year, no question,” Andersen said. “They’re both in the rotation right now fighting for starting spots and they’ll both have impacts this year.”
Twins don’t often end playing on the same Division I program, and for both brothers to be able to make a Division I program is significant accomplishment.
“I think it’s an interesting dynamic that there’s two of them playing Division I football and being twins,” Andersen said. “I have twins myself, and I think it’s a pretty special accomplishment for the both of them.”
The fact that Utah State football had the ability to offer both of the Whimpey twins a spot on the team carried much leverage in their decision to become Aggies.
“It’s always good to be on a team with a family member,” Kyle said. “It’s always awesome to be able to get out on the field and to enjoy the game that we love together. It’s just fun to be family on the football field.”
The twins have also always been competitive, in every aspect of life.
“There still is sibling rivalry,” Kevin said. “Whether it be with our girlfriends or with just playing with the XBox, we get in big fights all the time. At my house right now the closet door is broken because we got in a fight the other day, but we get over it pretty quickly. We are still pretty competitive.”
That competitiveness in their personal lives also applies on the field, and it pushes the twins to be better.
“There is a lot of sibling rivalry especially on the football field, because up until this year, we’ve gone head-to-head every day,” Kyle said. “Every time he goes against me, he comes 100 percent, so he expects that from me. It’s a battle every time we line up from each other.”
Though Andersen expects the twins to have an instant impact on the football field, they both know they will have their plate full during the summer.
“Coming off my mission, I’m really noticing throughout spring ball that my leg strength is pretty weak,” Kevin said. “I think this summer will be a big determining factor in what I can do next year. I need to really hit my legs, do some leg endurance and just work on the technical foot work and get some things like that. I feel like if I have a good summer, and its up to me what I can do, I feel like I can make an immediate impact.”
According to Andersen, the twins are headed in the right direction to make an instant impact.
“They have very good work ethic,” Andersen said. “They’re driven, they’re driven by each other, but also they are driven personally. Football is important to them and that’s a good thing to have. A great deal of maturity took place over the two years they were on their missions, and that’s definitely a positive for them right now and it’s helping them move in the right direction quickly.”
They’re driven to succeed in three areas and that’s the three areas that I harp on our young men to succeed in and that’s academically to succeed, socially to succeed and to succeed on the football field. I think those are three things these young me truly think about every single day.”
–ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu