COLLEGE STATION, Texas — If all the world is a stage, and one man in his time plays many parts, than this College Station athlete is taking full advantage. As if the drama that unfolds on the football field wasn't enough, College Station High School's standout running back, Kolbe Cashion, creates drama under the bright lights of the school's theatre program.
'To be, or not to be. That is the question' Cashion asks himself for half the school year. The other half, the question is to juke or truck.
"Kolbe the football player is probably 'tough guy, lower his shoulder, get in dirty'," Cashion said about himself. "Kolbe the actor is a little more sensitive, I'd say."
Leading Man: College Station High School senior plays on the field while performing plays
The College Station senior hopes to play football at the next level, but before the bright lights of the gridiron burned above him, it was the spotlight of the theatre that was his first love. After all, Shakespeare once said 'Who ever loved that loved not at first sight', and such was certainly true for Cashion. It started when he was just a little kid, and he got cast in his church's play.
"They did something...a Nazareth-Bethlehem-Jesus-being-born-Christmas skit," Cashion explained. "I was a cow."
Cashion went from playing a literal cow to being the Cougar's bell cow in the backfield. But, during a game his sophomore year, his teammates asked 'wherefore art thou Romeo?'
"I had to miss half a game," Cashion admitted. "It sucked because we lost the game so I feel guilty about that."
It doesn't appear as though his team held it against him. Cashion was cast as the lead in Romeo and Juliet and his whole team came out to watch. It's drama even Head Coach Steve Huff can get behind.
"I actually got to go watch the play and he was good," Coach Huff said. "There's no surprise in that because he works at everything he does."
Acting hasn't interfered with football since, and Coach Huff is happy to have #20 on his team as the Cougars get ready for another run at a state title. Plus, Cashion is lucky to have Coach in his corner, even giving him strategy when it comes to his blocking work on the stage.
"I would say Kolbe the actor is a little below Kolbe the football player because he's really, really good," Coach said with a smile. "But I guarantee he'll catch up with that."
Cashion didn't audition this past fall for school's latest production due to his football duties, but said he's working on his audition for the spring production of Beauty and the Beast.