By RAHUL ROHATGI

CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Do you remember Kyle?

That’s Kyle Sims, one of four senior defensive linemen playing his final collegiate game against Yale on Saturday. But since he’s one of the more unheralded stars of a top Ivy defense, you may remember him first for his role as the poster child in the “Do you agree with Kyle?” campaign in the spring of 2000.

After a campus blitz of flyers and pamphlets promoting “Jesus Week,” Sims delivered his stirring testimony before hundreds in front of the Science Center to culminate the religious celebration.

Even if his identity remained secret back then, his play on the field now ought to make up for the years of obscurity.

The 6’2, 250-lb defensive tackle may not get all the glory numbers, although he has three sacks this season, but his presence up the middle alongside captain Ryan FitzGerald has made it impossible for most teams to sustain any type of rushing attack against the Crimson.

“Sometimes my job is to take on the double-team so our linebackers can run free,” Sims says. “But there are plenty of times when I have the green light to rush the quarterback.”

Sims has 29 tackles so far this season, along with four for losses. Add a key sack during the third quarter of Harvard’s comeback over Dartmouth, and it’s clear his role has been more than that of peripheral to the likes of senior ends Marc Laborsky and Phil Scherrer. That strong front four has been instrumental in making sure the Crimson, unlike years past, puts teams away for good.

“Ever since the Yale game last year, we’ve stressed finishing games,” Sims says. “Maybe it was a bit of a psychological thing in the past.”

Sims’ killer instinct mentality was nurtured on the gridirons of Irving, Texas, where high school football is taken seriously.

“The town I lived in had three major high schools, so it wasn’t like Varsity Blues,” Sims explains. “But [football] was the obsession of the town—we got a lot of support, a lot of people in town knew who we were and came out for games.”

Harvard is not exactly a pipeline for talented Texas football players, who tend to remain in-state or in the South. So Sims’ first instinct was to look at Rice in Houston, where both football and academics were important. But after the Rice coaching staff began to focus its efforts on other talent, Sims turned to the Ivies, and Harvard in particular.

“I took a visit up here, and more than anything it kind of debunked the myths, and I had a great time,” Sims says.

He had played defensive end and center scholastically, and Harvard recruited him as an end. But he put on a lot of weight and moved to the tackle position.