Brian Khoury was once a junior hockey player, but now as a senior, he's a football standout.

Brian Khoury once thought his future was going to be on ice.

Now, he hopes it continues on turf.

The Carnegie Mellon senior has made a successful shift from hockey to football. The 2015 D3football.com All-America honorable mention honoree hopes it leads to bigger and better things on the gridiron as well.

“I am extremely lucky,” he said. “I will only be able to play football for so long. Let’s see what happens.”

Growing up in Davenport, Iowa, one would think Khoury would gravitate toward basketball, football or wrestling. But, ice hockey became his passion, thanks to his parents, who were New England natives.

“I think when I was 4 years old, my dad took me down to the rink and I did skating lessons,” he said. “Growing up, I did all sorts of sports. Hockey was always the one I was pretty interested in at the time.”

While he played football in high school, Khoury remained determined to play hockey in college.

“I’d go into the garage and stickhandle for two or three hours a night. That’s what I really wanted to put my energy into,” he said. “It was a lot of fun. I am definitely lucky I had the opportunity to go for it.”

Khoury played high school hockey for three years and then made the jump to a Davenport-based junior hockey team for the next two. After that, he decided to head to hockey-mad New England to find a new squad.

“A lot of the schools that had the academics I wanted were in the Northeast,” said Khoury, a standout in the classroom as well. “I wanted to find a junior team out in Massachusetts. I’d be more accessible to scouts there and all of my relatives are in that area, too.”

Khoury, a power forward, made the Valley Junior Warriors in Haverhill, Mass. The next year, he played for the Northern Cyclones in Hudson, N.H. Out of junior eligibility and not finding the right college fit with hockey, Khoury decided to make a drastic career change.

“The big switch for me really came during my last season of junior hockey. It just came down to I wasn’t playing well enough. I don’t think I was as hungry for it training that summer and I think it caught up with me a little bit,” he said. “I kind of got a little burnt out, too. I started looking around and knew where my grades were in the past. I thought about trying to play football and so I took some of the highlights from high school and put a video together and sent out emails to different colleges.”

Academics drew Khoury to Carnegie Mellon, but he found a home within the football program, too.

“I had a chance to go to Carnegie Mellon and take a visit and I fell in love with it. My other options were going to the University of Wisconsin and University of Iowa and they weren’t too interested in me for football,” Khoury said with a laugh. “All three are very good institutions. I wanted to do something away from home. I got a very good impression from the coaching staff at Carnegie Mellon and haven’t looked back since.”

Returning to student life as a 21-year-old was quite the adjustment for Khoury, who is studying electrical and computer engineering – especially at Carnegie Mellon.

“I remember my first round of tests I got back and it was a shock. You definitely had to relearn how to learn,” Khoury said. “It was just a process of having to figure out what the professor is trying to teach you and learn that and the grades take care of themselves.”

Getting back into football shape was much easier for the 6-4, 245-pounder. 

“Junior hockey helped me learn how to compete consistently and take care of my body. In hockey, we had anywhere from one to three games per week, plus practices. I had a good idea what to do to get my body in shape, in terms of what I was eating and how much sleep I was getting and all the lifting and stretching,” he said. “There’s a lot to the mental side of junior hockey. You could miss one pass in a game and go weeks without getting back in the lineup. So, you have to get used to playing without being afraid of messing up. There was definitely a lot to learn switching into football. I just wanted to compete and be consistent with my effort.

“I am a pretty competitive person and football has been good with balancing school. It gives me a chance to get my head off school for a bit,” he continued. “Plus, it helps being around a good group of people for 25-30 hours a week for football.”

Khoury caught on and started six games as a sophomore. He really broke through last season and had 54 tackles, including a program-record 13.5 sacks. His four sacks against Bethany are a program single-game record as well. He picked up a slew of conference and national accolades.

This year, Khoury hopes to elevate his play. With more experience, his comfort level and instincts have improved. Already, he has 4.5 sacks in two games.

“Last year, I would just focus on my play. This year, I’ve given more of an effort to understand how the whole defense works and trying to understand what the other guys are doing – how can I structure my play to make it easier for the other guys on defense,” he said. “Some of it is coached and the other part comes from watching film and trying to pick out what the other teams are doing. Even technique-wise, when I look at film from last year, there was some technique, but it wasn’t the best in the world. I have come to understand that it’s not about being the biggest, strongest and fastest. While those help, it’s about technique, positioning and understanding what guys are trying to do and how you can exploit it.”

Khoury, now 24, wants to see where football can take him after this season and once he graduates in the spring.

“The pros make it look so easy. It’s definitely not,” he said. “The biggest thing for me, I don’t want to sit around and work in a cubicle. I want to try to do the best I can at football and see if something comes from that.”

But, like hockey, if football doesn’t pan out, Khoury has backup plans. Over the summer, he interned with the Ford Motor Company in Michigan and could return there to join the workforce.

“I am extremely lucky. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to pursue playing hockey in college. Now, I have a finite chance to go after something like this,” he said. “I like the idea of working for a large company and I liked the work I did at Ford. Hopefully, they’ll take me back.

“I’ve made a lot of good friends and met some great people at Carnegie Mellon. The food could be better, but other than that, it’s been great.”

Game of the Week

Thomas More 35, Washington & Jefferson 9: The Saints won a huge PAC clash at home against the Presidents. It sets the team up to defend its PAC title as W&J was a serious challenger. Thomas More’s defense limited the Presidents’ offense, which had produced 123 points in its first two games, to 204 yards. The Saints led 7-3 at half, but pulled away with a 21-point third quarter.

In the polls

No. 1 Mount Union moved to 2-0 with a 56-0 win over Marietta to open OAC play. The Purple Raiders (2-0) visit Baldwin Wallace on Saturday.

No. 13 Wabash cruised past Allegheny, 59-7, in NCAC action. The Little Giants (2-0) visit Wittenberg (2-0) in a key conference battle on Saturday. A Wabash win gives it the inside track to defend its conference crown.

No. 18 Thomas More defeated Washington & Jefferson, 35-9 (see above). The Saints (2-1) moved up two spots in the poll and have another key battle at home against Carnegie Mellon on Saturday. The Presidents (2-1) fell out of the Top 25, but hope to rebound Saturday at Thiel.