Safety expects bigger payoff

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Aug 2, 2008 | by JAKE SCHALLER --

Air Force senior free safety Aaron Kirchoff describes himself as "an avid personal investor," and he spends his down time at the academy trading stocks online.

He's done well. At the beginning of his junior year, Kirchoff received a $32,500 loan -- a handful of banks give them to academy juniors at low interest rates to help them pay for cars, which cadets are permitted to have on campus starting their junior years. But the loans can be used for anything, so Kirchoff invested his and has grown it to about $37,000. Not bad in today's climate.

"Stay with mutual funds," he said.

Kirchoff is well-suited to weather the highs and lows of the market after dealing with an especially volatile stock in 2007.

Himself.

When Troy Calhoun and his staff took over before last season, they were immediately excited about Kirchoff -- a fast, athletic playmaker who was recruited as a running back after a standout high school career in Illinois. But because of an injury, Kirchoff missed most of the 2007 preseason and fell down the depth chart.

When he returned to practice, however, he immediately made a positive impression. And before the third game of the season -- the Falcons' upset victory over TCU -- he replaced senior Bobby Giannini in the starting lineup. Kirchoff made some big plays in starting three games -- he had 10 tackles and broke up a pass against the Horned Frogs. But he also made some mistakes -- most notably in the Falcons' fifth game of the year at Navy.

"I had some mental busts on pass routes," he said. "Let's just say the locker room after that game wasn't very fun."

Following the loss to the Midshipmen, Kirchoff 's stock plummeted, and Giannini regained the starting job.

"It was a little bit up and down for" Kirchoff last season, said Air Force associate coach/defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter, who also works with the safeties. "He was a little bit of feast or famine. He did some really good things at times, and then sometimes he'd have some mental lapses that really hurt a defense."

Giannini kept the starting spot for the rest of the season. But Kirchoff stabilized down the stretch and played well off the bench. He made four tackles against both Notre Dame and San Diego State in the Falcons' final two regular-season games, and he recovered a fumble in the Armed Forces Bowl against Cal.

Now, with Giannini having graduated, Kirchoff will start.

"He's done an excellent job of being much more focused this year," DeRuyter said. "Seniors have a tendency to do that -- they realize that curtain's closing. And he has worked extremely hard in the offseason, and out here he's done a nice job of taking charge."

Kirchoff said he's not the only one who made a strong offseason commitment. He noted nearly all the Falcons passed the preseason run test administered Wednesday.

So despite a rather grim forecast -- Air Force was picked to finish sixth in the Mountain West Conference -- Kirchoff is predicting a bull market for the Falcons.

"Our stock is soaring," he said.

Better buy now.

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