Kern and his Panther teammates reached the Class 5A State Semifinals, where they lost to the eventual State Champion Salina Central Mustangs. The Great Bend linebacker finished with back-to-back-to-back (I love typing that) seasons with 100-plus tackles. During his senior campaign, he recorded 128 tackles in 12 games played. Over four seasons of varsity action he finished with a grand total of 410 total tackles. He is ranked No. 44 overall by Prep Redzone Kansas. To my knowledge, he is still an uncommitted prospect.

The Battle of Trenton took place after George Washington crossed the Delaware River. The modern-day battle of Trenton is over which college will get Kern’s services. The Great Bend linebacker is ranked No. 6 overall in the recently updated Class of 2026 rankings. He is a hard-nosed central Kansas kid with a great work ethic. He has never met a ballcarrier he didn’t want to chop down like a Cherry Tree, wink, wink!

We will start off with the cream of the crop when it comes to linebackers in Western Kansas, let alone the State of Kansas. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound Kern is one of those throwback lunch pail type of linebackers that absolutely gobbles up a big number of the tackles, even if he plays on a loaded Great Bend linebacker group.

Possessing the strength college coaches look for with a 315-pound bench, 330-pound clean and lastly a 550-pound squat. Also shows the speed to play sideline to sideline from his middle linebacker position. Always putting himself in the right spot to make any given tackle.

He also stars as a elite wrestler (two time 5A state placer) and baseball player (5A All-State performer) for the Panthers. There isn’t much Kern can’t do in general.

This past fall he had a staggering 113 tackles (43 solo and 70 assisted), five tackles for loss and three sacks. Pretty impressive numbers when you consider he plays alongside his brother Kale Kern Kale Kern 6'1" | 225 lbs | LB Great Bend | 2027 State KS and Conner Holliday who put up big numbers themselves from their linebacker positions.

Kern was honored as a First Team 5A All-State and First Team All-Western Athletic Conference performer as a linebacker.