Kapri Bibbs bounced around before he became a Broncos running back, moving from Harvey, Ill., just outside Chicago, through Eprhaim, Utah, for junior college, then finally to Colorado State in Fort Collins. In his lone season with the Rams, he broke out big — rushing for 1,741 yards and 31 touchdowns, joining Barry Sanders and Montee Ball as the only running backs with 30 or more TDs in a season. Now in his third season with the Broncos, Bibbs has gone from the practice squad to the regular roster. He played in his second career game last week in Denver’s season-opener against Carolina.
But on a clear day, Bibbs can see back to Chicago as easily as he can see his future. And there are things that catch his memory about Chicago and Fort Collins.
When you moved away from Chicago, what did you miss most right away?
Bibbs: To tell you the truth, I missed my Harold’s chicken. And I missed my gyros. My Chicago-type food that they don’t offer in Utah or Denver. The culture is a little different here, so the food is different.
What’s up with Harold’s chicken?
You don’t know about Harold’s Chicken Shack?! You need to go out to Chicago and grab you some Harold’s. It’s great. It’s a chicken and waffles spot. They have waffles, candied yams, macaroni and cheese.
What’s your order there?
Eight piece with the mild sauce. That’s for anybody who sees this. Go for the eight piece with the mild sauce.
You don’t go hot?
No, no. The mild sauce is their signature. It’s really good.
There’s a big difference between Chicago and Utah. Did you find anything in Utah you liked?
School. I found a new love for school, when there’s nothing else to do out there.
Fort Collins has good food, though. That town has stuff to eat.
Oh yeah. I like Fat Shack. That’s a good place. But what I really found was the views in Colorado. When I came here, Fort Collins had the best views I’ve ever seen in my life. Horsetooth Reservoir. All the trails. I used to walk the trails for some extra conditioning. It’s just beautiful. That’s what made me originally fall in love with Colorado State, coming out of high school.
I loved living in Fort Collins. It was my dream school. I didn’t grow up thinking I was going to go to Colorado State. But when they offered me my junior year, and I took a visit there, it became my new dream. I still try to get up there and catch a couple games when I can.
Life does move fast. Do you feel like a professional football player yet?
Definitely now. Three years in, I’ve learned so much football. Being in this organization, working with Coach Studesville (Broncos running backs coach Eric Studesville), he’s taught me so much football it feels now like I didn’t know anything when I first came here.
It was good that I got to come in early, when I was young, and learn football. Now I’ll probably get a chance to apply it on the field. And I’m still only 23 years old, so I have a long career ahead of me still.
You were so well-loved at CSU. For a long time, fans still considered you “CSU’s Kapri Bibbs” and not the “Broncos’ Kapri Bibbs.”
They still do! People still say to me, “Hey CSU! Go CSU!” And I’m three years removed.
But I love all this. This is a dream of mine since I was a kid. And I’m still like a little kid in a candy shop. Every day I come in here, they can tell you, I’m never in a bad mood. Because this is all a blessing to me. This is all still so surreal. Practices, everything, is such a blessing.
When you start enjoying practice even, that’s a sign you must really love what you’re doing.
Practice is tiring. They’ll kill you. But I still love everything about this game. Every single yard, every single blade of grass on the field.
I have friends, guys who want to get back into the game game, who can’t. They’ll call me and say, ‘Hey man, can you do anything, talk to anybody to get me back in?’ That just shows me how lucky I really am, that I’m not that guy out there still searching. I still have a job and I’m still able to play the game that I grew up loving since I was 4 years old. And probably even before than that. My mom had me holding a football since I was a little bitty kid.
