In one corner of the Bowling Green State University football locker room, there is a “district” reserved for some of Wood County’s best.

Among those in that district are 6-foot-5, 250-pound junior tight end Levi Gazarek (North Baltimore), 6-3, 230-pound junior tight end Nic Kilbride (Perrysburg) and 6-1, 295-pound center and offensive guard Cade Zimmerly (Perrysburg).

That’s an awful lot of talented, Grade A Wood County beef in that corner of the locker room, and they love to compete.

“It’s awesome. I love getting to see them right there every day, right in our area,” Gazarek said. “Cade loves to sit in my locker, so I’ve always got to scoot him over a little bit. Yeah, it’s a good time with both.”

The only problem for Gazarek is, coming from the smallest school, he has had to take it on the chin a few times. He loves his hometown so much that he returned to North Baltimore this summer for a summer internship working with local children.

“I love it because I really love where I’m from. I love being from North Baltimore,” Gazarek said. “Not many people get to do this from my town.

“It’s funny, Cade said he never heard of North Baltimore before, so I was like, “Well, I’m going to make sure you remember it.’ So, I definitely love it and it’s good to see where guys come from and how they work and all that stuff.”

A couple weeks ago, Gazarek and some of his locker room buddies went into full competition mode at Perry Falls Mini Golf on Dixie Highway outside Perrysburg, and then ate at Te’kela Mexican restaurant across the street.

Gazarek claims he recorded the lowest score during the putt-putt golf.

“I did, but I’ve got to make sure I give them crap for that,” Gazarek said.

Getting back to form

Gazarek, also a baseball player and two-sport athlete at BGSU, has been rehabbing since getting injured during last year’s football season and missed the entire baseball season this spring. He says not only has the rehab been “good,” it has allowed him to get stronger.

“Really, I’m just taking every day one day at a time getting better with the workouts, with (sports performance coach Kevin) Tolbert and working with our coaches to get better skills developed with the run game and pass game — working on routes. Really just taking all of that in,” Gazarek said.

In 2022, Gazaarek appeared in all 13 of BGSU’s games with 11 starts, making a catch during the season opener at UCLA in the Rose Bowl, and getting a catch in the Western Michigan and Kent State games as well.

In 2021, Gazarek appeared in 12 games with 10 starts, making his first career catches at Tennessee with three receptions for 23 yards. He finished that season with 10 catches for 88 yards.

However, as a tight end, he has a dual role — to block, too, and he relishes that.

“It’s funny because I never played tight end in high school,” Gazarek, a quarterback at NB, said. “I never blocked before coming here, but I’ve got to give all the credit to Greg Nosal for teaching me how to block and really what it is all about.

“He moved to offensive line coach, but he really did a great job teaching me about blocking, helping me understand it more,” Gazarek continued.

“(Tight ends/special teams coordinator) Coach (Alex) Bayer is doing a great job now that he’s taking over tight ends. He’s really helped me a lot in the route running game.

“It’s a good combination of both and it is one of those positions that are so important that you are able to run like a receiver and block like an offensive lineman. It is a good thing.”

‘Competitive’ at both sports

Gazarek was also a big role player on the baseball team, and as a right-handed pitcher he got over 40 innings on the mound in 2022. He will return to the baseball field next spring.

A sport management major, his father Marty played collegiate baseball at Indiana and professionally for the Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves and Detroit Tigers. His uncle, Matt Gazarek, played baseball for the University of Findlay and later for the Toledo Mud Hens.

He’s got other reasons for playing both sports, and it is not just about excelling and getting playing time.

“It’s definitely a lot, but when you have a chance for two really good guys like (BGSU head football) coach (Scot) Loeffler and (baseball) coach (Kyle) Hallock, it makes it a lot easier,” Gazarek said.

“It is something that takes an accumulation of a lot of people, from the support staff to the coaches. What really makes it worth it is all the good people you are around every day. It’s a lot but worth it.”

His teammates make it easier, too.

“To be honest, in both of them, I just love being with the guys. In the locker room, in both sports, are just a special place, and that’s where the best memories come from.

“Going from having team meals together and being in the locker room together. But obviously, football games are totally different from baseball because you can win a baseball game, but you’ve got to turn around the next day and do it again.

“Football, you put so much preparation into that one game every week that it definitely feels awesome when you get that win.”

Loeffler recognizes Gazarek’s competitive spirit, and that is why Gazarek has Loeffler’s full endorsement to play two sports.

“I love Levi. Love recruiting him, great family. He’s a guy that everything is important to him. He wants to be super successful. He cares,” Loeffler said.

“He’s one of our leaders in terms of he’s got a great vision of where we’re going and how we need to get there. And he’s doing something that’s difficult in my opinion, playing two sports is not easy.

“He’s managing it quite well, but I love Levi. I love him. I never have to worry about him in the classroom. I never have to worry about him off the field. He’s doing a really nice job. He’s going to blossom into a really good player and a really good leader in our program.

“He’s doing great off the field. He’s doing great in the classroom. He’s managing baseball, he’s managing football and he’s good with his family, so he’s doing well.”

Loeffler says it doesn’t make it any easier when he has even bigger roles to fill as both a blocker and receiver.

“He takes care of his business, and you have to take care of your business if you want to try to do what he’s doing,” Loeffler said.

“It’s not easy to be able to pitch and play tight end, especially in our offense. Our tight end does so much, it’s not easy but he’s managed all phases of his life really well.”

Loeffler does admit that when Gazarek first arrived, he was concerned with his ability to cover two sports, but that has changed.

“Levi’s a competitive guy. He’s done a great job. We were worried about him being so young, playing baseball and missing some of the spring practice, but he was able to overcome that.

“And we’re going to continue with that plan. We’re going to let him play baseball. And, you know, he’s just got to do a really good job in the summertime to make up for missing some time in spring ball, but he did a great job with that.

“The older he gets, the more mature he gets, the stronger he gets. He’s going to be a good football player for Bowling Green, He’s everything that we asked for.”