Kingsway player getting size-22 cleats from Nike

Tony Barchuk can't wait.

Understand, the Kingsway football coach isn't going through the anticipation a child experiences on Christmas Eve. If anything, that's reserved for junior lineman Connor Duffy, whose large feet have generated a ton of interest over the past several weeks.

No, Barchuk's emotions are more like the feeling that comes at end of a school year or finally arriving at a destination after a 4-week drive.

"Absolutely," Barchuk confessed. "From what I understand they should be here any day."

"They" are a pair of size 22 Nike cleats for Duffy, who has had a rough time finding shoes to fit his feet. After a ton of publicity and community support, Duffy received a size 20 pair from Eastbay - still too small, but it was a start.

Then word came that Nike had his size, and now all that's left is for the cleats to arrive at the Gloucester County campus.

"I want to take the box to practice," Barchuk said. "Maybe have a little ceremony.

"The thing is, it had the potential to get out of control and become a circus. But everyone from the media to the shoe companies to the community have been so supportive, it never got out of control. This is a great group of kids, and they've really been great about all of the attention."

Barchuk said no one has been better than Duffy himself.

The 6-7, 300-pound lineman has come back after a year away from the game focused on the job at hand. Potential can be a bad word, but Duffy certainly has it, and now, once he has the right equipment, it's about living up to it.

"In a way, the attention has made him better," Barchuk said. "I think he's taken on the attitude, 'If all these people want to help me, I better make it worth it.' He's been a different person since this all started. He's been at every practice giving everything he has. We've had some conditioning days and some tough practices, and he hasn't let up once."

And now it's time to play football.