"Just love playing ball. It's my favorite. Love, love playing ball."

Baseball player alone hardly describes Johnson City senior Branden Kuzel.

He's a three-sport athlete and captain of the Wildcats.

His coach says he's the type of hard worker who sets the perfect example for the rest of the team.

"Lots of energy," says head coach Dave Buchak. "Always can rely on him for a laugh even when we're in bad times like when we're down 9-2, we always can count on Branden for a nice little laugh or something inspirational to say just to turn things around."

Branden's hardly just a jock.

He maintains a 95 grade point average, is a member of the National
Honor Society and volunteers at a soup kitchen.

In the classroom, his favorite subject isn't math or science or even history.
"Furniture, that's probably my favorite class," says Branden. "You don't really have to do any homework or anything. It's just going there and do what you like to do so yeah, I enjoy furniture."

"We had a late practice and he was woodworking then all of a sudden he shows me this thing he's made and it looks like something you would buy at a high-end furniture store," adds Buchak.

Branden plans on using those skills for a career in engineering.

But first, he just wants to earn some extra cash at a part-time job.

"I'm applied at three different places but no one's accepted me yet," says Branden. "Probably with the economy but hopefully this interview here will help me get hired or something. That would be nice."

So if you're hiring and you've got an application with the name Branden Kuzel on it, you might want to give him a call because he's this week's Academic All Star.