Marcus Fuller blog: Kill says Haviland might be the biggest surprise this spring

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I don't know what Haviland's full story is, but I feel that often times size is very overrated in football. I played with a guy in high school that physically had no business being on the field, let alone a starting strong safety. He was about 5'9" 160 pounds, not very fast and not especially strong. But that guy could PLAY football. His intelligence and pure grit got the job done way more often than it didn't. He ended up playing at Winona St. and was an all conference safety. We always said that if he had the right body, he could have played anywhere.

I understand that recruiting is an inexact science and that coaches can't evaluate as thoroughly as they might want to. Then it becomes a numbers game. How tall is he, how much does he weigh, what's his 40. I get that. Hopefully coach Kill can start getting some of these football PLAYERS, instead of just the guys that stick out on size, speed and strength.

The first thing I thought of when I saw this article was Jim Leonhard, former Badger (eff the badgers btw). Not recruited by any D-1A schools, 5 foot nothin' a hundred and nothin', but the kid could flat out play. Now in his case it didn't hurt to be a freak of nature physically with speed and explosiveness. If this Haviland kid could turn out to be anywhere near the kind of player that Leonhard was, that could be a huge addition for the squad. Hopefully he is a kid that flew under the radar because he was just too small.
 

I agree, RGR. I've seen far too many football players that look like Tarzan and play like Jane.
 

I feel that under Kill we will see these type of players jumping out from time to time. He talked about several walk-ons that he had starting on his teams. It is a part of the whole process, you court the "stars" just like everyone does, but you make sure to build the relationships with the high schools so the "borderline" real football players walk on a get a chance of fulfilling their dream of playing for the U. Remember the film "Rudy", he didn't turn out to be a star, but players like that are the heart and soul of the team.
 

Haviland's story is similar to cornerback Hendersons, who is also about 5'10 and 180. He's a non scholarship walk-on who had zero D1 or even Subdivision offers. His Armstrong HS team had a total of 4 wins his Jr and Sr. year where he played Rb. However, three of his teammates did receive D1 Scholarships including David Gilreath from Wis. and kicker Eric Ellestad. From what I was told he grew up just 10 minuets from campus and watched the stadium being built. He contacted Brewster's staff and asked if he could try out for the team. They had no idea who he was. He had 3 or 4 starts last year. Got to love these types of stories.
 


Sean Lumpkin said:
From what I was told he grew up just 10 minuets from campus and watched the stadium being built. He contacted Brewster's staff and asked if he could try out for the team. They had no idea who he was. He had 3 or 4 starts last year. Got to love these types of stories.[/QUOTE]

I had never heard that story. You're right. It's hard not to root for a kid like him. I admit it. I like the underdog too.
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