Um...you mean like
this feature story in the STrib from last Wednesday?
Punter's four-year wait was worth it
After serving as a backup and battling injury, Blake Haudan has made the most of his chance after starter Dan Orseske became ill.
By KENT YOUNGBLOOD, Star Tribune
Last update: October 14, 2009 - 7:51 AM
Blake Haudan is here to tell you: It was worth the wait.
Haudan is a fifth-year senior punter for the Gophers who has waited his turn, worked his way through injuries and, frankly, wondered if just being a part of a college football team was going to have to be enough.
John Butler, Haudan's special-teams coach, calls the Toledo, Ohio, native an object lesson. Adam Weber, Gophers quarterback and Haudan's roommate, calls him the best example of what being a college football player is about.
Haudan says he'll look back at all of this later. Right now he's punting, and that's more than enough.
"Looking back one day maybe I'll think, 'Wow, that was cool,'" he said. "But, right now, it's just focus straight ahead."
But now, there is a blinding light at the end of the tunnel. Haudan has emerged as a strong punter after Dan Orseske was lost after two games because of mononucleosis. Which only proves that opportunity sometimes comes to those who wait.
And wait.
Haudan was an all-state punter in high school at St. John's Jesuit in Toledo. He had several scholarship offers, many coming from Mid-American Conference schools. But his brother had run track at Michigan. His memories of watching him there convinced him he wanted to play in the Big Ten. So he walked on at Minnesota.
That started four-plus years of waiting. He was a redshirt in 2005, the season Justin Kucek took over the job. In 2006 and 2007 he was Kucek's backup, never getting into any games.
During spring practice in 2008 he developed back pain so intense from two herniated disks, he could hardly kick at all. For a while Haudan was close to leaving the game for good.
"I slowed football down," said Haudan, who had therapy and three injections to stem the inflammation. "I made health my No. 1 issue. I was this close [to quitting]. But I focused on my fifth year. It was just 'get better, do the work and give the fifth year everything you had.'"
He got better, and he brought it in year five. But when Orseske was given the job, Haudan had to fall back on the old standard.
"It was tough, because going into the season I felt I was the starter," Haudan said. "On the depth chart, I was. To lose a competition was tough, for sure. It was a letdown. But it was just a matter of being ready."
By now quitting wasn't an option, just like transferring a few years ago never seemed a good idea. Haudan liked Minnesota, liked the school, loved his teammates and being part of the team.
Then, a chance: Orseske started feeling sick in the days leading up to the Sept. 19 game against California. At the team hotel the night before the game, Gophers coach Tim Brewster pulled Haudan aside.
"He said, 'Hey, you want your shot?'" Haudan recalled. "'Tomorrow you got it. Make the most of it.'"
Just like that, Haudan went from being happy with being the holder on field goals to getting his first college punt. So, as he was standing there in the first quarter of the Cal game ready to take his first snap, were there nerves?
No. "After being out there, holding, for the game- winning kick in Syracuse, that really helped me," he said. "I was calm, composed and everything. I felt confident in my ability. It was just a matter of doing what I was taught to do."
He dropped his first punt inside the Cal 20, the first of eight punts he has placed inside the opponent's 20-yard line in four games. He has averaged 40.6 yards per punt, with a long of 54 yards.
The Gophers' punt coverage team is among the best, tied for second in the Big Ten in net punting average. Ask Haudan about the job he's doing and he immediately talks about the rest of the guys on the unit. "Outstanding," he said. "Really outstanding."
But Haudan has done his part, too. He's proven adept at the pooch punt and he navigated the wind at TCF Bank Stadium last week well. Or-seske is close to being ready to come back, but Brewster said Tuesday there are no plans on making a change right now.
That means Haudan has six more games to file away in his memory bank for future reminiscing. He's earned it. Haudan has paid his way through school. He got his degree in business marketing and education in four years and was a scholar-athlete award winner each year. He's now in his first year of graduate school.
Oh, and he's also the Gophers' punter. "It's a pleasure to see him out there," Weber said.
And for Haudan, it's been a pleasure being seen.
