BC’s Haden is one to watch

By Robert Rousseau  |   Monday, August 25, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

Boston College Eagles
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With Andre Callender and L.V. Whitworth gone, the Boston College Eagles need a running back. Callender, of course, was a nifty player who was a solid all-around back, while Whitworth brought power to BC's running game.

Enter four-star freshman Josh Haden.

Freshmen usually aren’t able to do the job in big-time college football, particularly early in the season. But Eagles offensive coordinator Steve Logan thinks that Haden may be the exception to that rule.

“I really am fully confident he’ll be ready because of the way that he behaved when he came in last spring as a midterm guy. He embraced that experience. And he’s just tough,” said Logan. “(Running backs coach Ben) Sirmans did a great job of teaching him what it is we want him to do in the offense. Man, I never have seen a kid come in with that dramatic of an entrance before, to where he just walked on the field and said ‘Let’s go play.’ He wasn’t intimidated.”

Not being intimidated is nice, but having the skills to back that up is even better. The good thing is that Haden has been demonstrating that he does in fact possess that kind of skill.

“He’s quick. I really like the way he cuts,” BC left tackle Anthony Castonzo said about Haden. “It’s nice as an offensive lineman to know that if you create a little crease for him, he’ll dart right through there. And they might not be able to see him behind us with his size.”

Dart may be an understatement, by the way. Haden has run a 4.37-second 40-yard dash in the past, and though he’s rather small -- only 190 pounds -- he makes up for that with strength (350-pound bench press).

“It’s like when you open up a box and you don’t know what you’re going to get,” Logan said. “I wonder if he can catch? Yup. I wonder if he’s smart? Yup. I wonder if he’s tough? Yeah. I wonder if he’s going to be durable? So far. It’s all been yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Having said all that, we’ve got to go play a game. What we know now is that he can get through a college practice. I don’t know about a game yet. But the indicators are good.”

College football fans may want to check Haden out early in the season; he appears to be a home run threat waiting to happen.



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About Robert Rousseau

Robert Rousseau is a sports writer that has been published in a variety of print and online venues. He’s been writing for RealFootball365.com for almost three years now. When Rousseau isn’t writing about college football he tends to be penning mixed martial arts pieces for MMAFighting.com or...
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