NFL draft diary: Kansas' Ben Heeney hopes game similar to Luke Kuechly's
Paste BN Sports has assembled a talented team of prospects to chronicle their paths to the NFL draft. Today's entry is from Kansas linebacker Ben Heeney, the bearded "diabolical defender" who had 127 tackles and earned first-team all-Big 12 honors as a senior in 2014.
The culture at Hutchinson High School in Kansas was we won football games. I won three state championships in my four years there. My dad and both of my uncles were on the baseball team at KU, and my mom was in a sorority there, so I basically came out of the womb a Jayhawk. When they offered me a scholarship, I accepted it on the spot.
I was still baby-faced back in high school. But I grew a beard in college, and I liked the way it looked. It never really caught on until my junior year. That's when everyone started recognizing me for my beard. There were people in the stands at games that would have Duck Dynasty beards, Halloween costume beards.
Everyone always thinks the beard's hot and itchy on the field but, honestly, it's not. I think it's comfortable. It's a little bit of extra padding. And it's not like (Colts quarterback) Andrew Luck's, which is a little gross. I keep mine shaped up. I have a guy in Lawrence that I go to every time. Actually, here at 8 o'clock, I have a guy coming over to my little condo in Pensacola, Fla., to trim it for me.
The "Captain Heeney" website started my senior year. That's run by the KU athletics department. Before the season started, the lady that deals with all the media had this idea, basically to give me some added exposure I guess. I'm not a big showboating kind of guy, so it's not really my style. But it was cool to have them recognize me by that.
As a player, I think I'm a fast learner. I'd never played linebacker until college. I thought I was going to play running back. coach Turner Gill and his staff recruited me basically as an athlete. They didn't know where I was going to play. But when coach Charlie Weis and his staff got hired, they needed a middle linebacker. And I was the best guy, so they just stuck me in there, and I didn't lose the spot.
I don't know what these NFL teams think about me, so I don't want to speak for them. But I'll type my name in Twitter just to see what pops up, and it seems like a lot of people think I don't have very good athleticism, which is definitely not true. I think I'm very athletic. I'm hoping to show the scouts and coaches at the combine that all my times should be pretty good. I'm hoping to be in the top of the linebackers when I go there.
I don't think my "lack of size" is going to have any hindrance on my ability to play in the NFL, either. I think the game's changed a lot in recent years. If you look back, the traditional linebacker was 6-4, 250 or 260 pounds and just a humongous guy. But it's more of a passing league now, and I think the smaller, quicker guys are being really productive — Luke Kuechly and guys like that. I think my game's similar to his, and I think I'll do fine.
I didn't come from a background of a single-parent household. I didn't grow up in poverty. I don't have a story where it's like, 'Wow, this guy overcame so much.' I'm just a guy that wakes up in the morning, and I want to be better than everybody else. I want to be the best that I can be. Ever since I was a little kid, I've always been the best player on my team no matter what sport it is. If I lose in video games or I lose in a game of checkers, I'm pissed off.
I want to be great. I'm a competitor. I'm a winner, I'd like to say. We didn't do much of it at KU, but I leave my heart and my soul out on the field after every single game, and I think anyone that has seen me play can tell you that's true.
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Follow Ben Heeney on Twitter at @henbeeney