Nothing like having your world turned upside down at the next level.
Take Bow Valley High School Bobcats 2015 grad Scott Haigh. He’s asked about the speed of guys he’s now competing with on the University of Calgary Dinos football team:
“It’s silly,” he answers. “I’m used to being probably the fastest guy on the field, or close to it. Now, you have to use your head a little bit more. Use the mental game instead of the physical game.”
This coming from a guy who, in his senior high-school year, played quarterback, running back, slot back, linebacker and defensive back for Bobcats football. He played for the South in Football Alberta’s Senior Bowl last spring, won 36-15 over the North. And, for good measure, he finished top-3 in the 100-metre senior boy’s sprint at Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association South Central Zone track meet.
Yet, there he was on McMahon Stadium’s FieldTurf surface Aug. 31, marvelling at the speed of the guys he’s joined in his first training camp as a Calgary Dino.
“There’s not one fast guy on the field any more,” he relates. “There’s everybody. All 12 of them are fast.”
Working under the experienced, watchful eye of Dinos DBs coach Marcello Rapini, Haigh was working at free safety, going through all the footwork drills, contract drills, read-and-react drills demanded by the Dinos coaching staff. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound defender doesn’t look out of place. But . . .
“Still getting up to speed,” he admits. “The coaches are still on me pretty hard. DB is still fairly new to me. I’ve only been playing it for a year and a half. There are a lot of really – finesse things – that coaches get on us about. It’s a work in progress.”
Dinos head coach Wayne Harris has more than 30 works in progress, as far as his 2015 rookie class is concerned. He has a lot of football evaluation on his clipboard. Yet he’s acutely aware of his rookie players’ progress.
“The maturity level is the biggest difference. But they have time to develop,” Harris relays. “We’ve been very impressed so far. Scott’s been flying around.”
Haigh’s also been tasked with the requisite chores bestowed upon football rookies. Going from all-everything high school senior to university rookie requires some level of adjustment. He takes it in stride.
“It’s not that hard. Everybody pays their dues,” Haigh says, toting training equipment off the field at the conclusion of Dinos practice. “Most of the vets all did this. They all paid their dues, they red-shirted their first year, they carried the bags and grabbed the water and all that. That’s how it goes. I expected it. You don’t come in here running the show. That’s not how it goes.”
