By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Former Washburn Rural football star JC Heim has never been a fan of sitting.
JC Heim
So when the Washburn University football coaching staff opened the door for the 6-foot-3, 225-pound linebacker to play as a true freshman, Heim jumped at the chance.
And two games into his college career Heim has taken full advantage of that opportunity.
"I knew I had great people in front of me and I was surrounded by great leaders around me,'' Heim said. "We had a great summer together and putting on the weight and the size through this awesome strength and conditioning program that we had throughout the summer definitely helped me get prepared for fall camp.
"And with the group of leaders we have, it helped me become successful throughout fall camp to learn the plays, get the plays down and be able to make plays.''
Washburn freshman linebacker JC Heim (25) posted five tackles in the second college game of his career, last Saturday's 31-21 loss to No. 5-ranked Colorado School of Mines. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Heim saw spot duty on defense and also played on special teams in the Ichabods' season-opener at Emporia State, recording one assisted tackle, and stepped up his work load in last week's 31-28 loss to Colorado School of Mines, recording five tackles on the day.
Washburn coach Craig Schurig anticipated Heim seeing the field as a freshman from the day he signed him in February and has not been at all surprised with what Heim has been able to accomplish in the early going.
"Any time you play a freshman a lot of times you're like, 'Well, we're not quite sure they're ready,' but he's ready,'' Schurig said. "He put the work in over the summer, he's a very intelligent player and physically he's ready to play so we anticipated him playing and he picks up on things really fast, instinctual.
"And we feel like his playing time should just keep increasing.''
Heim, who was the TopSports.news Shawnee County and Centennial League defensive player of the year at Washburn Rural, admits that playing at the college level has been an adjustment, but he said he's happy with how the learning project is progressing heading into Saturday's 1 p.m. MIAA contest against No. 6-ranked Pittsburg State at Yager Stadium.
"In college I'd say there's a lot more I have to read and a lot more assignments I have to do, but other than that I'd definitely say the speed of the game is the biggest thing that has changed,'' said Heim, whose twin brother Jaren is also on the WU roster. "Especially starting off with Emporia, you don't really have time to get set and the pace of the game was so much faster than I'm used to.
"But as I got through that game it helped me a bunch and then going into Colorado Mines the speed of the game slowed down as I've continued to play.''
Now the focus for Heim is to continue his upward climb.
"My goal each game is to continue to get better and eliminate the mistakes.''
