Joe Haden knows he won’t be playing quarterback at the next level. He committed to the Florida Gators back in July, knowing that he’ll be on the receiving end instead of the throwing end of the passes. Last week, Haden got a chance to see what it’s going to feel like when he makes the move to receiver full time.
Haden started last Friday night’s game at wide receiver. It was only for one quarter before he moved back to quarterback, but oh did the fans of Fort Washington (MD) Friendly High School get a show for that one quarter.
“I played receiver in the first quarter and had five catches for 143 yards and two touchdowns,” Haden said. “After that they moved me back to quarterback and I threw for 117 yards and three touchdowns, I ran for one touchdown and had an interception playing safety.”
With Haden leading the way, Friendly is off to a huge start.
“We are doing real well right now,” he said. “We have scored 140 points and allowed 13. We are 3-0 on the season. I have thrown for ten touchdowns and run for two on the season. I have three total interceptions on defense.”
After he had such a tremendous debut at wide receiver, he put in a call to Florida wide receivers coach, Billy Gonzales. Haden said Gonzales was excited to hear about his hot start at the receiver position. Haden is looking to show his skills this week against a little better competition.
“I talked to Coach Gonzales today,” Haden said. “I also talked to Coach Meyer. I called them after the game. I talked about my game and the visit coming up. We play our away games in the daytime and our home games at night. We are the only school around here that has lights at the stadium. We play our biggest game this Friday night at home. We will probably have about 7,000 people at the game.”
Haden will play Friday night, and then join his younger brother and teammate Josh Haden and his mom for the trip to Gainesville for his official visit. Haden is excited to witness The Swamp first hand with a big time game atmosphere going on.
“I am going down for my official visit for the Alabama game,” Haden said. “I just want to see how it is during the game because I want to see what the Swamp is all about. Me my brother and my mom will be there.”
A few schools still try to recruit him even though he is committed to Florida but Haden just tells them he is a Gator and they don’t need to bother. He is looking to fill out a little more before he takes his early graduation so he can be at Florida for spring practice. Because he will be an early entrant at Florida, a lot of schools have dropped their attempts to recruit him.
“Other schools aren’t really on me anymore because I keep telling them my school is Florida,” Haden said. “I am looking forward to playing spring ball … I can’t wait. I also want to gain a little weight.
It should be fun to hear what Joe Haden has to say after his visit to The Swamp for a big time game. Gator Country will be checking back with Haden next week.