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Burst Makes Haye Special

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By ROY CUMMINGS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 25, 2007

Updated: 10/25/2007 12:44 am

TAMPA - There is nothing in his past to suggest something like this was on the horizon - nothing.

Why, he was born in Jamaica of all places. Wikipedia's list of the most notable Jamaicans includes 16 athletes; not one of them is an 'American' football player. Even after he moved to the United States, football remained an afterthought. It wasn't until his junior year in high school when he took it up. Then he went to Vanderbilt. Some might argue it's the Jamaica of football schools.

Derrick Brooks calls him 'The Longshot,' an apparently fitting nickname. On NFL draft day 2005, 32 teams ignored him five times. Finally, with the 189th pick, Carolina took a chance. The Panthers never gave him much of an opportunity, dumping him after a year because they said he couldn't play defensive end. The Cleveland Browns pretty much agreed. So did the Bucs.

'They told me there's no way I was a defensive end,' Jovan Haye said. 'So they moved me to under tackle.'

It's unlikely they'll move him back. The Bucs have been looking for an under tackle who can get to the passer and gobble up running backs ever since Warren Sapp left three years ago. They finally seem to have found one in Haye.

After seven games, he leads all Bucs defenders in sacks with four. He also leads all Bucs defensive linemen in tackles with 46. Surprising numbers, especially when you consider his background. Not everyone is surprised, though.

'Mark Dominik, our director of pro personnel, was the first person to bring Haye's name up to me,' Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said. 'I started looking at tape of him and I said, 'Hey, this kid's got something special.''

Kiffin wasn't the first one to notice Haye's special trait. Haye's coaches at Vanderbilt noticed it first. That's why they moved him from linebacker to defensive end.

'He's got that burst off the ball,' defensive line coach Larry Coyer said. 'He's also got tremendous balance and speed and if you have that, you can be a really good pass rusher.

'But that's not all this kid has. This kid's got a lot of heart, too. He's got pride and he's got desire. I mean this kid is one determined individual. When he wants something, he goes out and gets it.'

What Haye wanted more than anything going into this past offseason was that starting under tackle's job. But he was one of the least experienced of the six players the Bucs had fighting for it. Haye was going to need a lot more than mere determination to win it and he knew it. So he didn't just do whatever the Bucs asked of him this past offseason. In almost every case, he did more.

When they asked him to get down to 280 pounds, he got down to 275. When they told him to develop better hand speed, he took boxing lessons. When they told him to learn the under tackle position, he studied tape of Sapp.

It was the brief stint on the Browns practice squad that drove him. Spoiled by the even more brief stint he spent on the Panthers active roster the year before, he absolutely hated that experience.

'When I was in Cleveland, I knew that I wasn't a practice squad guy,' Haye said. 'I knew if I ever got a true opportunity somewhere I was going to make the best of it.'

Though Coyer noticed a bit of a slip last week, Haye arguably has been the Bucs' most consistent lineman all season. He acknowledges, though, that he can't take all the credit.

Linemates Kevin Carter and Chris Hovan have helped teach him the intricacies of a position he's been playing for less than a year. Hovan has helped by playing his own position so well that he frees up Haye to make plays at his.

'I don't think people realize how important that is,' Haye said. 'Chris is over there next to me tying up two guys and that leaves me to go one-on-one and make a play. That's big.'

Hovan says the biggest thing is what's inside Haye. The speed and quickness Haye has are what makes an under tackle special, he said. Brooks, meanwhile, believes there's something else inherent in Haye that makes him special.

'He came here, won a starting job and kept it through training camp,' Brooks said. 'That's a testament to his perseverance. There's no better example of that than 'The Longshot.''

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