Haden Has His Own Training Methods
By Josh Barr
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 16, 2006; 1:28 AM
The way Joe Haden Sr. looks at it, training for combines is like preparing for the SAT.
"I'm starting camps to really prepare kids for the combines," said the Friendly High assistant coach and father of two top prospects. "It's really amazing. It's not that it changes anything as far as their ability or their talent, but it changes their work ethic and their focus and their ability to be comfortable."
If you were taking the SAT, Haden reasons, you would do as much preparation as possible, wouldn't you?
So far, only about 40 players have signed up for the camps, which run weekly throughout the summer. But if Haden needs any advertising, he can point to his sons. Joe Haden, a rising senior who is Friendly's quarterback and safety, has narrowed his choices to seven colleges, all of which have offered scholarships: Florida, Pittsburgh, Ohio State, Tennessee, Michigan, Michigan State and Georgia. Josh Haden, a rising junior, already is on the radar for many top programs.
Among thousands of athletes, the two brothers recorded the highest index scores in testing this spring and summer at combines run by Nike. The SPARQ rating is based on a player's vertical jump, time in the 40-yard dash and shuttle run and how many times he can bench press 185 pounds. Believing this measure goes a long way toward determining whether colleges will offer a scholarship, Joe Haden Sr. -- a personal trainer -- had his sons start their training early so that they would score well.
"When I figured out the way they work it, if these guys learn the drills and get it down to clockwork, it's going to help them get scholarships," Haden Sr. said. "It's drill-specific training. When I started [Joe] and Josh out at 13 years out, they really started training for the combines."
Being able to play some football, of course, helps as well. Joe Haden passed for 1,944 yards and 22 touchdowns with only five interceptions last season. The biggest concern he faces is over his size. While most college coaches prefer quarterbacks to be taller than 6 feet 3, Haden is only 5-11 on a good day -- which means his future might be at another position, perhaps wide receiver or cornerback.
"He is wide open to the athlete thing," Friendly assistant coach Marcus Berry said. "He's been working a lot at receiver. I've been throwing to him. When he went to Nike, he threw a lot but also worked out at receiver. He's going to play quarterback for us, but he'll play a little bit at receiver because we have to get a quarterback ready for the following year. Everybody has told him they're going to look at him as a quarterback first but he's so athletic they feel he can go over to receiver or corner with no problem at all.
"Deep down, he would like to be a receiver more than a defensive back. He's the kind of kid you want to get the ball in his hands anyway."
Berry said that Haden plans to visit each of his seven remaining schools on unofficial (meaning player-paid) visits over the summer and then take official campus visits in the fall before making a decision. Haden plays to graduate after the fall semester and enroll in college early so that he can participate in spring practice. This plan knocked out one of his potential choices, Virginia, because the Cavaliers told Haden they were unlikely to take him for the spring semester.
Among other local schools, Virginia Tech never offered Haden a scholarship and Haden Sr. said his son lost interest in Maryland because several other schools made scholarship offers before the Terrapins.
Meantime, one of Haden's targets fall has made his college choice. Friendly wide receiver Vincent Hill, who had 879 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns last season, earlier this week committed to Akron.
Hill visited Akron last weekend, where he spent time with former Forestville standout Jermaine Lindsay. Hill attended Croom High in Upper Marlboro for the final quarter of last school year after getting into trouble at school, but has been reinstated to Friendly and will be on the field this fall, Berry said. "He's really, really focused now," Berry said.
