Hayden Lehmann, football
FREMONT – At first he thought it was just a sprain.
After all, Hayden Lehmann walked off the field after it happened. The then-sophomore was on track to be the starting quarterback for the 2016 Ross football team, but fate intervened.
“I’ve watched it over and over on film,” Lehmann said. “I was running the ball, I was dragging someone and my leg was like this (bent) and someone else came landed right on it.”
Until x-rays revealed the extent of the damage – a broken ankle – the prospect of an extended absence hadn’t occurred to Lehmann, but he ended up missing most of the season.
“It was devastating for Hayden to not get that experience under his belt as a sophomore,” Ross head coach Chad Long said. “We knew what he could have done, it’s just he never got the chance to do it. Even when he came back, he wasn’t 100 percent. That year was tough on Hayden.”
Determined to make the most of the situation, Lehmann still went to work. He watched senior Boston Swaisgood and tried to digest the position as much as he could from the sideline. When physical reps weren’t an option, mental reps become the order of the day.
Ross quarterback Hayden Lehmann chats with receiver Devyn Jagodzinski in warm-ups before the Little Giants’ scrimmage against Northview.
“I knew I could still learn from the other quarterback, which was Boston, and I learned a lot of stuff from him, watching him through the whole season,” Lehmann said. “I got a lot of mental reps. Whatever I took note of is what I tried to use when I came back.”
Lehmann played in three games but saw limited success, completing just 9-of-29 passes for 62 yards with three interceptions. Lehmann and the Little Giants have their final scrimmage of the preseason tonight, at 6 p.m. at Sandusky Perkins before starting the season next week at home against Holland Springfield.
Ready to return full strength
A sizable offensive line, athleticism in the skill-positions and a potentially nasty defense, are all reasons for Ross to be optimistic about what the upcoming 2017 season holds. But the biggest area of hope lies in the frame of the 6-foot-2, 190-pounder with a rocket launcher for an arm and a clean bill of health who is determined to make up for lost time.
His teammates are eager to see him do it.
“We got a lot of deep threats, and to have somebody back there who can get us the ball consistently and get it down there to score some points, it means a lot (having him back),” senior receiver Devyn Jagodzinski said.
Often, however, the physical recuperation from an injury can be easier than the mental recovery. It’s only natural for an athlete to be gun-shy performing the same tasks that resulted in injury. Lehmann was running the ball when he injured his ankle, but Long said he’s seen no indication Lehmann has any reservation using his legs to make a play.
“I think his confidence is really high. He’s not scared to run the ball,” Long said. “We run a lot of reads where he can pull it at any time, based on what the backside end is doing, and, so far, through 2-a-days and things like that, we’ve seen no signs of it being in the back of his mind or anything.”
The only aspect of Lehmann’s development that is still lacking as a result of his injury, Long said, is his ability to be assertive with his teammates when need be.
“Had he had that year under his belt, his confidence and leadership skills would be showing this year,” Long said. “(His teammates) know it’s his team, and he knows it, but he doesn’t quite take it by the horns and do the leading that we expect, or want, out of a quarterback yet, but I expect we’ll see that as the year goes on.”
If there is one positive about Lehmann’s forced absence from the field, it’s the appreciation he learned for what he lost. And the desire to get it back.
“I definitely want it a little more,” Lehmann said. “I want to redeem myself from last year. I want people to know I was the real deal.”