Trevor Heitland making most of his shot at being Coe’s running back

CEDAR RAPIDS - Yes, his coach has told him he's sorry.

It came last Saturday, after Trevor Heitland carried the football an astounding 51 times in Coe's huge 23-12 win at Dubuque. No one is supposed to be able to do something like that and still look as fresh on his 51st carry as he did on his first.

Few are able to record back-to-back-to-back 200-yard rushing games like Heitland has recorded. He leads NCAA Division III with 1,357 yards this season.

It has been an incredible run, pun intended, for the senior from Cedar Rapids Kennedy. Which leads back to the apology.

Why in the heck did it take Coe three years to put him into the backfield? Heitland was a receiver his first three seasons for the Kohawks (7-0), who play Saturday afternoon at Luther (2-4).

'Yeah, absolutely,” laughed Coe Coach Tyler Staker, when asked if he has second-guessed himself.

Staker is in his first season as the Kohawks' head man but was their offensive coordinator prior to that.

'I knew that Trevor was an absolute talent, from the moment he stepped on campus,” Staker said. 'We put him in kind of a hybrid position, out at receiver in the slot, we used him out on the edge with his speed, tried to create opportunities in space for him. I knew that was a really good fit for him. This year, I've realized just how good he is between the tackles.

'I apologized to him after the Dubuque game. I was like ‘Man, I should have done this sooner.' I'm just happy for Trevor and what this season has been for him. The success he has had at that running back position is a big reason why we're 7-0.”

This quest to become the nation's leading rusher (Heitland is third regardless of division) began four years ago at Iowa Central Community College. That's where he began his college career, shooting for the stars, so to speak, wondering if he eventually could become a Division I player.

He didn't play as a freshman at Iowa Central, however, and chose to transfer. He contacted Coe, took a visit, enjoyed it and decided to become a Kohawk.

'I kind of realized that I wanted to go somewhere where I could play right away. Make a big impact early,” he said. 'I liked being close to home, so going to Coe was just a good fit.”

That fit was at receiver his first three seasons, though he did get a few carries on mostly jet sweep plays. In need of a No. 1 back, Staker approached Heitland last spring about moving positions.

He'd been a running back at Kennedy.

'He's really shifty, so he can find a hole anywhere,” said Coe center B.J. Weepie. 'If you create just a little crease, having that kind of makes you stay on your block a little longer. Obviously you want to blow the guy up across from you, but the way he can cut it back and find holes makes you just want to stay on your blocks a little longer. He can cut it back and make a big run.”

Heitland said his goal was to have a 1,000-yard season, a number he has blown past with three regular-season games and a probable playoff game still remaining. He was asked what goes through his mind when you say he's D-III's leading rusher.

'I'm definitely proud, but it's a whole team effort,” he said. 'We've got a good offensive line, a good quarterback, a good offensive system. That helps. The fact that we're still undefeated is huge.”

'That's pretty cool,” Staker said. 'I haven't really let that sink in all that much. Our focus is on other things during the course of the week. But, man, that's a great honor for Trevor. Obviously he has worked really hard this year, worked very hard in the offseason to prep for running back. For our offensive line, too, I think they take a lot of pride in that. That's their stat. Rushing yards is as much their stat as it a running back's.”

Staker stressed heavily that Heitland will not see another 51 carries Saturday. Everyone was surprised after last Saturday's game that his workload had been that high, Heitland included.

He said he figured the most carries he ever had in a game at Kennedy was in the mid to upper-20s.

'I never hit 30, I know that for sure,” he said. 'My legs were really sore, my arms were bruised up. It was a little difficult walking the next morning. Sunday and Monday, I was pretty sore. But I did a lot of treatment. A lot of icing, we have compression sleeves, and that helped a lot. Tuesday I was feeling back to normal for the most part.”

'We have watched his work load this week, we will watch his work load on Saturday, we will do a better job of making sure he doesn't get that many carries,” Staker said. 'If you arrived at Dubuque for the fourth quarter of that game last week and watched his 40th, his 41st carries, you would have had no clue he was that high. He showed zero signs of being fatigued. He was still shifting his feet, still running through contact. I knew he had that speed, that lightning-in-a-bottle, hit-a-home-run type of ability. I didn't know his stamina was that good.”

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