Kansas LB Ben Heeney Overcoming 'Misconceptions,' Challenges Entering NFL Draft

Anyone who paid attention to the 2015 NFL Scouting Combine knows that Ben Heeney is a great athlete.

The Kansas linebacker’s times topped the charts among all linebackers in Indianapolis in each of the combine’s three measurable agility drills. Heeney completed the three-cone drill in 6.68 seconds, the 20-yard shuttle in four seconds flat and the 60-yard shuttle in 11.06 seconds.

Heeney utilized that athleticism to rack up 335 total tackles, including 35.5 tackles for loss, in his four-year Kansas career. He was a first-team all-Big 12 selection in 2014, and a second-team all-Big 12 player in 2013 and 2012.

Yet even with his production and accolades, Heeney was not widely recognized as a great athlete until he proved it by running fast times—also including a 4.59-second 40-yard dash—in Under Armour and shorts at Lucas Oil Stadium.

“He’s just a lot better pure athlete than people have ever given him credit for,” Kansas assistant head coach/defensive coordinator Clint Bowen said in an interview with Bleacher Report. “I sang that song all season. Everyone was trying to say that he was a old-school, throwback Mike linebacker and I was like ‘No, he’s not.’ He’s a modern-day, fast, athletic linebacker, and everyone wanted to compare him to something that he wasn’t.”

Heeney, like his coach, believes that “there’s been a big misconception” about his ability to move.

“I don’t know what the reason behind it is, but I think hopefully [my combine performance] just shows scouts I’m athletic, I’ve got good burst and change-of-direction,” Heeney told B/R. “My numbers speak for themselves: I’m very quick, I’m explosive, I’m a sideline-to-sideline guy.”

Matt Miller, Bleacher Report’s NFL Draft Lead Writer, agrees that Heeney is a “great athlete.”

“Really fluid moving laterally and can chase down quarterbacks and running backs,” Miller said of Heeney’s game. “He's even agile enough to drop into a Cover 2 in my opinion.”

Bleacher Report Featured Columnist and former NFL defensive end Ryan Riddle further quantified Heeney’s athleticism by determining him to be the fastest/most agile prospect per pound at this year’s combine, according to his Dynamic Speed Average with Weight formula.

“Heeney is the best version of a sideline-to-sideline player I've seen in this draft, perhaps aside from [UCLA linebacker] Eric Kendricks,” Riddle said. “Incredible closing speed.”

It might not have been recognized before, but it’s certainly agreed upon now that Heeney has the speed and all-around movement skills that NFL teams covet at the linebacker position.

In spite of his athletic exploits, it’s no guarantee that Heeney will be selected before the late rounds of this year’s draft. Even after the combine, Heeney is continuing to fly under the radar—perhaps, in part, because he played on a team that didn’t get much national attention during his collegiate career.

The Best Player on a Bad Team

It’s a good thing for Heeney that linebackers (unlike quarterbacks) are not frequently linked with their teams’ records as prospects. During Heeney’s four years in Lawrence, the Jayhawks just won nine of the 48 games they played.

As a result, Heeney’s play never got much recognition outside the Big 12. In fact, the most attention Kansas and its defense got in his senior season came when Oklahoma freshman running back Samaje Perine went for 427 rushing yards—the most ever in a Football Bowl Subdivision game—in an embarrassing afternoon for the Jayhawks.

Playing on a bad unit—one that ranked 109th in the FBS in total defense and 106th in scoring defense in 2014—has not helped Heeney in terms of his perception as he stacks up with the other linebackers vying for selections in the 2015 NFL draft.

The defense’s struggles as a whole, however, are not necessarily a reflection on Heeney.

Bowen, who served as Kansas’ interim head coach for the final eight games of this past season, said Heeney brought a different attitude to the field than many of his teammates.

“There’s a lot of kids that, and a lot of people, that will accept losing,” Bowen said. “And when you’re losing, the guys that are on the edge, it pushes them over the edge to where losing is OK and excuse-making becomes OK, whereas you have a handful of guys like Ben Heeney that they’re never going to accept that. They’re never going to accept getting beat and they’re a rare breed, but it’s extremely difficult.”

It has not helped the Jayhawks’ cause that they have had regular turnover on their coaching staff since Mark Mangino resigned in 2009. Heeney, in his time at Kansas, had three different head coaches: Turner Gill in his freshman year, then Charlie Weis until he was fired four games into last season and replaced by Bowen.

“I had three head coaches in my four years here, I had three defensive coordinators, I had three different position coaches,” Heeney said. “None of the circumstances that I was playing with were beneficial.”

When dealing with changes to the coaching staff and subsequently the team’s defensive system, “you never really get comfortable,” Heeney said.

“I love the school, I love my teammates and all that stuff, but I didn’t really reap many benefits from my success personally while being here just because our team struggled so much,” Heeney admitted. “I wouldn’t trade my time here for anything, I love my teammates and everyone I’ve met down here, but I’m definitely ready to take the next step in my career.”

Notwithstanding the tumult within the Kansas program, Heeney still had a great collegiate career, by any measure, at least from an individual standpoint. Heeney’s ability to do so, overcoming adversity, “goes back to what’s inside of him,” according to Bowen.

“Ben truly is a guy that when things go bad, for him or his team, he legitimately gets pissed off,” Bowen said.

Bowen compared Heeney’s desire to win to that of an all-time sports great.

“You read the story [of] Michael Jordan not wanting to lose a card game, well that’s what Ben does,” Bowen said. “He doesn’t want to lose. So regardless of what was going on around him, when he stepped on the field, it was time to go.”

A two-year team captain, according to Kansas’ official website, Heeney is a competitor who lets his play do the talking, according to Bowen.

“He brings it every single day,” Bowen said of Heeney. “He’s not a rah-rah, vocal leader type guy. He doesn’t have a problem communicating with guys to voice what needs to get done, but his leadership style is based on the guy shows up and practices as hard as anybody in our program practices, every single day. He is a true live wire every day and I think the other guys on the team see that, when you’re in a practice and the best player on the team is also the guy playing the hardest on the team.”

Heeney’s competitive desire, in conjunction with his athleticism, should give him a chance to make his mark in the NFL, where he will be surrounded by significantly more talent than he had around him at Kansas. That said, there are still some concerns that teams might have about projecting him to be a core player on an NFL defense.

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

Can Heeney Be an NFL Starting Linebacker?

A staple on special teams at Kansas, and also when he went to this year’s East-West Shrine Game, Heeney’s most immediate opportunity to make a name for himself in the NFL will likely be on kickoff and punt coverage units.

“I think that’s where I’m probably most likely going to start is special teams, at least at the very beginning,” Heeney said. “There’s a lot of guys that don’t want to be on special teams, but for me, I welcome it and I want to make plays on special teams.”

But while some scouts might foresee Heeney as a special teams contributor only, and not as a player who will be a regular factor on defense, Heeney believes that is another misconception about his skill set.

“A lot of people think I will only be a special teams guy. And that’s not my goal, that’s not my aspiration, I want to be the guy, I want to be a starter, I want to contribute on defense, which I think I’m going to do,” Heeney said.

Riddle, who recently included Heeney on his list of mid-round prospects with Pro Bowl potential, thinks that Heeney ”has the potential to become one of the best non-rush LBs in this draft class.”

“He is solid in coverage (from what I saw) and certainly has the athleticism to stay in the hip pocket of some of the best athletes the NFL has to offer,” Riddle said. “Any situation where you turn him loose and allow him to chase down ball carriers, he will succeed.”

Heeney thinks he can play numerous positions—”whatever a coach wants me to play”—in any defensive scheme.

But while Heeney played middle linebacker at Kansas, Bowen acknowledged that Heeney’s size limitations, at 6’0” and 231 pounds, could make him a poor fit for that position in the NFL.

“I hate to say it, but I think he’s probably more of a Will linebacker on a 4-3 team that can line up behind the 3-technique and get protected a little bit, because he’s not a big guy, and he’s not a long guy.” Bowen said.

It’s evident, even at the collegiate level, that Heeney can be enveloped by bigger blockers.

Miller, who ranked Heeney 185th on his post-combine big board, has some other concerns with the prospect’s game.

“The issue I saw with him was a lot of missed tackles and some bad angles to the ball,” Miller said. “He'll get tied up by blockers and sometimes still create the play, but he's not a finisher.”

According to a scouting report by NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein, Heeney was “the college football leader in missed tackles in 2014.”

For Heeney to make good upon his objective of becoming an NFL starting linebacker, he will have to capitalize upon all the playmaking opportunities he can get.

To do so, Bowen thinks Heeney, given his ability to fly around the field, “just needs to slow down a little bit.”

“He is an ultra-aggressive guy so sometimes he’ll get a little too jumpy and go somewhere a little too fast and has a tendency to maybe get himself out of position,” Bowen said. “He’s a heat-and-feet-type guy, he wanted to see and go get it, and sometimes, he would run himself out of things.”

Like most draft prospects, Heeney is a player with strengths and weaknesses who is likely to have a varied range of grades from NFL teams. He could end up being a surprise early-round draft pick, given his athletic traits and collegiate production, but he could also end up falling into the draft’s later rounds because of the areas in which he must improve to be a regular contributor at linebacker.

What should be widely expected of “Captain Heeney,” who was labeled as a superhero during his years at Kansas, is that he is a motivated, self-confident player who will give his all in his effort to not only make the roster of his NFL team, but to be a difference-maker.

“I like to see myself as a playmaker,” Heeney said. “I go on the field and I make plays. I’ve got a motor that doesn’t stop, I’m going to give 100 percent on every play and I’m just a really hard worker and a good leader.”

All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All NFL Scouting Combine results were found at NFL.com.

Dan Hope is an NFL/NFL Draft Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow @Dan_Hope