Michael Haynes is always smiling.
After wins, losses, the best and worst games of his football career, you can still expect the Penn State defensive end to be holding court in the media room, cracking jokes and getting full enjoyment out of talking about football.
Haynes' toothy grin has appeared more often than usual this year because football has been a lot more fun to play and to talk about.
The media isn't asking Haynes about disappointment like it had been in recent years. Now the questions center around bowl aspirations, Haynes' run at the all-time Penn State single-season sack record (which he needs 1.5 sacks today to tie) and the NFL draft.
Getting back to a bowl game after a two-year hiatus was the team's paramount goal at the beginning of the season, so that is something he was at least thinking about, if not expecting, but the rest of it comes out of nowhere.
The sacks record wasn't something he was even conscious of until writers started asking him about it. And the NFL? He thought he'd be applying to medical schools to chase his dream of being a veterinarian at this point.
"I'm really surprised about it," Haynes said. "This time last year, I don't think anyone thought I had a really good shot at it. What a difference a year makes."
But then you look at him and wonder how anyone built like that would be surprised that there are people at the next level that want him to play for them. He's a 6-3, 270 pound monster of a rush end with a 4.7 40-meter dash time. Though comparing him to Courtney Brown, one of Haynes' predecessors at defensive end and a former No. 1 draft pick in the NFL wasn't exactly fair, you can see how someone would do that.
However, what he says is true. When the season began, no one was talking up Haynes. Defensive tackle Jimmy Kennedy was by far the most talked-about player on the Lions' defense, and fellow tackle Anthony Adams was probably next after him. Haynes was an afterthought because that prototype build for a defensive end still hadn't produced much for him. He had six sacks in 2000 as a backup behind Justin Kurpeikis and Bob Jones, but only had four last season in his first year as a starter.
But now Haynes has surpassed even those two when it comes to talk about accolades, and he's right up there in the NFL talk.
So what took this long? Before Haynes could dominate, he just had to learn how to play at this level.
Football was foreign to Haynes growing up. He was a son of immigrant parents who both joined the military. His father, Michael Sr., a native of Jamaica, was in the Air Force, and his mother Catherine, a native of Grenada, was in the Army. His parents knew little about football, and the only sport he played growing up was soccer. It wasn't until his freshman year at Balboa H.S. in Panama when his soccer coach realized that Haynes had the body and talent to play football that Haynes got into the sport. His parents were skeptics, but they allowed him to play.
Haynes compared the league he played in to a recreation league.
Four of the teams in it were from his high school, and two others were made up of native Panamanians. Football season occurs at the same time as the rainy season in Panama, and by the end of the season, the field would be nothing but mud. They even had to bring in cones to mark the field because there were no lines.
Haynes was still dominant in the league, outmuscling players that were mostly smaller than him. As coaches and other parents began whispering that Haynes could be a college football player, his parents started taking him to football camps over the summers, including camps at Boston College and East Carolina.
In Haynes' senior year, his parents were transferred to New Jersey, which gave Haynes a chance to get exposure. They toured several schools, and decided on Burlington H.S. in Columbus, N.J. Haynes was 6-3, 245 at the time, and Burlington coach Charlie Pirrello was happy to have him.
"I always said that I thought Christmas came early that year," Pirrello said. "That was the best present I could have received."
That preseason was no holiday for Haynes. He had never been forced to lift weights before, and dominated solely through his natural talent.
However, Burlington players underwent a high-intensity weight training regimen similar to the one Penn State employs. It wasn't easy for him to get used to it, but he survived, and when he got on the field he was dominant again.
Pirrello moved him to fullback on offense and lined him up at end, tackle and linebacker on defense. Haynes impressed a Philadelphia Inquirer writer in his first game, and by his second, there were already scouts coming to his games, including then-Penn State wide receivers coach Kenny Jackson. Midway through the season, letters were coming in from everywhere. Haynes and his parents didn't know how to react.
"It was overwhelming for us," his mother Catherine said. "We had no idea that kind of stuff even happened. We had no idea that a college would pay for his education."
That was a thrill for the Haynes's parents, who were worried they wouldn't be able to pay for their son's education. Haynes, an animal lover who currently has an assortment of turtles, fish and frogs in his apartment, had always wanted to be a veterinarian and still does when his football career is over -- which will require medical school.
His parents were thrilled to find out that their burden would be significantly eased. Penn State carries an Animal Sciences major, and Penn State football coach Joe Paterno's focus on getting his players to earn their degrees was enough to easily convince Haynes and his family to sign with the Lions.
Haynes was recruited as a fullback and played there on the scout team as a redshirt in his first year in Happy Valley. When Jackson was recruiting Haynes, he told him he expected him to eventually become too big for the position and move, which happened in spring practice before his redshirt freshman season. He spent the next year backing up Brown, watching and learning as the eventual All-American and No. 1 draft pick romped all over Big Ten quarterbacks and registered 13.5 sacks.
"One of the biggest things I learned from Courtney is that you can go all out every play, and you'll be just fine," Haynes said. "That's what he did, he went all out every play."
Haynes started drawing some comparisons to Courtney for his size, and when he registered six sacks as a backup in 2000, there were some whispers that he might be able to perform like his predecessor. But when Haynes got to be the starter last season, he saw that it was a whole different ball game. He was shell-shocked early on to experience what it was like to stay on
the field all of the time and to have to work that hard on every down.
It showed in the statistics. Haynes had just nine tackles in his first four games, and was shut out against Wisconsin. He didn't record a sack until the fourth game of the season, and finished with just four.
"I know for a fact I underachieved last year," Haynes said earlier in the season. "I was not productive at all in the first few games."
Haynes was upset with his own performance, and he decided on his own that things would change this season. He was also getting a push from a number of players and coaches, including Kennedy and defensive line coach Larry Johnson, Sr.
Haynes had always come to team conditioning sessions and mini-camps, but this summer, he dedicated himself completely to training for the 2002 season. He was doing an internship at Reptile Land in Williamsport, but lived on campus all summer and worked out constantly with Penn State strength coach John Thomas, vastly improving his strength, agility and endurance. In preseason conditioning, Johnson kept the heat on him in practice. Every time Haynes seemed like he was exhausted, Johnson made sure he did just one more rep to learn how to work though things when tired.
It was obvious early on that Haynes had become a different player over the offseason. He had two sacks in the first game of the season against Central Florida, then two more against Louisana Tech in the third game. He still hasn't slowed down, registering three sacks against Virginia and one more against Indiana last week to come into today's game against Michigan State with a Big Ten-leading total of 13.5. He is closing in on the school record of 15 set by Larry Kubin in 1979. He has also had at least one tackle for loss in every game this season for a Big Ten leading total of 20.
Everyone has been noticing, especially Haynes' opponents. A number of the quarterbacks he has smashed into the ground have called him the best defensive end they have ever seen. The committee for the inaugural Ted Hendricks Award for the nation's best defensive end are clearly thinking along the same lines. Haynes was one of four finalists selected for the award.
It is presumed that the NFL scouts are noticing too. Though Haynes' name is not currently on draft guru Mel Kiper, Jr.'s list of the top 25 seniors, it has appeared there at times during the year. This time, his family is a little more prepared. In order to allow Haynes to focus on football and school, Michael Sr. has recently taken the initiative to start talking to agents to decide who would be the best fit.
Of course, it's still a surprise to them as well.
"All along we were never talking about it," Catherine said. "Everyone else was but we weren't. It's still hard for us to believe that it could be a reality."
But for those that have played with Michael or coached him, it seems like it was only a matter of time.
"I have been telling him (that he just doesn't know how good he is) for three years," Paterno said. "I said, 'If you ever wake up, knucklehead, you are going to be a pretty good football player.' "
