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When former high school football star Greg Heban arrived in Bloomington for his freshman year in college, he only had one goal in mind: make the IU baseball team as a walk-on.

But three years later, Heban found himself back on the Astroturf, named Academic All-Big Ten and honorable mention All-Big Ten — in football.

And this fall, Heban will be one of 12 seniors on the team, helping to mold the members of IU’s highest-rated recruiting class into quality college football players.

So when the incoming freshmen arrive, they will look to Heban for leadership.

The irony in it all, is that when Heban first got to IU, football was the “furthest thing from his mind.”

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As a student at Delta High School in Muncie, Ind., Heban played three sports.

He was a wingback and cornerback for the football team, a point guard and shooting guard for the basketball team and a pitcher and center fielder for the baseball team.

For Heban, playing all three sports allowed him to stay in shape year-round without getting “burnt out” in any one.

When his senior year of high school came around, he was still playing on each team. He received scholarship offers to play football from a few Division III schools; however, he says his true focus was actually on baseball.

As a left-handed pitcher, Heban says he threw 87 to 88 miles per hour. That was enough to gain some college interest, and that, he thought, was where his true passion lay.

Though he had offers from smaller schools, nothing compared to the program where he wanted to walk-on: the school where both of his sisters went, and the school he “wanted to come to for his whole life.”

That college was IU, and though he received no athletic scholarship, he was accepted and chose to attend school in Bloomington. The summer before his freshman year, there was a reason why football was at the back of Heban’s mind.

“I was too focused on trying to impress the baseball coaches,” Heban says. “I did miss it at times, but I was trying to get better at just one sport.”

It paid off. In the fall of 2009, Heban was added to IU’s 2010 baseball roster as
a walk-on.

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Heban played on an intramural football team with his teammates and coaches as a way to bond before the baseball season began. He played his traditional positions from high school, and IU Coach Tracy Smith served as the team’s quarterback.

Yes, they did go on to win the intramural championship, and yes, Heban, once an all-state football player, was the star.

That experience, he says, rekindled his interest in football. During baseball season, he says playing football was always in the back of his mind, especially because moments on the field were infrequent.

Heban only played in two games his freshman year, pitching one-and-a-third innings and allowing an earned run. Because he knew that his future in baseball was doubtful, he approached then-IU football coach Bill Lynch about how to walk onto
the team.

After earning Smith’s approval, Heban joined the Hoosiers football team during their preseason camp in the fall of 2010. The transition, he says, was not easy.

“People always talk about being in shape, but baseball shape and football shape are two totally different things,” Heban says. “For me, being a pitcher here, it was a lot of long conditioning and campus runs. Coming to football, it was a lot of strength training and agility and quick movements.”

***

As a walk-on, Heban says he didn’t know anyone on the team. None of the coaches knew him, either.

Because of this, he realized he had to work harder than anyone else to try to catch the coaches’ collective attention.

In his first year with the team and his second on IU’s campus, Heban played in all 12 games as cornerback and on special teams. He shared the team lead with five pass break-ups and also recorded 40 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and one interception.

He was selected for ESPN’s Big Ten All-Freshman Team and was IU’s Special Teams Player of the Year.

However, on Nov. 28, 2010, only a day after an overtime victory over Purdue, in which Heban led all IU cornerbacks with five tackles, Lynch was fired.

Once again, with an entirely new coaching staff starting, Heban was faced with the challenge of proving himself worthy of earning playing time.

One of the new members of that staff was co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Doug Mallory, who says he was instantly impressed with Heban’s work ethic.

“Greg has a great feel for what we’re doing back there,” Mallory says. “He’s a guy that understands everyone’s responsibilities and is an extremely hard worker.

“He’s someone that we see as a leader out there for us.”

It came as no surprise then, that during the summer before his sophomore season, new IU Coach Kevin Wilson decided to offer Heban a scholarship.

During the 2011 season, Heban started all 12 games for the Hoosiers, led the team with two interceptions, and shared the lead for pass break-ups with six. He also finished the season with 60 tackles, third-best on the team.

With that experience gained during the first two seasons, Heban says that he feels he gained an instinct toward making plays.

“You have more confidence in yourself,” Heban says.

***

That confidence paid off in finishing as IU’s top defender in its 2012 season, one in which the team improved its record by three wins.

Heban led the team with 91 tackles, three interceptions and eight pass break-ups.
Overlooked in that success; however, was a midseason position change from his traditional role as a cornerback.

Before the Hoosiers’ game against Ohio State on Oct. 13, 2012, IU’s coaching staff decided to move Heban from the nickelback position to safety.

The move, Mallory insisted, would be so that Heban could be most effective on the field.

“It’s been a pretty smooth transition,” Mallory says. “I think he’s athletic enough that he could play any spot in the secondary, but I think he’s physical enough to play safety.”

Though the transition is still ongoing — Mallory would still like Heban to become more physical even though he has gained 15 pounds since his freshman year — he admitted he has been pleased with the progress made.

He also says he thinks Heban will do just fine in adjusting to a leadership role next season, one that he hopes to see marked improvements team-wide.

“When other kids watch the time and effort that he puts into practice and the way he prepares, it shows some pretty good leadership qualities,” Mallory says. “And I think he’s a guy that won’t have a problem with speaking up too.

“If someone isn’t doing something right, he’ll step up and make sure they’ll get it corrected.”

Sure, Heban might have started his college career playing the “wrong sport,” but at this point, it has all come together for the rising senior. He says he has no regrets from his experience and that if anything, it has prepared him more for what could come in the future: an NFL opportunity.

“You can’t go in there with the mindset thinking that you’re not going to make it,” Heban says. “You have to have faith and spirit that you can make it.”