Sophomore lands coveted offer

SAMMAMISH, Wash. (Scout.com) - It's been a crazy 72 hours for the family of Jake Heaps. On Saturday, the 6-foot-1, 180-pound Heaps helped lead the Skyline Spartans to a 39-20 win over previously-unbeaten and No. 1 Lakes, giving the Spartans an inside track to the 3A championship game at the Tacoma Dome.

And then on Monday came the cherry on top - the sophomore signal-caller received his first verbal scholarship offer.

"It was definitely mind-blowing," Heaps told Scout.com Monday after talking with BYU Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall. "I never thought it would be so early."

The Cougars' Quarterback Coach - Brandon Doman - visited Skyline High School on Friday, primarily to talk to head coach Steve Gervais about Heaps, as well as junior wideout Gino Simone and senior lineman Tom Swanson. Clearly the message Doman brought back with him to Provo, Utah was enough for Mendenhall to pick up the phone and personally offer Heaps a scholarship, the first of what should be many offers.

"He (Mendenhall) was real nice and he said that he wants me to be on their football team and he knows that there are a lot of choices I'm going to have to make, but he said that (BYU) is a place that's unique from anywhere else in the country," Heaps said. "It's a great quarterback school and a great school for my religion and definitely a place that's unlike any other."

Heaps is Mormon, and has been to BYU's summer camp as a 7th grader and also during this past off-season. "It's a beautiful place to play," he said of Provo.

So at this point in the story, it's probably smart to take a couple of steps back. Way back. Having been a familiar presence at many a Barton Academy off-season camp in Portland and Seattle, I've seen quarterbacks from the fourth grade on up through college work out with Greg and Taylor Barton. The father-and-son duo have been mentoring some of the finest field generals ever produced from the northwest, including Kellen Clemens (Oregon/NYJ), Erik Ainge (Tennessee), Kevin Riley (California), and many, many others. Too many to count, actually.

Three years ago I happened to be at one particular spring session at Lewis and Clark College, in the west hills of Portland, Ore. As usual, the Bartons had their assortment of top quarterbacks tearing through their drills without a second of wasted movement or sitting around waiting for another station to start. In watching Greg Barton teach, he loves to use players to demonstrate proper technique.

Time and time again during this particular workout, I kept watching Greg point to a certain player, and single him out for whatever that group was doing at the time. Afterwards I found out that the demonstration player was Jake Heaps.

Barton had his pick of quarterbacks that had come back from whatever they were doing in college at the time to hammer home whatever fundamentals they needed to work on, but kept going back to Jake as the example to use for proper technique, correct footwork...basically anything.

"He's worked hard all his life to get to where he's at," Barton said Monday when hearing about Heaps' offer. "It's quite an honor."

Fast-forward a bit to Heaps' freshman season at Skyline. The Spartans are known for their high-flying offensive attack, and Heaps had a chance to start as a ninth-grader. Instead of letting it get to him when that chance didn't come, Heaps used it as fuel. "You have to be constantly proving yourself with hard work and with your performance," he said. "Once I get something, I want to work that much harder and do that much more. I'm not going to be satisfied."

With his work this past off-season, it was clear the starting quarterback job at Skyline was his this fall, and he put a hammer-lock on it. Heaps has roughly 2380 yards passing, with a 60 percent completion percentage. He has a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 26/4, and has also accounted for 12 scores running the ball. The irony behind those four picks is that three of them came in one half of play versus Mount Si.

"It was a brutal game," he said. "But I got things back on track."

Things are not only back on track for Heaps, but he has the Skyline Spartans most-likely heading down I-5 to the 'Dome - the aim of any 3A and 4A football player in the state of Washington. 'The 'Dome' means you've made it to the Tacoma Dome - home of the state semifinals and championship games. And while this first offer means so much to Jake and his family, it's part of a future that will stay there for the time being.

"I think it's going to be very easy," Heaps said when asked about getting his focus back onto winning state. "It's nothing that you want to dwell on - because that offer could be taken away."

It's clear that Doman's visit - coupled with Heaps impressive performance over Lakes - were the determining factors in BYU's offer. Timing also played a part. "They wanted to make it evident that they wanted to get after me," Heaps said. "They wanted to be the first ones to offer. They feel like I'm going to have a lot of offers to come, and they want it to mean something that they were the first."

Defeating a Number-One team at any point in time is impressive enough, but to do it running a wide-open offense as a high school sophomore just adds a monster gold star on Heaps' ever-expanding football resume. "It was unbelievable," he said of the game against Lakes. "The hype around the game and the environment there - it was unbelievable. The press was everywhere on the sidelines and it was packed. All I could think about was 'Play your game, play smart, do what you do'. Lining up, looking for the first time at Kavario (Middleton), I knew it was going to be a fun game. It's something I'll never forget."

The Lakes Lancers happen to also be loaded with talent, including two players in Kavario Middleton and Jermaine Kearse, who will be playing in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl this coming January in San Antonio, Tex. Heaps admitted to being a guy that pays attention to recruiting on the internet, so the Lancers had already been well-scouted.

Put this connection to memory - Heaps to Simone. While Lakes had national-caliber talent on the field, the Spartans were more than happy to showcase their own breakout stars - and there's no question that Heaps was not the only one that benefitted from a huge victory this past Saturday, despite going 14-for-21 for 322 yards, three passing touchdowns and one running touchdown to help his cause.

"Kearse was guarding Gino (Simone) the whole game, and Gino showed that he could play with those D1 talents," Heaps said of his go-to receiver. Simone will be one of the top wideouts from the state of Washington for the 2009 recruiting class. "I definitely think that if that game doesn't prove that he is a legitimate D1 prospect, than I don't know what other game he would have to prove himself in. He racked up 178 yards and a touchdown. He's a playmaker. He has the drive and want-to to snag that ball more than anyone else on that field. You put that all together and he's just a football player. I think people should look at him that way."

In fact, if the truth were to be told, Heaps would much rather talk about his teammates and what they've done to get the Spartans this far. "Right from the beginning, our team chemistry was so unbelievable," he said. "Right after that Bellevue game (a 6-0 slugfest win), we thought that this was a team that could take it to state. We've been working hard, studying film and it's evident we have a strong team. We just need to keep playing to the best of our abilities."

"He does believe in team before anything else," Barton was quick to add.

But after the Lakes win, it's Heaps' profile that has taken a dramatic upturn - and the BYU offer is clearly evidence of that move. "When they were watching film, they were very impressed with my poise and my ability to stand up in the pocket, especially for a sophomore," he said, noting what Mendenhall had given him for feedback. "From their eyes, I could make all the throws."

Heaps knew Doman had been at Skyline, but didn't really understand the repercussions of that visit until Mendenhall's phone call. "I really wasn't thinking much of it," he said. "I was excited they stopped by, but I've been really focused on this season and trying to get our team to state. But it was exciting to see that they were taking some pretty big interest."

Having grown up LDS, many would expect this move by Mendenhall to be the ultimate sign of respect for a high school player. "It means a great deal," Heaps said of the offer. "When you have a team that you've grown up around your whole life, it's a big deal when a team like BYU offers you so early, and especially as a quarterback so early. It is a quarterback school for sure, and it's a great honor to be offered so early by such a great team. In my mind, it'll come back to me that they were the first school to give me that chance. It means a lot to me."

It means a lot, but it doesn't mean everything. At least not yet. "For the long haul, I'm open to anybody and anything right now," Heaps added. "It's really early in the game to start narrowing things down. When you get your first offer, you're just waiting for some more to come so that you can start thinking about other things. But it doesn't matter who offers me at this point - I'm just looking for other offers. I'm open to anything."

Barton will be one of those in charge of keeping Heaps' eye on the ball, so to speak. "He (Heaps) has got a long way to go and a lot of work ahead of him," he said. "He's got to buy into everything Coach Gervais is doing."

One of the things that comes with Heaps' eventual decision will be his mission plans. He will be 19 just out of high school, so if he did decide to go on mission, he wouldn't necessarily go to college first. In any event, Heaps knows that it's something that will certainly play a factor in how his college recruitment goes.

"It's definitely something I have to think about," Heaps said of mission plans. "It's a 50/50 tossup right now (to go on mission). It hasn't come up too often, but I know it's a topic that will come up pretty soon. If I do choose to go on a mission, I want to be able to come back and play."

But like the story of Heaps' offer - it feels right to take a step back to make sure Jake can take two steps forward in his own development. "Our focus is to get to the state championship and win," Heaps said, matter-of-factly.

And the built-in irony here is that if Heaps does step back from the recruiting process and can lead the Spartans to a state title, it will only futher ensure a rapid-fire ascension up college recruiting boards across the country.

And as far as I'm concerned, it won't come a minute too soon.