The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Family Built, Family Inspired; The Story of Jonathan Haden
3/24/2017 12:00:00 AM | Football
Written by Steve Irvine:
As the youngest of five boys, Jonathan Haden naturally followed in his brothers’ footsteps.
He went where they went. He did what they did. He followed the same dream. And that dream took him to the football field.
Haden, who is headed toward an important role at wide receiver for the UAB football team, comes from a family of football players. Joe Haden III, the oldest child, played collegiately as a cornerback at the University of Florida and just finished his seventh NFL season with the Cleveland Browns. Josh, the second oldest, played running back at Boston College. Jordan, who was one of the top prep safeties in the country at Friendly High School in Maryland, began his college career at Florida before becoming a standout at Toledo in two seasons after transferring.
“I grew up seeing them play and was always trying to do what they were doing,” Jonathan said. “I had my pads at home and would be playing tackle football in the backyard. I grew up around it. It’s something I always did my whole life.”
Jonathan took those lessons to the local fields for youth football games.
“When I was watching them, I’d see they could run and catch it,” Jonathan said. “When I was playing little league, I used to make one-hand catches and try to do the same thing they were doing. When I was playing against them, they would always go 100 percent on me. They would never let up. It wasn’t rough when I played against kids my own age.”
For Jonathan, as well as his football playing brothers, inspiration didn’t just come on the field. One of their biggest inspiration – perhaps their biggest inspiration – comes from Jacob, the second youngest of the Joe Jr. and Zakiya Haden. Jacob, who was born with a cognitive disorder that makes it difficult for him to communicate verbally, was never a football player but was always never far away when any of his brothers were on the field.
“He’s the family backbone,” Jonathan said, smiling warmly while talking about his brother. “He keeps us all together. He’s always come to all of our ballgames, cheering us all on. We love Jake. It’s very important, just knowing we’re all out there for him. We know if he could play he would. We’ve always known that we have something more to play for than just ourselves.”
Jonathan was born with the look of a football player. He was so stocky at birth that his family not only said he “weighed a ton,” but they also stuck him with the nickname of ‘Ton-Ton.’ Lifting weights became as prominent as football in the Haden family. His father is a former body builder and current owner of Haden Sports and Performance Center in District Heights, Maryland.
His sons came by loving the weight room work naturally but Jonathan had a later start.
“I didn’t start lifting until I got in high school because I was always kind of short and kind of stocky,” Jonathan said. “The others had a little more height so they were good to start lifting earlier. We all just sort of worked out and stayed in shape.”
Jonathan never stretched the measuring tape when it comes to height. He’s listed at 5-foot-6 and 173 pounds on the UAB football roster. However, it became obvious early that taller doesn’t necessarily make better, especially when running away from defenders.
“You see guys get frustrated,” Jonathan said. “(My speed is) something that God gave me. It’s feel easy to run past somebody and they can’t catch up. That’s the best thing about it, no matter what they do, they can’t catch up. It makes it way easier for me when I’m on the field.”
Haden drew college interest even before he entered high school. The recruiting attention blew up during his time at Friendship Collegiate Academy, a charter school in Washington, D.C. that didn’t have a home stadium, locker room or practice field. Practices were held on the dirt of a nearby park. What they did have, though, was a football powerhouse that turned out scholarship football players by the dozens.
Haden’s recruiting offers included a long list of schools, including Ohio State, Tennessee and West Virginia, and he eventually settled on the University of Arizona. He played in 25 games – at running back, receiver and special teams - over two seasons at Arizona before deciding to leave the program.
He enrolled at Prince George’s Community College near his family home to finish school work necessary to move on to another Football Championship Subdivision school. Giving up football for a year was difficult but his focus was solely on the classroom.
When he went looking for his next stop, Haden called current UAB defensive back Darez Diggs, a former high school teammate and long-time friend.
“He said he liked the culture here, he liked the whole coaching staff,” Haden said. “He said it was like a big family so I came to visit and check it out and I was sold. I just loved everything about it.”
He was part of an impressive December signing class and has immediately been thrust into a prominent role on the Blazer offense. He’s listed as a wide receiver on the roster but the UAB offensive coaching staff will find a variety of ways to get him the football. Advertising those ways is not part of the plan for the UAB coaching staff, at least until the Blazers get on the field in the fall, but rest assured that versatility is one of Haden’s trademarks.
“I’ve always (been versatile) because it will get you on the field more and you have more opportunity to get the ball in your hands,” Haden said. “That’s what I’m about – getting the ball in my hands and making plays. I love playing different positions. Teams never know where you will be so I like it a lot.”
