The Herculaneum senior relishes stuffing the hole playing inside linebacker and running over people when he’s given the ball at running back.
With an intense mass of red hair covering his head, Huson looks like he’s on fire when he comes to the sideline and removes his helmet.
His coaches love him. His teammates respect him. The opposing teams surely know where he’s lined up on both sides of the ball.
“I love counter plays. When the tackle pulls, I get right behind him,” said Huson, who has played on the varsity since he was a freshman. “I like to manhandle people a little.”
For all of the banging Huson does, a seemingly innocuous tackle ended his season in 2018. The Blackcats were hosting Crystal City in their homecoming game in the seventh week of the season when a Hornet defender lunged at Huson’s feet and knocked him down. Huson landed squarely on a shoulder and broke his collarbone. He didn’t play again. Herculaneum lost its final three games by a composite score of 141-6.
That’s not a coincidence.
“I came down on my shoulder wrong and snapped my collarbone,” Huson said. “It was pretty heartbreaking because I was having a great season.
“It was in the open field. The defender dove and caught my feet from behind.”
It took Huson about two months to recover from the painful injury.
“I did some things to strengthen my shoulder. That’s all in the past,” he said.
The present looks great, not only for Huson, but for the Blackcats as well as they prepare for their second season with head coach Cody Hunter.
“He’s a senior this year and it looks like he wants to take control of the team,” Hunter said of Huson. “He’s not the vocal leader, but he walks it and talks it. He practices the hardest. There’s no worry what I’m going to get from him. His teammates and the coaching staff can depend on that.”
For Herculaneum to have a winning season, Huson must be the centerpiece. In his first three years, he’s rushed for 959 yards and made 152 tackles. The old saying goes, that each play in a football game is like being in a car wreck. Huson is bigger and stronger this year and has no intention of being impounded during his senior year.
“He’s going to step right back into the roles he played last year,” Hunter said. “He has a nose for the ball on defense. He wants to run over the top of people on offense. He’s got good instincts as a football player. You want to encourage that as much as you can and help him pick up things along the way.”
In 6 1/2 games last year, Huson averaged 12 tackles per game. Hunter said he is positive that Huson would have surpassed 100 tackles and had a chance to set team records. Huson said he’s got a couple of goals in his sights.
“I want to average 12 tackles a game and play in every game,” he said. “I’d like to hit 1,000 yards rushing. And my team goal is to get 10 wins.”
Hunter said he jokes about Huson’s speed.
“We know he’s not super fast, but that’s not what we expect out of him,” Hunter said. “When he sees the hole, he hits it hard. And he’s not the kind of runner you want to tackle for four quarters.”
Winning 10 games is a steep goal with conference powers Jefferson, St. Pius X and Valle Catholic in the way. The Warriors have won the league every year since 2012. Herculaneum was the last team other than Valle to capture the I-55.
Huson is aware of the Warriors’ dominance, but it’s the Blackcats’ closer neighbors to the south who he loves to play the most.
“We see (Valle) as a good team we want to beat. I think of it as an opportunity for our team to challenge themselves when we play them,” he said. “But beating Jefferson would be perfect. They’re our rival, the team down south. We have a lot of history.”
Hunter said Huson is hungry and he wants to win and wants to prove some things to people. Huson said his team has been working hard in practice and he’s optimistic about the future of the program after he graduates.
He’ll turn 18 in November. Perhaps the Blackcats will still be playing. After graduation, Huson said he’s thought of a career as an iron worker, or he might join the military. Those are two tough professions that could help finish molding a young man with a desire to be great.