Brett Heggie wasn't expecting to play against LSU but got in a season-high 53 snaps. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
Bruised and Battered, Gators' Heggie Not Type to be Deterred
Sunday, October 21, 2018 | Football, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – On a recent walk back to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium from the team's practice fields, Gators offensive lineman Brett Heggie made sure to look both ways more than once as he crossed Gale Lemerand Drive.
You can't blame Heggie for being extra vigilant these days to ensure motorists see him crossing the street, even though he does stand 6-foot-4 and weighs 315 pounds.
Heggie's been bruised, battered and broken for nearly a year, ever since he suffered a season-ending knee injury in Florida's loss at Missouri last season. He attacked rehab with the zeal of a shouting match between fans outside the Florida-Georgia game. Brett Heggie
"No matter what you put in front of him, he has never deterred away from what he's trying to get done,'' said Bruce Heggie Jr., Brett's older brother and a former offensive lineman at Notre Dame. "He's always been that way."
Bruce Heggie Sr., Brett's dad and a former defensive end/special teams player at Florida State in the mid-1980s, has so many memories of the youngest of the four Heggie siblings' famous intensity. Growing up, Brett followed in the footsteps of his dad and two older brothers.
He started playing football in elementary school and carried the same focus he showed toward his classwork during the week into the weekend for his Saturday afternoon games.
"It was not uncommon for him to be fully dressed for a Pop Warner football game eight hours in advance, sitting on the couch with his helmet on,'' Bruce Sr. said. "That's not an exaggeration. That's who he is."
Heggie signed with the Gators in 2016 out of Mount Dora High School, where he earned all-state honors and a spot in the 2016 Under Armour All-American Game. He redshirted his freshman year but made significant strides in her first year in college. Heggie made his debut for the Gators in the 2017 season opener against Michigan, starting at left guard.
In typical fashion, Heggie was locked in well before the game.
"I was up in the wee hours talking to him and I said, 'I've got to let you go to get some sleep,' '' said Bruce Sr., who teaches at coaches at Mount Dora High about 45 minutes north of Orlando.
"Dad, it's not going to happen,'' Brett said. "I'm thinking about formations, defensive shifts, a lot of stuff."
If anyone understands, it's Bruce Sr.
"I'm wired a lot the same,'' he said. "Of all the kids, he's the most like me. That's a good thing and a bad thing. He really takes things to heart and does not want to disappoint."
Heggie's desire to play and make an impact for the Gators has been constantly hampered since the knee injury. Following months of rehab, Heggie opened preseason camp in position to regain his starting spot – he started seven of eight games prior to his injury. However, a case of turf toe set him behind and caused him to play sparingly in the season opener and not at all in the loss to Kentucky.
Heggie was dealt another blow to his health when he suffered an injury to his left hand prior to Florida's road win at Mississippi State that has required him to wear a bulky protective cast up to his elbow the past three games.
"It's kind of like being a lobster in the ocean and having only one claw,'' Bruce Sr. said.
Still, Heggie had one of the best games of his career in the victory over LSU, playing a season-high 53 snaps and grading out as a champion according to head coach Dan Mullen.
Offensive line coach John Hevesy is hopeful Heggie can get healthy and return to form – or at least as healthy as an offensive lineman can be during the regular season – and add more firepower to the unit down the stretch for the No. 11-ranked Gators.
"He played well [against LSU]," Hevesy said. "There's things he's got to get better at, just I think, first time in the game playing and doing those things, the gamesmanship of being out there more. You see early on, just kind of sporadic jumping off the ball."
Heggie greeted the bye week with a bear hug considering his run of bad luck. He spent Friday night in his old stomping grounds as Mount Dora High awarded him a framed jersey for his high school career and All-American honors.
Heggie is understandably frustrated at the string of injuries. He said he didn't even expect to play in the victory over No. 5 LSU.
"I got cleared with my knee a month before fall camp. So my main goal was really just to start to feel the same as I did last season,'' Heggie said. "I had a couple more bumps in the road. It's pretty stressful. My main goal right now is just to get healthy. I'm doing everything I can for that to happen. Just chipping away at it. That's all I can do."
Bruce Jr. certainly won't count out his younger brother. In fact, he has his own overcoming-the-odds story.
As a senior at Mount Dora in 2009, Bruce Jr. suffered a groin injury that caused him to miss most of the season and severely limited his options in college. At the end of the season, the only scholarship offer he had was from Florida A&M. However, the Rattlers eventually pulled the offer and Bruce Jr. was left to rehab, work his way back into shape and hope someone needed depth and a program guy.
Through recruiting contacts he had developed when healthy, Bruce Jr. somehow got on the radar of new Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly and an unlikely marriage formed. Heggie spent the next four years as a reserve offensive lineman for the Fighting Irish and now lives in South Carolina.
Gators offensive lineman Brett Heggie's promising first season ended with a knee injury at Missouri. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
He plans to be in Jacksonville on Saturday when the Gators and Bulldogs meet. Bruce Jr. is hopeful the week off helped Brett's body recover for him to play closer to his potential. The two still talk regularly about the position battles up front and what it takes to succeed.
"From a mindset standpoint, we're both extremely competitive. Our dad engrained that in us from a young age. We attack every day with a great work ethic,'' Bruce Jr. said. "From an offensive lineman standpoint, Brett is just a lot more talented than I ever was. He's really good. He's taken a lot of time to master his craft.
"I grade him all the time and send it to him, and then a couple of things I think I would work if I were him. It's kind of funny because he is obviously a way better offensive lineman than I ever was but I still like to dig him a little bit as an older brother."
Heggie's straight-forward approach and passion to improve isn't lost on his teammates. They see every day what Heggie's father and brother witnessed in their backyard or the makeshift weight room in the garage when Brett was growing up.
"He works in silence,'' quarterback Feleipe Franks said. "He is one of the guys you don't hear too much and at the same time, he's always off in the corner just working and studying and all that kind of stuff. He's just a really good person all around."
Now, if he can just get healthy.
"Poor guy,'' said Bruce Sr. "That's part of the game. It's inherent to the game of football. Injuries happen. He has not control over it. I told Brett everything that comes your way that is challenging is to benefit. He's going to be smarter and better for it."
