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THE MESA TRIBUNE | SEPTEMBER 5, 2021
TheMesaTribune.com @EVTNow /EVTNow
Ex-NFL tight end Heap coaching sons at Red Mtn This is part two of a two-part series previewing the upcoming football season for Mesa high school teams.
BY DREW SCHOTT Tribune Staff Writer
O
n June 1st, Ja’Kobi Lane took an unofficial visit to Arizona State. A four-star recruit in the Class of 2023, the junior at Red Mountain High School spoke with wide receivers coach Prentice Gill and defensive backs coach Chris Hawkins on his visit to Tempe. During their discussion, Todd Heap came up. Before embarking on a 12-year career in the National Football League, Heap starred at Arizona State, earning All-Pac 10 honors in 1999 and 2000 and setting the Sun Devils record for catches (115) and receiving yards (1,685) by a tight end. The Mesa native was then drafted by the Baltimore Ravens with the 31st overall pick in the 2001 NFL Draft. Lane was told that Heap “is that guy and doesn’t mess around.” The wide receiver has experienced that mentality firsthand ahead of the 2021 season, since Heap is a member of the Varsity coaching staff at Red Mountain. “He’s a great mentor as a man and how to be the best ‘you’ you can be,” Lane said. “I’m very thankful to have him as a role model and his role is not so much Coach Heap, but Todd Heap. He’s a real genuine guy.” Heap is heading into his second season with the Mountain Lions, spending the 2020 campaign coaching with the freshman squad — a team that included his sons Kyle and Preston. For the NFL veteran, who also spent two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals, he is well known across the East Valley, especially in Mesa.
Former NFL tight end Todd Heap, “center,” who graduated from Mountain View High School, is sharing his expertise with not only his two sons, Preston, “left,” and Kyle, but the rest of the Red Mountain football team as an assistant coach. (Pablo Robles/Tribune Staff) Graduating from Mountain View High School in 1998, he helped the Toros win back-to-back state championships in 1996 and 1997 and left the school holding various records, including most career receiving yards and most career touchdown receptions. His fond memories of playing at Mountain View, as well as the ability to coach his sons, is what led him to join Mike Peterson’s staff. “I just love being around every aspect of it,” Heap said. “I love working with kids all across the offense, even watching some of these defen-
sive guys, and working with their technique and their skills. They’re so young and a lot of them have so much talent. You want to be able to bring that out by approaching the correct techniques and the correct way to do things.” According to Heap, his role with the Red Mountain program is consultant. Calling himself a visual learner, he watches how players move, respond and react on the field before relaying his perspective on their play and how they can get better. What motivates Heap’s coaching style is his playing experience.
He credited drills he did at Mountain View with his success at Arizona State and in the NFL. Now, the 41-year-old is putting his own spin on training to help Red Mountain’s players contend for a 6A title. “I look at my path and what I did and it was always that love of competing,” Heap said. “I was always trying to push myself to be the best that I could be and so, that’s what you want to bring out of these young guys. Try to build that fire underneath them to where they can see their potential.”
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