Raiders coach Jack Del Rio: Ben Heeney ‘plays with his hair on fire’

Kansas University linebacker Ben Heeney jumps during a drill at the NFL football scouting combine Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015, in Indianapolis.

Samurai Jack

A post shared by Ben Heeney (@henbeeney) on

For the first time in his life, Hutchinson, Kansas native Ben Heeney is in California.

The Bay Area is the former Kansas linebacker’s new home now, thanks to the Oakland Raiders, who took him in the fifth round of the NFL Draft.

Heeney thought heading into this past Saturday he might end up down in Tampa Bay or with one of the other handful of organizations with which he had the most pre-draft contact. But he landed on the opposite coast, in part, because he grabbed the attention of Oakland head coach Jack Del Rio.

Some say real recognize real. Well, linebackers recognize linebackers, too.

At the NFL Scouting Combine, Del Rio — the former Vikings, Cowboys, Chiefs and Saints linebacker — received a text from an old teammate. As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Vic Tafur, Oakland’s coach said the message read something like: you have to check out Ben Heeney.

“So it kind of piqued my attention and
(I) started watching him in the
drills; of course he had that crazy
hairdo going at the Combine,” Del Rio
said. “We get back and start watching
the tape, and the guy is all over the
place. He flies around, makes plays,
very productive, has a great mindset
in terms of special teams and
linebacker play. We’re excited to add
him.”

Clearly, the Raiders coach sees potential in the KU standout.

“He plays with his hair on fire,” Del Rio said.

Heeney arrived out west Thursday, and a Raiders video production crew greeted him and his KU teammate, seventh-round pick Dexter McDonald, at the airport.

“I just tweeted out that I landed in
Oakland, and the fans are crazy,”
Heeney says in [the video posted on
the Raiders’ website][2]. “They
continue to just show me love.”

Oakland’s rookie mini-camp begins today for Heeney, McDonald and the rest of the Raiders’ draft picks and undrafted hopefuls.