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UAB’s Hackney
fit for role of
big-time QB

CRAIG KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Darrell Hackney has bucked size stereotypes to play quarterback for UAB.

IN these modern, enlightened times, it might be a bit of a stretch to refer to Daunte Culpepper and Byron Leftwich as pioneers. Thankfully, those days have long passed. It's normal, now, that they have the jobs they do.

But there's no doubt that they opened doors for a guy like Darrell Hackney, or that their play continues to pave the way for the UAB signal-caller.

After all, even though Culpepper and Leftwich left no doubt that their kind can play the position, there are still a few pockets of prejudice out there.

Even Hackney himself, coming along after so many others already broke the barrier, was steered away from playing quarterback in his life. When he was a kid they tried to get him to switch positions. Not every college would have given him this chance.

Stereotypes die hard.

I'm speaking of course about the stereotype against the big quarterback.

And Hackney -- who plays for Hawaii's opponent in the upcoming Sheraton Hawaii Bowl -- is most certainly big.

But he's a quarterback.

"When I first saw him," UAB's third-team All-America receiver Roddy White says, "I thought he was a linebacker."

Linebacker?

Well, they were freshmen at the time.

These days, Hackney is a BIG quarterback.

In fact, that's the reaction people give when they first see him and put two and two together: "THAT'S the quarterback?"

He's heard that, a time or two.

"All day," Hackney says. "Most people don't think I play quarterback.

"I stay motivated."

Now, he's not as big as the biggest of the big QBs, former Kentucky quarterback Jared Lorenzen, who at times was pushing three bills.

Hackney is merely a solid 6-foot-2, 235 pounds.

Wait -- 235? Is that really right?

"I'm around 250," he says. Proudly.

He looks it. Easily.

Not fat. Not at all. Not even a little.

Just BIG.

This isn't a guy you try to sack, so much as you just hope he gets a bad case of continental drift.

But enough of the bad "big" jokes. He can play. He's got a great arm. He has 24 touchdown passes. He has 2,653 yards through the air.

He has a berth in the Hawaii Bowl.

Another big guy breaks through.

Leftwich? Culpepper?

No, Hackney's inspiration to throw passes was closer to home.

"I just wanted to be like my brother," he says. His big -- big -- brother, Anthony Wynn, went about 6-4, 265, back in his playing days. And he was a quarterback.

So Darrell wasn't changing positions, despite having to win everyone over at every stop.

"I've seen a couple (quarterbacks) as big as him," White says. "But not how hard he throws it. He throws that ball real hard."

UAB believed.

"They stayed tough on me (recruiting him) through high school," Hackney says. "And (coach Watson Brown) came and he told me I'm going to play quarterback. I stayed with it. I had to take a year to learn the offense, and we came on strong."

True, he has to prove himself all over again every time, when people see a guy that big under center instead of at center. Stereotypes are still out there.

There's something surprising about seeing a man of that heft dropping back.

But the proving lasts about 5 seconds.

"Nah," White says. "He just comes on the field. He starts throwing the ball around and everybody knows he's a quarterback."

Now the stereotype goes the other way. Now everybody thinks he's another Culpepper.

"That's a nice comparison," Hackney says. "(But) they compare me to him because of our size. I would compare myself to a quarterback that I want to imitate, like Peyton (Manning) and Steve McNair. Young quarterbacks who are growing up in the NFL now."

Peyton. Yeah, he's not bad. For a skinny guy.