Football: Great Bridge's Heastie has all the right moves

Logan Heastie slides his 6-foot-3 frame behind the wheel, turns the ignition, flips on Jay-Z and steers his car out of the football stadium’s parking lot.

Minutes later, Heastie steps out of his 2008 Toyota Camry.

He’s home.

It is a simple ride from Colon L. Hall Stadium to Kingsbridge Apartments – three turns, one stoplight, less than a mile.

Heastie’s journey, though, to his senior football season at Great Bridge High School has been much more complicated.

The twists and turns include treks to football camps up and down the East Coast that made him one of the nation’s most-sought-after wide receivers; a controversial transfer from Salem High in Virginia Beach; and a frenzied recruiting process that landed him dozens of scholarship offers and led to his decision to attend West Virginia.

Along the way there has been criticism, which Heastie shakes as easily one-on-one coverage.

“I just don’t pay attention to it,” he said. “I just do what I do. I just play football.”

Rick Heastie’s 6-year-old son was energetic. Too energetic.

“I needed to find something to do with that energy,” Rick says. “To get him out of the house.”

Rick found sports, and his son Logan excelled early.

The younger Heastie (pronounced HAY-stee) competed in just about everything: T-ball, track, soccer, basketball and football.

“Right after I’d have a T-ball game I’d have a soccer game and after a soccer game I’d have a football game,” Heastie, now 18 , remembers. “It was hectic. But it was all fun when you’re little.”

Football was his favorite.

Little Logan played quarterback, then running back and wide receiver. Often, he was the fastest player on the field.

His Virginia Beach rec league teams – the Neptunes and Raiders in flag football and the Larkspur Lions in tackle – regularly won championships.

“He was always a little bit bigger than everybody and was a step faster at a young age,” says Heastie’s older brother Tristan . “I always knew mom and dad wouldn’t have to pay for him to go to college.”

As a seventh-grader at Salem Middle School, Heastie was part of football and basketball teams that won city crowns. In eighth grade, Heastie was the star player on the football team until suffering a broken collarbone five games in.

Heastie headed to Salem High School with plenty of promise, and as a freshman played varsity soccer, basketball and football.

After finishing 1-9 in 2004 , Salem’s football team, under new coach Robert Jackson , made the playoffs and finished 8-3 during Heastie’s freshman season. The resurgence began in the opening game when Heastie scored on an 86-yard reception. By season’s end Heastie had 16 receptions for 311 yards and six touchdowns .

College football recruiters already were abuzz.

Tristan Heastie never played high school football.

But he loved the sport, and as Logan grew into a solid player, his older brother became a regular on recruiting Web sites.

“Early on, even when he was young, I was on Rivals and Scout checking out what it took to get your name out there,” says Tristan, now 23 . “I was thinking big picture.”

Soon, that meant trekking all over to camps and combines. The Heasties drove anywhere Logan could run a 40-yard dash or perform drills in front of college coaches.

Before the NCAA in recent years prohibited coaches from attending such camps, Heastie joined a flock of prospects hoping to stand out. As a freshman he often found himself grouped with players who were a year or two older.

“It was a struggle for me just to get in line because they’re all trying to bully their way because they’re all older,” Heastie says. “But I took advantage of my opportunities.”

Heastie toured the East Coast, hitting dozens of college campuses. At a New Jersey stop last June, Heastie established a camp record with a 4.3-second 40-yard dash. He was similarly impressive wherever he went.

“I’ve always been super, super competitive,” Heastie says. “I hate coming in second place. Once I’d get to a camp I’d say I’m not going to let this kid next to me – or anybody else here – outshine me.”

Heastie left each combine with a video, viewing his performance on the ride home. As Heastie attended more combines he became more comfortable. And more confident.

“He would write MVP on his shoes before he even goes to the combine,” Rick says. “I thought that was a little big-headed. But he always won MVP.”

College coaches got in line.

Heastie’s first verbal offer came from Boston College. Miami and a host of ACC schools soon joined the list. Recruiting letters came pouring in, and so did national rankings. Scout.com ranks Heastie as the No. 1 wide receiver in the class of 2009 and the 12th prospect overall.

Heastie’s workouts had made one thing clear: a scholarship was his. But would he be ready to play at a major college?

Heastie showed up for his sophomore season at Salem buoyed by his summer showcase performances.

Kevin Whaley showed up too.

Whaley was coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons as a freshman and sophomore. He was the go-to guy in Salem’s offense and eventually would rewrite South Hampton Roads’ career rushing records. He now is on scholarship at the University of Minnesota.

While Whaley gained more than 1,500 yards in 2006 , Heastie’s numbers went down from his freshman season. He ended up with 13 catches for 262 yards and two touchdowns . Although the SunDevils won the program’s first outright Beach District championship and reached the Group AAA Division 6 state semifinals, Heastie thought he could do more.

“I wasn’t trying to say I wanted to be the main man,” Heastie says. “I just wasn’t getting any opportunities.”

Heastie calls what followed “the toughest decision of my life.”

He chose to leave Salem, leave the friends he had played football with through rec league and middle school.

“I decided if I move to a pass-first offense I’ll have a better opportunity to get prepared to play at a Division I school,” Heastie says. “I was getting scholarship offers; I just wasn’t getting prepared.”

Heastie’s parents, Rick and Karla , agreed.

“We as a family made a decision that we needed to get Logan into a system that was going to throw the ball,” says Rick, a Florida native and Navy retiree. “We wanted him in a system where he could play his position and not just be a blocker or be a decoy.”

The search was on.

Heastie says he considered transferring to a handful of the region’s top football programs, including Phoebus, Landstown and Oscar Smith. He was more intrigued by Great Bridge, which finished 4-6 in 2006 . The Wildcats ran a spread offense and featured Casey Turner at quarterback.

To transfer, Heastie and his father rented an apartment in the Great Bridge attendance zone.

Asked about the move, Rick Heastie says, “You have to sacrifice for your kid.”

Heastie began working out with the Wildcats in July 2007.

“There’s probably a lot of misconceptions about Logan,” Great Bridge coach Pete Gale says. “The whole time he didn’t try to outshine anybody. He wasn’t coming in saying look at me, look what I can do for you.”

Heastie’s transfer to play football rubbed many the wrong way. He was widely criticized on Internet message boards that once had raved about him. Some questioned whether Heastie had moved at all.

The Heasties were required to provide documentation of the new residence, and Heastie says “random people” from Chesapeake schools often showed up early in the morning to ensure he really was living in the apartment.

“They’d come check a lot,” Heastie says, adding he got a visit last week. Asked how often he stays in his Chesapeake apartment, Heastie replies “100 percent of the time,” during the school week, although he does return to his parents’ Virginia Beach home some weekends.

Adds Heastie, “There’s no way I could not live there.”

On the field, few question Heastie’s ability.

With Turner tossing passes, Heastie led South Hampton Roads with 52 receptions for 964 yards with 14 touchdowns last year. Great Bridge went 8-3 and made its first postseason appearance in more than 20 years.

This season – Turner graduated last year and is at Connecticut – Heastie has been double- and triple-teamed most games. He has 22 receptions for 299 yards and three TDs

. Heastie has been “frustrated on the field,” Gale says. Heastie, though, insists he’s happier than ever.

On a recent night, Heastie finished practice and eagerly talked about his winding high school journey. Then, he offered a tour of his Great Bridge apartment.

The two-bedroom unit is cozy and well-kept. A computer and flat-screen TV crowd the living room, and just down the hall is Heastie’s no-frills bedroom. He says most nights are spent chatting with his girlfriend, a student at James Madison University, doing homework and playing video games.

A solid student, Heastie already has qualified academically to play in college. He expects to graduate from Great Bridge early and enroll at West Virginia in January, giving him a head start on most freshmen.

For now, Heastie eyes that “big picture” his brother often preached about. And he shrugs off those critics.

“No regrets at all,” he says. “None.”

Jami Frankenberry, (757) 446-2295, jami.frankenberry@pilotonline.com