Harvard’s Fullback Gets The Picture

A 6’1, 230-pound, hard-hitting fullback who’s also a political cartoonist? Senior Collin Blackburn is not your stereotypical football player.

As one of the strongest players on the Harvard football team—he had the top bench press on the team last spring, lifting 440 pounds—Blackburn has the athletic ability to play a number of positions on the field. When approached by the coaching staff about switching from linebacker—the position he had played since his high school days in Tucson, Ariz.—to tight end during preseason, Blackburn was very receptive.

And after an injury opened up a position at fullback, Blackburn moved once again.

“His teammates and his coaches really respect that he was willing to move,” says Harvard coach Tim Murphy. “That it’s had a happy ending is appropriate.

“First of all, he’s a very good football player. Secondly, we try to put our 22 best athletes on the field, and we’ve managed to do that by moving him. When I asked him, he said, ‘Coach, whatever I can do to help.’”

The move to fullback has certainly paid off. Not only has the team benefitted greatly from his dominating presence as a lead blocker, but Blackburn has also found a position that particularly suits his brand of hard-hitting football.

“The thing I like most about the game is the collisions involved,” Blackburn says. “Playing fullback and lead-blocking allows me to be a part of that.”

Blackburn was not always open to changing positions. He came to Harvard expecting to play linebacker, and when the coaching staff asked him to switch to defensive end his freshman year, he resisted.

But after an injury-marred sophomore year, Blackburn became less concerned with playing a particular position and more concerned with just playing.

“I think [being versatile] has helped the team, and helped me get in there and show that I’m a player on this team,” he says.

Blackburn is also known as one of Harvard’s most resilient players.

“Collin brings the team toughness,” says senior offensive tackle Jack Fadule. “I know that sounds cliché, but he’s one of the hardest hitters we have. He just lays kids out. He shows people how to play with intensity.”

So one might be surprised to learn that, along with an ability to maul opponents, Blackburn also has a more cerebral side, drawing political cartoons for The Harvard Crimson.

Blackburn, though, doesn’t think the contrast should be terribly shocking.

“I don’t think it conflicts with any impression of me being a tough guy on the field,” Blackburn says. “I think everyone understands and appreciates that people here are versatile. That’s the great thing about Harvard.”

As one of the Crimson’s five cartoonists, Blackburn focuses on national, local and Harvard issues. Although he admits he is fairly conservative, he tries not to make his cartoons overly opinionated.

“I just try to poke fun, add a little humor to the page,” Blackburn explains. “I think a political cartoon is too limited to express complex opinions.”

Still, Blackburn has not shied away from tackling big issues. A number of his cartoons have dealt with the proposed war on Iraq. Others, depicting the president wearing a beanie and a button that says ‘W,’ have criticized Bush for his stance on corporate misconduct.

Blackburn even ran into a bit of controversy earlier this year for a cartoon that ran in the Crimson’s Oct. 16 issue. The drawing showed an overweight girl chowing down on a ‘Bucket O’ Chicken’ while answering the phone for ECHO, a Harvard eating concerns group.

The fallout made him, as he says, a “minor celebrity.” He received numerous angry emails charging that the cartoon was cruel and insensitive.

“I realized I hurt some people’s feelings,” Blackburn says. “But the point of the cartoon wasn’t to slash ECHO. I just thought that there were some problems with the aggressiveness of their campaign. I think most of my friends still like me.”

He did not let the mild controversy stop him from drawing his cartoons, which are certainly widely appreciated. His teammates especially make sure to watch out for his drawings in the paper.

“I think most of them are funny,” Fadule says. “I’ve had the pleasure of giving him input in some of them. I think he might have a future in it.”

But when it’s game time, Blackburn’s mind is focused on football. Saturday’s game will be the last of his Harvard career, and he hopes to go out with a win.

“I’m excited about having a senior Yale game here at home,” Blackburn says. “I’m concentrating on playing with as much intensity as I can.”

And even after Blackburn is finished pancaking Yale defenders, his pen will continue destroying the stereotype of a college football player.