A Hole in the Middle

Four years ago, there was no replacing Isaiah Kacyvenski ’00—the leading tackler in school history, a three-time first team All-Ivy selection, the backbone of the Harvard defensive unit. No, there was no replacing Isaiah Kacyvenski.

Until Dante Balestracci ’04, that is. The second-leading tackler in school history, the only four-time first team All-Ivy selection in league history, the backbone of the Harvard defensive unit, now the source of the gaping hole in the Crimson front seven. There was no replacing Dante Balestracci.

Before junior Matt Thomas, that is. Or, at least, Harvard football hopes. Hefty expectations to place squarely on the shoulders of a player who has recorded no sacks in his first two years, zero tackles—one who hasn’t played a single down of regular season ball since high school.

But is Thomas, the 6’2, 215-lb. junior shying away from the chance to seize the next spot in a growing list of legendary middle linebackers?

Hardly.

Should he be? From the comparisons he has drawn, don’t count on it.

“When Isaiah Kacyvenski graduated we didn’t think we could replace him and Dante managed to and we are in the same position now,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy wrote in an e-mail. “If Matt Thomas is healthy, he will be one of the top linebackers in the Ivy League and we will make a relatively seamless transition to life without Dante.”

But whether Thomas can remain healthy is uncertain. During his freshman year, the Silver Springs, Md. product battled through the disappointment of making only the scout team—despite a departed coach’s hints that he would likely be thrown into the rotation on special teams—and frustration with his inability to effortlessly learn the defense to dazzle coaches and teammates in spring ball prior to his sophomore season, despite a nagging foot injury sustained during a banal sprint drill. That ailment, though it had failed to slow him in practice and had been repeatedly assessed as just routine, turned out to be far more sinister—a Liz Frank Fracture, a tear of the ligament between the first and second metatarsal in his foot which was slowly pulling the two bones apart.

A screw was inserted to repair the damage and the promise of Thomas’ spring faded in an instant.

“It’s probably as big of a blow as it could have been,” Thomas said. “But [Murphy] just let me know that I wasn’t going to be forgotten, just tossed to the side. He allowed me to travel and kept my place on the team—I wasn’t going to be left on the side.”

Nor, apparently, were the lessons Thomas had mastered during his push for a chance to crack the defensive unit. His teacher, fittingly enough, was the man whose void he now seeks to fill.

Befriended by Balestracci, Thomas learned the nuances of the Crimson defense while absorbing the seasoned veteran's instincts and ease of reaction, before at last feeling comfortable on the field.

“I could do less thinking,” Thomas said, “and more playing. I finally found my place in the defense.”

Mimicking Balestracci, whose academic approach Thomas credits with much of his growth, he complemented the talent he had always possessed with the clarity and vision necessary to effectively use it.

“[It involves] just knowing if, on a passing route, my man is going out, there’s going to be someone else coming in,” Thomas explained. “It’s just knowing what other guys responsibilities are on the field as well as my own, then being able to read the offense, step back and see everything develop in front of me and not have tunnel vision.”

The surgery, no matter how deflating, left that now-instinctual command of the field intact—and a single purpose for Thomas.

“In the year and a half away,” senior linebacker Bobby Everett said, “he was just itching to get back if he was healthy.”

So he worked. He lived in the fitness center during the summers in Cambridge, staying to put in the rehabilitation time he knew he’d need to match the acumen he’d so carefully cultivated with Balestracci.

Thomas had added weight while his foot put him out of commission. He needed additional strength and to restore at least his prior conditioning level. He had had a secure spot on the roster prior to the injury, but he didn’t see it quite that way any more.

“I had been out for a year,” Thomas said. “Other guys had been working their butts off for that position. But I saw it more as something where I had to get back into the groove and feel comfortable with this defense and feel comfortable with my new body—I had to lose some weight and get comfortable with my foot.”

The training paid huge dividends. Thomas added much-needed upper body strength while becoming even more explosive on the ground, a combination he says gives him the confidence and capacity to tackle even the most lopsided mismatches head on.

According to Thomas, that strength is utilized well in certain Harvard defensive sets, when a defensive end will drop back off the line, leaving him as a roving linebacker-defensive lineman hybrid who won’t hesitate to challenge a much heavier offensive lineman, often with favorable results, despite his limited background.

But, his skill aside, Thomas’ glaring lack of experience against the sort of competition he’ll see in a game setting might tempt some to mark him with an asterisk, if not overlook him altogether.

Those who engage in such folly do so at their own peril, as the Columbia Lions, whom Harvard scrimmaged two weekends ago, would likely agree.

“He was,” Murphy said, “the best player on the field [versus] Columbia two weeks ago,” an endorsement unconditionally echoed by Everett.

Whether anyone will be wise enough to take notice, however, remains to be seen. If they don’t, choosing to focus on Everett, as many keyed on Balestracci last year, several coaches figure to be left scratching their heads—and opposing quarterbacks lying on the turf.

“I’m sure since I’ve never played in a game before—I wasn’t even on the roster a couple of weeks ago—I’m assuming they’re going to look a lot at [Everrett] and adjust their game plan more towards him,” Thomas said. “That may leave me more open on certain plays. I’m going to go, fly around and make some tackles....As the season progresses things will change.”

And so too may Thomas’ label, from untested to—the Crimson hopes—irreplaceable.

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.