Before every Emporia State football game, linebacker Katrel Larkins goes up to receiver Matt Coursen and asks Chew — as his teammates call him — whether he’s going to play today.
“Up to Coach Higgins,” Coursen would tell Larkins.
Larkins had witnessed Coursen’s desire since the small-town kid from nearby Waverly arrived on campus in 2007, and two weeks ago at Augustana, Coursen showed what he can do when he gets a chance to play.
Coursen, whose playing time increased because of an injury to starting receiver Chris Woods, caught two passes for 33 yards during a fourth-quarter drive that resulted in a late touchdown. He then caught the 2-point conversion pass, a pass that he didn’t see until a moment before it hit his hands.
Larkins immediately went up to Garin Higgins and told the coach, “Chew wants to play.”
“He’s one of the only people that didn’t give up,” Larkins said.
Coursen, of course, wanted to play last season, too, when he saw limited time at receiver and caught just two passes for 11 yards.
Coursen knows the offense better than any of the receivers, and as a redshirt sophomore, he’s the only receiver that’s been in the program since Higgins arrived — he was one of the first recruits to commit to Higgins in the winter of 2006. But still, Coursen has always been a player that’s been overlooked.
“Everybody kind of waits for their chance,” Coursen said. “You’ve got to work into the system. I play behind Chris Woods and he came from New Mexico State, and he’s a Division I-caliber athlete. It’s hard to surpass a guy like that.”
After Higgins was forced to play Coursen because of Woods’ injury, Coursen got the coach’s attention in the Augustana loss, and Higgins would have to be blind if he didn’t take notice last Saturday against Central Missouri.
Coursen’s numbers were eye-popping enough — he caught four passes for a team-best 99 yards and a touchdown — but one play stood out in particular.
With the Mules blitzing, quarterback Andre Sloan El fired a quick bullet pass to Coursen that came in high. Coursen caught the pass with his fingertips and immediately broke a tackle. Then as he was sprinting down the middle of the field, Coursen stiff-armed a UCM defensive back, knocking the defender to the ground on his way to a 71-yard touchdown, the first of his career.
“Best forearm I’ve seen all year,” ESU receiver Danny McEvoy said.
The play was one Coursen’s old coach, Waverly’s Mike Hevel, had seen before. Hevel was in attendance Saturday along with many others from Waverly who make the drive to Emporia for every Saturday home game to watch one of their favorite sons.
Coursen helped lead Waverly to back-to-back 8-man state titles in 2005 and 2006 as the team’s star running back, and Hevel saw Coursen make a similar stiff-arm maneuver during a playoff game at Waverly his junior year.
“That kind of surprised me a little bit,” Hevel said. “He did that in high school, but when you’re watching, you’re thinking this is not high school.”
Coursen was one of the best running backs in the state during his Waverly career, but he still played with a chip on his shoulder, which has carried over to his college career.
“Our thing is something to prove here,” Coursen said. “I think it’s sometimes individually as well as a team.”
During Coursen’s junior year at Waverly, Hevel spent the week leading up to the State semifinals raving about the opposition’s running back, saying he was one of the best in the state.
Coursen listened and didn’t say anything about Hevel’s declaration all week, but after outplaying the other running back in a blowout win, Coursen told a teammate, “I wanted to show that I was the best running back out there today.”
“Maybe I kind of motivated him by not knowing it,” Hevel said. “That’s kind of the attitude Matt takes. ... He was always kind of a spunky player and a fiery player in high school, and I see some of that in him still.”
Coursen still has a lot of fans in Waverly, and when he came out of the locker room on Saturday, he was greeted by applause from his Waverly following.
“It’s nice to be able to go home, and not necessarily be a star, but to come home and know your town is proud of you what you’re doing,” Coursen said, “and prove to them you can make it at this level.”
Although the town of Waverly and Coursen knew he was capable of big things, Coursen has waited his turn. Higgins says that Coursen works hard every day in practice and never says anything or complains about playing time.
With the way he’s played the last few weeks, Higgins said Coursen will be a mainstay in the receiver rotation.
And he doesn’t need to ever complain about playing time, because he has his buddy Larkins to do that for him.
When Coursen crossed the goal line on his 71-yard highlight-reel play, Higgins had Larkins in his ear.
“I told Coach Higgins again,” Larkins said, “‘I told you Chew wants to play.’”