Oct. 3, 2000
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - He's caught over 20 passes. He's made more than 60 tackles. He's punted over 100 times. He holds on extra point and field-goal attempts. He even completed his only pass attempt last year.
He's senior wide receiver/punter Alan Ogletree.
Did he ever expect to do all these things when he first arrived on the Hill?
"No way," said Ogletree. "I thought I would come up here, settle in and do what it would take to get on the field.
"I did come in with the understanding that I was an athlete. Maybe this was just in the cards."
Head coach Jack Harbaugh didn't think he'd see this kind of production either. "Not at all," he responded. "This was a situation where a friend contacted me because he wanted me to take a look at Alan. We saw that he was a good athlete, but he didn't jump off the screen."
Ogletree, who lettered in football, basketball and baseball at Morrow High School in Atlanta, Ga., didn't even realize where Western was when the recruiting chase began. During his final two years, he was looking at Georgia Southern and Georgia, and had taken visits to Auburn and Georgia Tech before the call came from the Hill.
"It was kind of a shock at first," he recalled. "I was asking, `What school?' and `Where's that at?'. But it was an opportunity to get away from the same old routine and see some new places.
"I could see something building that I wanted to be a part of."
When he first arrived for his freshman year in the fall of 1997, he received the number 28 and was practicing with Western's quarterbacks. But the Toppers were lacking depth behind former All-American Joey Stockton, so Ogletree began working as a wideout.
"I just wanted to play when I came here," he said. "I was running with Willie at quarterback and saw one wide receiver, so I moved out there. I don't know too many quarterbacks with the number 28, so I figured this was a sign of better things to come."
Ogletree caught six passes for 66 yards that first season, playing in all 12 games as Western reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs. It was after that initial campaign that his journey on the field would truly begin.
"We were in camp before his sophomore season, working out five punters," Harbaugh said. "The Thursday before the first game against UT Martin, we were having a contest to try and determine who would get the job. Alan came over from his position work and just started booming rockets.
"Then he tells me, `I can punt even better if I take the tape off my feet'. I figured that was a bonus."
Ogletree averaged 37.3 yards per kick that season, dropping 11 of his 50 punts inside the opponents' 20-yard line. He continued working full-time with the offense as well, collecting a career-high 11 receptions for 141 yards with his first career touchdown pass coming in the season opener against the Skyhawks.
As if that wasn't enough work, he began practicing with the secondary in the spring. "I was doing it just to see if I could," Ogletree said. "You never doubt your ability to play, and I figured that I had the capability and athleticism to do it, but not to the extent that I did."
The extent of Ogletree's work in the secondary as a junior was this: 68 tackles, four tackles for loss with a sack, two interceptions and eight passes broken up. And, he caught six passes for 306 yards -- and average of 51.0 yards per reception -- with three touchdowns while raising his punting average almost three yards per kick to 40.1.
"I haven't had anyone do as much has he's done, contributing from three positions," said Harbaugh.
Heading into this week's game with Eastern Kentucky, Ogletree ranks among the nation's leaders with a 40.8 yard-per-punt average, and he paces the squad with four catches for 128 yards. He tied a career high with three receptions in the Toppers' win at Elon, and he is coming off a week in which he was named the OVC Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance in WKU's 48-38 victory at Murray State.
How does a general athlete like Ogletree make it as a four-year regular at wideout?
"You've got to be able to block," he responded. "Some schools get away with throwing the ball more, and we're moving there. I might not be as fast and quick as some guys are, but I am big and strong, so I figure I just need to get out on the edge and hold the block for our running backs."
Harbaugh sees some other qualities in the 6-1, 210-pound senior that he feels helped him pull through. "Alan is a good route runner -- he's very precise," he said. "He has a good understanding of our offensive philosophy and our system, and is patient enough to take everything as it comes to him.
"Most importantly, he's a team player. I've been in so many situations where you take a good athlete and move him to fill a problem area. You have another problem, you move him again. That player has no idea what to expect, no ability to establish himself.
"You have to be team-oriented to sacrifice like that. I think that is what's Alan's biggest attribute."
As Ogletree's time runs out on the Hill, he's done much more than just contribute in every area on the football field. A public relations major, Ogletree expects to graduate next December. And, he's earned his teammates' respect with his performance on and off the field, enough so to be one of four players named team captain in a preseason vote in August.
"I think the fact that he was elected captain speaks volumes about his leadership," said Harbaugh. "There are no politics involved. It was just a way that the entire team could say, `Thanks, we appreciate everything you've done for us. This is how we're going to reward you.'"
In the middle of his final season, Ogletree is focused on helping the Hilltoppers claim the OVC championship in their final year in the league. "I want it all," he says. "That's everyone's dream. If you don't dream it, you can't get it. I want to win the OVC, and it will be a big plus to get it."
What the future holds for Ogletree is not certain, but he's not too anxious to look far ahead.
"I'm still in college," he said. "Every day, when you're in classes that are related to your major, you can feel what's happening. But it's football season, so it gets put on the back burner even if it isn't supposed to."
"When in the coaching profession, you learn to look at the qualities a kid brings to the program," Harbaugh said. "You've seen so many come through, it almost feels like you can predict what they're going to do.
"I think that the way Alan has demonstrated leadership and his ability to play for the team will translate well into the business world or whatever profession he chooses to do.
"I think he'll be a good husband, a good father, and very productive in life. He brought many qualities with him to the Hill -- we're just hopeful that we've helped mold him into the person that he is now."
-- WKU --
