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Sure Hans: Batichon catching everything in sight

Friday, October 5, 2007

Singling out receiver Hans Batichon's best catch is a quite a challenge - although his wife, Claudia, should have that distinction, after her 18-hour class load inspired her husband to work even harder this season.

But Hans is known best for his hands. He had spectacular catches as a freshman for Appalachian State in a 2004 game against Northwestern State. And there was an acrobatic grab of a tipped pass for a touchdown against Furman in 2005.

Then there was his first catch last Saturday in a victory against Elon. Batichon ran a crisp route on a streak downfield, and managed to catch a ball between two defenders on a play that gained 23 yards and set up ASU's first touchdown.

"He's got a linebacker on his back and a safety over the top and he went up, was aggressive on the ball and came down with it," said Brad Glenn, who coaches the slot receivers for the Mountaineers. "That was nice."

Quarterback Trey Elder said: "Hans came up to me after I threw that first ball to him and said, ‘Thank you for trusting me. You throw it near me and I'll go get it.' He's right. You get it near him and he'll come down with it."

Batichon is having a senior season to remember. With 18 catches in five games, he has already matched his career-best season total.

It's largely because of his sure hands.

"They're tremendous," said Lonnie Galloway, ASU's wide receivers coach.

"Always dependable," head coach Jerry Moore said.

Just don't call him a possession receiver.

"I love hearing ‘great hands' and ‘tough catch' but the one term that I hate is ‘possession receiver,'" Batichon said. "I don't see myself as that, I think I can do more than just that, but it is rewarding to hear ‘great hands.'"

Batichon, helping ease the void left by departed senior William Mayfield, leads the defending national champion Mountaineers in receptions. He has caught 11 passes the past two games, and has 61 career receptions, including six for touchdowns, heading into Saturday's game against Gardner-Webb.

"He's the guy you want to go to on third down," Glenn said. "He catches it in traffic. He's not the fastest guy, we joke about that, but you can't label him as a slow receiver either.

"The thing also about Hans is that he runs great routes. He's probably one of the best pure route runners I've ever coached. And he's taken a bit of a leadership role this year and doing a great job with that. We can't complain about anything he's doing right now. He's a guy who gets the job done."

Batichon said that he thinks he inherited great hand-eye coordination from his father, who was an outstanding soccer goalie in Haiti. It was his father who first came to the United States and established residency, living with Hans' aunt in Miami and working for a dry cleaner to make enough money to bring his wife and then 3-year-old Hans to the states to become citizens.

"This is the land of opportunity," Batichon said. "Right now about 75 percent of the people in Haiti are unemployed. There's a lot of poverty and it's not the safest place to be. I've gone back to visit so many times, but we were fortunate to have family in the states and be able to move and live here."

It was in the U.S. that Batichon, who won 10 varsity letters in various sports at North Miami High School, developed a passion for football. He said he learned from his cousin, Andre Raymond, who was a star running back and teammate of Tony Romo at Eastern Illinois, and was good enough to draw an offer from Cincinnati but had already settled on playing at ASU.

Batichon met Claudia, also a native of Haiti, in the eighth grade. They were married last year, and have an 8-month-old daughter, Jada. Both Hans and Claudia, who transferred from Florida to ASU, will soon have degrees and plan to begin graduate school next year. Claudia is a recreation major, and Hans hopes to coach and become an academics advisor.

"I definitely have a lot to motivate me," Batichon said.

Elder said: "Hans works his tail off. He goes hard in practice all the time, he never complains if things aren't going right and he just goes out and does his job every time."

The result, Batichon said, is the type of senior year that he was hoping for.

"In the past people have told me that I've helped out but I really prayed a lot this season that I could be able to take it a step further," Batichon said. "I really want to make plays to move the chains, and help us win another championship. I feel like everything is going right."