Khan’s basic instincts help MFalls score, stop opponents

By Veronica Hamlett

Special to The Daily Tribune

MARBLE FALLS – During the season, the Marble Falls Mustangs stay focused on executing the basics — blocking and tackling.

Fortunately for them, so is Saif Khan.

Senior and starting tight end, Saif (pronounced like ‘half’) Khan, 17, has found himself in a critical position for the offense. 

“[Tight end] is not an easy position,” said tight ends coach David Norwood. “You have to know blocking patterns and passing routes.”

While Khan has had several catches this season, including a significant one against Austin Reagan High School in the fourth week of play, “Saif’s really improved this year as a blocker. He’s more aggressive off the ball, and just an outstanding blocking tight end,” Norwood said.

Adds head coach Cord Woerner: “Tight end was a spot we were not real sure about how we were going to do this year, but Saif has done better there than we were expecting.”

Khan does enjoy having the ball thrown his way as all receivers do, but said the Mustangs have “a very unselfish team this year.”

“They’re all very unselfish,” Norwood said. “For them it doesn’t matter who catches the ball as long as someone does.”

There is some friendly competition during practices between the receivers and the tight ends, Norwood said, but they also keep egos in check. 

“We enforce here that it’s a team game and expect them to handle themselves with class on and off the field, to be very unselfish and as excited for the other kids as they would be for themselves,” the coach said.

Khan has done such a good job at blocking that he sees time as a defensive end, his coaches said. Last season Khan also played at linebacker, but has made the switch comfortably, “adjusting to pass-rush and quarterback pressure,” he said.

“It’s a lot different,” Khan says, “because everything comes at you a lot quicker. Everything happens so quick, you have to make decisions really fast.” 

Khan spends more time as a tight end than a defensive end, and enjoys being able to make plays when he can, but Norwood said Khan is “just happy to do the blocking.”

Khan is often described as always smiling, not what you expect from someone who has become more aggressive on the field. But his quiet, easygoing demeanor shouldn’t fool fans. On the field, he’s not afraid to rough ’em up.

Khan’s conduct off the field is just as impressive to his coaches. A member of the National Honor Society, Khan plans to study biology in college and hopes to go on to medical school at universities such as Harvard, the University of California-Los Angles, Southern California or the University of Texas. 

“I probably won’t play football after high school,” he said. “It’d be nice, but since I’m trying to become a doctor, it’d be pretty hard.”

Time management is a skill Khan has also picked up during his tenure with the Mustangs. 

“It gets pretty hard sometimes, between football practice and homework,” he said. Like a lot of players, he counts sleep as a hard-to-come-by pasttime. But Khan still has his eyes on the prize.  

“Saif’s a very good student and handles himself in a manner away from the field where he makes smart decisions,” Norwood said. “For us, football is an extension of the classroom, and fortunately our kids understand that.”

When the son of Bob and Saba Khan isn’t studying for his Advanced Placement and dual-credit courses or at football practice, you can often find him out on the lake wakeboarding or helping his 12-year-old brother, who also plays tight end. Khan can also be found every Thursday night in a black Mustangs T-shirt at Sonic, enjoying a plain cheeseburger, tator tots and a Powerade slush, a pre-game ritual developed last season. He also has a dozen players at his house every Thursday for a good-luck video game session, if the freshman and junior varsity teams aren’t in town, of course.

“Saif’s a smart kid. He’s always happy, a great tutor and very coachable,” Woerner said. “Off the field he has self-discipline and motivation, which are two key football ingredients.”

jfierro@thepicayune.com