For Bubba Haney, playing football was something to do when he wasn’t playing baseball or fishing.

He used to prefer catching a crappie, a catfish or a bass to hitting a home run, and he’d rather do that than strap on pads and buckle a chin strap for football.

His rushing average — 66 yards per carry — was by far the city’s best a year ago, but Haney had fewer carries than fingers on one hand.

He was a fast wide receiver trapped between Donovan Barnes, who led the 2007 Soddy-Daisy team in receptions, and an offense based on a power running game.

This year, though, the 5-foot-10, 160-pound Haney is passing up days in the boat and batting practice to bone up on the multiple sets of new coach E.K. Slaughter’s spread offense.

“Last year was up-the-middle, hard-nosed football. This year — I love it. This year it is all spread out. It’s so much fun. It opens it up a lot,” said Haney, who was a running back as a sophomore. “I didn’t get many downs on offense last year, and this year Coach Slaughter is giving me a big opportunity.”

It is life renewed.

“It’s completely different, a huge change,” Haney said. “The way Coach Slaughter runs it is awesome. The guy is an offensive genius. You can see the gears turning in his head while he’s watching film, and he watches more film than any man I know. It’s a big change.”

The Barnes-Haney combination could also be good for Soddy-Daisy.

“Donovan’s probably the best of our receivers. He has a set of hands, and I might have a little more speed,” said Haney, who ran a hand-timed 4.46 40-yard dash last summer at the University of Tennessee. “With that combination, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Haney, who loves to hunt turkey, duck and deer as well as fish, would like to become a game warden. He’s hoping some college with a program for wildlife resource management comes through with a scholarship offer.

“Tennessee Tech and UT-Knoxville are the only schools instate that offer those courses, and I’m hoping I can get a scholarship in football or baseball,” he said.

Slaughter believes Haney will get opportunities somewhere in football.

“I don’t know yet which level, but he is good enough to play at the next level,” the coach said. “He is going to be a player for us. He is one of the three primary receivers along with Barnes and Craig Smith, and I expect him to be a big part of our offensive package.

“Bubba is fast, the fastest guy on the team. He has caught on fairly quickly to what we have been installing, and that’s while learning two new positions (receiver and cornerback) with new technique. But he is very coachable and has been willing to work, and his teammates voted him one of our captains.”

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