It’s more or less the typical Harvard story. You’ve heard it many times by now—student spends one year at Mesa Community College, two years in Uruguay on a Mormon mission, one more year at MCC, transfers to Harvard junior year, marries during summer between junior and senior year.

Pretty standard, really.

Brad Payne is 23 years old and will be nearly 24 by the time he graduates. He married Rachelle Willis on May 29, 2003 to become the first “husband” on any of coach Tim Murphy’s Harvard squads.

“He’s been a huge asset to the team, he’s just a pleasure to be around, such a great kid,” Murphy says. “Well, it’s hard to say ‘kid’ because he’s our first married Harvard student and our oldest.”

On the football field, Payne is fierce. He has 33 tackles on the season, including four sacks. He is a consistent presence in the backfield, stopping running backs for losses with punishing hits and hurrying the quarterback with intimidating pressure.

Off the field, it’s a different story.

Mild-mannered, polite and genial, Payne’s personality is a closer fit to an altar boy than a defensive end. The only giveaway to his true persona is his 6’3, 230-lb frame.

Perhaps it was this unusual mesh of physical strength and quiet dignity that caught the eye of the 28-year old Willis on an airplane two years ago.

“Both of our families went to Missouri on vacation in the middle of nowhere and we met on the airplane on the way home,” the newly-anointed Mrs. Payne says with a smile. “We were both from Arizona and we just got talking—that was it!”

According to the senior, after doing the “long distance thing,” the couple had to make a decision.

“It was too stressful, flying out to Arizona one month and having her fly here the next month while I was in school,” Payne said. “We had to either push it forward or let it fade.”

The couple decided to get hitched and move to Cambridge full time. The two live in an off-campus apartment near Alewife. While Brad studies, Rachelle works full-time as a mortgage loan officer at Cambridgeport Savings Bank.

“Somebody’s got to bring home the bacon,” she laughs while Payne smirks, sheepishly admitting, “I know. It’s a good thing she does.”

Though Payne may still be a lowly student, his maturity is without question. After spending his freshman year of college at MCC in Arizona, Payne spent the next two years in Uruguay on a Mormon mission.

“We did missionary work and a lot of service in Uruguay,” Payne says. “By doing that, we had a better window to show them that we were real people, not just trying to add numbers to our church.”