Growing up in pigskin-obsessed Winchester, Ohio, Sean Tracy relished playing high school football on Friday nights before capacity crowds of spirited fans. A three-year starter, he excelled on offense, defense and special teams.

“Every game was packed with people just going crazy,” Tracy recalls. “It was a lot of fun to go out and play on Friday nights.”

With the move to Cambridge, though, the thrill of Friday night gave way to the uncertainty of Saturday, as Tracy spent his first three years with the Crimson watching from the sidelines and waiting for his chance. Now, after abiding in relative obscurity as a reserve safety, the senior is proving that he can energize those Saturday afternoon crowds as well.

In Harvard’s most recent contest, a convincing 38-23 road win over Lafayette, Tracy was the linchpin for a defensive unit that forced three turnovers and stymied the Leopards when it mattered most.

For his efforts against Lafayette, Tracy was honored as Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week. In that game alone, he logged fourteen tackles, two interceptions—one that set up the Crimson’s initial score and one late in the fourth quarter—and a ruthless 11-yard sack. His 29 total tackles and two picks are tied for the team lead.

His reemergence into the football spotlight has coincided with the team’s brisk run to a 3-0 record.

“I’m just glad that I’ve been able to make a solid contribution to the team,” Tracy says. “I’ve been waiting to fill that role, and I’m glad I could step into a position where I can make a difference to help us win games.”

His team-leading numbers are a far cry from last season when, as a backup,

Tracy notched only eight tackles in nine games and according to Harvard defensive coordinator Kevin Doherty, “was in the mix but wasn’t ready to play.”

The 2003 defensive unit, however, lost several starters to graduation and Tracy won a starting spot entering fall practices.

Assured of playing time and comfortable with his status on the team, he was free to become again the playmaker he had been in high school.

“It was a matter of me getting from a point where I was playing not to mess up to where I’m playing to make a difference,” Tracy says. “It was a different mindset and a different confidence level.”

It’s that confidence level that leaves Tracy unsurprised by his own success.

“I’ve always felt like I had the ability,” Tracy says. “The biggest thing this year was I had the opportunity and I knew the role that I had to fill.”

Senior middle linebacker—and Tracy’s roommate—Bobby Everett concurs.

“We’ve always known that Sean’s a great player, it’s just getting the opportunity,” Everett says. “We expect great things from each other.”

In keeping with his ability to fly under the radar, Tracy’s specific role in the defensive scheme has to this point been inconsistently catalogued. Varying sources have him alternately listed as a linebacker and a defensive back.

Tracy, in outlining the Harvard defensive system, attempts to set the record straight.

“I’m a defensive back,” he says. “The way it works is we play with two strong safeties. We run a 4-2-5, but in layman’s terms, for the program, we call it a 4-3.”

But even Tracy acknowledges the difficulty in pinning down his exact position.

“I’m really a strong safety,” he admits, “one of the deep safeties, but I’m kind of a hybrid between a strong safety and a free safety.”

In other words, Tracy has the flexibility to roam the middle of the field, inching in or dropping back as the situation requires.

He loves that the position allows him to be involved in both run and pass coverage, to combine finesse and ferocity.

“The basic philosophy is an attack defense,” Everett explains. “He’s playing his butt off, playing quick and aggressive, and that’s how he got the two picks and

the sack on Saturday.”

Under the tutelage of Doherty, Tracy has learned to

play aggressively but under control, balancing his natural instincts with the responsibilities of operating within the system the coaching staff lays out.

“Coach Doherty has really molded me into a much more refined player than I was when I came here,” Tracy says. “He’s very demanding in terms of details, knowing your responsibility and getting everything right.”

“He’s smart in terms of picking up things,” Doherty adds. “Now on defense he doesn’t have to think, he just knows what to do. That’s why he’s thriving.”

Amidst the success Tracy has enjoyed thus far in his senior campaign, he has had the chance to reflect on his high school years and his much-anticipated return to gridiron stardom.

“This is what he’s been waiting for, for his time to shine,” Doherty says. “And he’s running with it.”

Running on Saturdays like it’s Friday night.