“It’s all about preparation,” Zych adds. “Knowing your opponent, knowing what to expect, and just being in the right spot and making plays when you’re there has allowed me to be one of the most consistent players on our defense and for other people to notice.”

It wasn’t just others around the league who sensed Zych’s work ethic and drive. His teammates had taken notice too, and in return, they voted their safety the team’s captain for the 2010 season.

Though Zych knows the responsibility that comes with the distinction, he’s also humbled to have been given such an honor.

“It kind of symbolizes the respect all your teammates and coaches have for you,” he says. “Instead of worrying about yourself, you’re worrying about 110 other guys. So it’s a different kind of role, but it’s a role I enjoy very much.”

Remembering the way a single letter had changed everything for him, Zych decided to write another letter—this time not to Coach Murphy but to his teammates before they returned to school. He made sure to make it personal—not sent via e-mail or Facebook, but by snail mail—and went to lengths to print it on the Harvard letterhead.

“The main message of the letter was that in order to achieve the goals that we have—to go undefeated and win the Ivy League—we all have to be all-in,” Zych says. “Through preparation, training, and just overall mentality, we want to make sure that we have the confidence when we step on the field to know that we are going to beat whoever we are lining up against.”

The reaction to the letter was universally positive.

“I had some teammates come up to me and say they thought it was a good letter,” Zych says. “A lot of people said they got pumped up by it...That was the goal, to get people excited, get people on board. I think it accomplished that.”

Zych has won over the trust and confidence not only of his teammates, but also of the coaching staff that initially was hesitant to recruit him.

“He’s just one of those kids that, regardless of the situation, is extremely poised, confident, and dependable, and both physically and mentally tough,” Murphy says. “It’s definitely his intangibles that really set him apart and really generate the type of respect that is going to allow [him] to be a captain of the Harvard football team. He’s special.”

His coach has called Zych the best safety he’s had in his 17 years coaching the Crimson. But through the entire journey from unknown to stardom, Zych hasn’t changed at all.

“My main focus for this year is just to be a great leader for this team and play as well as I can on game day,” he says. “That’s always been my approach—that’s not going to change because of some recognition.”

In either case, because of a single letter, Collin Zych has finally been recognized.

—Staff writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.edu.