LAWRENCE — Ben Heeney walked into the classroom at Langston Hughes Elementary School ready to surprise his young fan.

"I hear someone here is dressing up as me for Halloween," he said.

After a few seconds, a fifth-grader named Baylor admitted it was him.

Heeney had learned earlier in the week about Baylor’s costume — one that included a red 31 KU jersey, Jayhawk gloves and a fake beard — and because the senior linebacker doesn’t have class on Fridays, he decided to stop into the Lawrence elementary school.

That same day, a photo of the two — side by side — was shared to Heeney’s Twitter account.

It didn’t take long for Heeney to realize the significance. Just 10 years earlier, he was the kid dressing up in a football uniform at Halloween.

"It’s just weird the role reversal, that I’m the guy that the little kids want to dress up as," Heeney said. "It’s pretty sweet."

Only a few years ago, Heeney admits it would have been tough to be considered much of a role model at all.

The nation’s current leader in solo tackles per game was involved in two off-field incidents: Before his freshman year, he was charged with a DUI, and after his sophomore year, he was arrested for battery following a fight at a bar.

Heeney owns up to both of the missteps now.

"Just another stupid thing that happens when you’re drunk and you’re in college. It happened," Heeney said of the fight.

"I feel like again I learned, I grew. I learned from all my little mistakes I had. I think it made me a better person, a better player."

It all started the transition of turning from football player to something more. The idea was reiterated the next season when Heeney was named one of four team captains.

As a junior, Heeney realized he needed to become a leader off the field as well.

"You grow up," Heeney said, "and you learn things."

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Ben Heeney isn't quite ready for his college career to be over.

The past few weeks, the senior linebacker has found himself walking slowly through the locker room or making quick trips out to the turf at Memorial Stadium, just to take a few more mental pictures before his time is up.

"It’s coming down to the end," Heeney said. "It’s pretty surreal how quick all this went."

His rise happened just as quickly.

Six years ago, Heeney was a lightly recruited safety playing for Hutchinson High. After a 16-tackle performance against future Oklahoma quarterback Blake Bell, Kansas State started to show some interest, with coach Bill Snyder meeting Heeney’s family during a junior day to suggest the option of grayshirting.

Heeney waited it out. Finally, after the fifth game of his senior year — one in which he earned Top 11 honors as a running back — he began to be recruited by then-KU coach Turner Gill.

After receiving an offer during an October visit to KU, Heeney accepted on the spot.

The school was an easy sell. Both of Heeney’s parents went to KU, as did his older brother. He’d also grown up a Jayhawk fan.

That didn’t mean he was convinced he would make it from the start.

As one of only a few Kansas kids on KU’s roster, Heeney immediately wondered how he would stack up talent-wise against players from Texas. Would he be good enough? Could he make it at this level?

The answer was yes — to an extent — from the beginning. During his freshman year, Heeney played in 12 games as a special-teamer, serving as the gunner on punt team while registering eight tackles.

Still, he almost never saw the field as a defensive player — something that changed with the switch to coach Charlie Weis the next season.

The 6-foot, 230-pound Heeney took over at middle linebacker in 2012 and has been one of KU’s best players ever since. He picked up All-Big 12 second-team honors the past two seasons while combining for 200 tackles and 23.5 tackles-for-loss.

"He thinks he’s going to make 20 tackles every week, and that’s how he plays the game," said Dave Campo, KU’s assistant head coach for the defense. "To me, you always knew no matter what the situation, when he walked on the field, he was going to be a guy that stood out because he just had that competitive edge of being able to go get the football."

Through all Heeney’s personal success — he leads the nation with eight solo tackles per game this year — the senior also has had to get used to losing.

After dropping just five games in his entire career from third through 12th grades, Heeney has been part of KU teams that have combined to go 9-36 over the last three-plus seasons.

"Obviously you want to win games, but I wouldn’t change anything," Heeney said. "It’s been the best four years of my life so far."

Part of the reason for that has been a position coach who ranks as his second biggest fan.

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The video was shot in the emotional minutes after KU’s victory over Iowa State last week, so Heeney says to take it with a grain of salt.

Still, when Heeney asked interim coach Clint Bowen to say a few words to the camera in the locker room, he didn’t hesitate.

"Greatest linebacker in the Big 12," Bowen said, pointing to Heeney’s chest. "Most unbelievable guy I’ve ever coached in my life."

Heeney smiles when asked about the comment a few days later.

"It’s an honor for him to say that about me," he said.

Bowen, who has been Heeney’s linebackers coach the past three seasons, has been most impressed with Heeney’s ability to get emotionally involved with everything he does. That’s not always easy when a player goes through three coaching changes in four years.

"When you hear enough grown men come in and say you’ve got to do it like this or you’ve got to do it like that, you start thinking one of these guys is wrong because he tells me something different," Bowen said. "(Ben) keeps buying in."

Bowen, for his part, hasn’t been reluctant to share his appreciation for his senior linebacker.

After Heeney’s 21-tackle performance against Texas Tech earlier this year, Bowen called him the "true leader of our team" while saying KU was "lucky to have a guy like that."

His admiration for him extends off the field as well.

Bowen took to Twitter to talk about Heeney a couple weeks ago. It was just after noon on Halloween, and the KU interim coach wanted to share a photo he had received — one that included a red 31 KU jersey, Jayhawk gloves, two beards and a KU linebacker wrapping his arm around an excited fifth-grader.

A decade earlier, Heeney was the kid dressing up in a football uniform at Halloween. Now everything had come full circle. He lost plenty of games and even lost his way during the journey, but Ben Heeney had become a player — and person — kids could look up to.

Bowen’s Twitter description of the photo ended with two words: "Thanks Ben."

His son, Baylor Bowen, was going to remember this day for a long time.