Utah Blaze's self-named goofball is ready to roll

Hans Olsen is quick to admit life is strange. Not too many years ago, he was purposely mouthing off so he would get kicked out of film sessions at BYU. Now he's a senior statesman and leader of the Utah Blaze, who open their season Saturday in San Jose.

In college he and teammates covertly cut the end off a rope ladder to shorten agility drills. They later hid the entire rope so they could skip the drills completely. Now young teammates look to him for inspiration.

"No, leadership was not always my role," laughs Olsen. "I have always been kind of the joker, the guy who does goofy jumping jacks before practice and puts food on his face to get everybody to laugh."

But in the Arena Football League, part of his job is "to hopefully help some of these young guys to calm down."

Six years after he played on the defensive line at BYU, Olsen is back.

You might remember Olsen from his screwball college days, when he appeared in ESPN The Magazine, balancing a couch on his chin. He once told the team trainer as he walked away from a plate of barbecued chicken wings that he was worried. Asked why, Olsen replied, "Well, I had 10 of those wings, but I only counted eight bones."

As the Blaze count the hours until their opener, Olsen is amazed and happy his journey has landed him just a 4 1/2-hour drive from his hometown of Weiser, Idaho. Signed as a free agent by the Indianapolis Colts in 2001, he played in two games that season as a defensive tackle. He spent the 2002 season on the Colts' practice squad and made it partway through training camp the next year. In 2004 he suited up for the Indiana Firebirds of the AFL and was later picked up by the New Orleans Voodoo in the dispersal draft.

After Hurricane Katrina forced the Voodoo to shut down operations for a year, he was acquired by the Blaze.

New Orleans' loss was Utah's gain, in more ways than one. On one hand, the Blaze got a veteran player — and a local one at that. But his personality, too, is Utah's gain. If you can conjure a subject, Olsen can produce an outspoken opinion. Take BYU, for example. He says he has been back to campus just once since college, mostly because "I just didn't feel real welcome."

He has yet to see the new Legacy Hall or indoor practice facility and has "distanced myself because of all the controversy."

That, however, doesn't keep him from pointing out that BYU should cast a wider net when looking for coaches. Notre Dame, he notes, hired Charlie Weis — who earned four Super Bowl rings as an assistant coach — while BYU went with its own assistant coach.