Making something out of nothing is a specialty for St. Laurence running back Harley Rizzs.
‘‘His trademark is running into a pile and then somehow getting out of the pile and running for 60 yards,’’ Vikings coach Adam Nissen said. ‘‘He had one last year against Marmion for about 40 yards, and then he had one against Carmel [this season] for our first score.
‘‘It’s a testament to his physicality. He’s very slippery. Then once he gets a crease, I don’t think anybody in the state’s gonna [chase] him down.’’
That’s not just the case on the football field, either.
Rizzs is the reigning Class 2A state champion in the 100 meters, having run a personal-best 10.61 seconds in the preliminaries and 10.66 in the final last May.
‘‘I feel like I was always just a naturally fast kid,’’ he said. ‘‘My older brother used to run track in high school, and I always wanted to do it after him. But I also ran track to get fast for football and get better as an athlete because I’m a competitor and I like to win.’’
Last season, Rizzs was behind Aaron Ball on St. Laurence’s depth chart. Ball helped lead the Vikings to their first state final in 45 years — and second overall — where he ran for 160 yards and two touchdowns in a 59-38 loss to Rochester in the Class 4A title game. Now Ball is playing at Illinois and Rizzs has taken over as St. Laurence’s featured back.
‘‘He sat behind Aaron last year and probably could have started on a lot of varsity teams,’’ Nissen said. ‘‘He was patient, paid his dues, then got into it right away in Week 1.’’
Rizzs has used the lessons he learned by watching Ball last season.
‘‘It was literally more motivation [than anything else],’’ Rizzs said. ‘‘But there [were] a lot of things he did; he was a playmaker. That’s the one thing that I took from him was just making plays by myself when I needed to.’’
Rizzs also is making a difference in other ways.
‘‘He’s a little more vocal than he’s been in years past, but that’s just attesting to being a senior,’’ Nissen said. ‘‘He’s one of our offensive captains. He’s a guy that the other offensive players look to when things don’t look so good.’’
Rizzs aims to compete at the next level, though his exact path isn’t clear yet.
‘‘I want to play football, mainly, in college,’’ Rizzs said. ‘‘But track, if I could do that, too, I want that to be an option. I don’t have any [scholarship] offers for either sport, but I’ve got bigger colleges looking at me for track.’’
At 5-10 and 185 pounds, Rizzs might not have all the measurables elite football teams seek. But there’s that one number that definitely will catch their eye.
‘‘The college coaches I talk to, my first statement is his track times,’’ Nissen said. ‘‘Somebody’s gonna take a flier on him just on his speed.
‘‘He’s a lot tougher, a lot more physical than he looks. He’s not the most intimidating guy. But he runs really hard, and you can’t teach speed like he has.’’