Gallery: (10-25-2022) Alden Mann HoH Look Back
Alden Mann didn't receive many scholarship offers to play college football. In fact, he only received one – from Wayland Baptist. A hard-working, undersized linebacker with a passion for proving people wrong, Mann wound up making the most out of it, becoming a two-time NAIA All-American, the Pioneers' all-time leading tackler and the first football player in the modern era to be inducted into the WBU Athletics Hall of Honor.
"If you want to motivate me, tell me I can't do something. That and I didn't want to let people down," Mann said in reference to what led to his football greatness at Wayland. "It was the only athletic scholarship offer I ever got. I wanted to take it as far as I could, and I think I did."
(NOTE: Alden Mann – along with Mary Williams, Jim Carlisle, Shahala Hawkins and Tamyra Mensah – will be inducted into the WBU Athletics Hall of Honor, and Kathy Harston will receive the Harley Redin Coach's Award, at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 29 during a ceremony at the University Center on the WBU campus. Friends and supporters are invited to attend.)
Born in Bakersfield, Calif., it wasn't until Mann was 10 years old and his family moved to Wimberley, located between Austin and San Antonio, that he began playing football. "My parents moved because they wanted to raise me and my (two younger) brothers in a place that wasn't so city-ish. That move significantly changed the course of my life," recalled Mann. "I started playing football in general because I wanted to make some friends."
Football quickly became a passion for Mann, who at Class 3A Wimberley High School was a three-year, two-way standout playing on the line and linebacker on defense and at right guard on offense. He also played all special teams, earning him the nickname "IronMann." "I loved every second of it," he said.
Mann credited Wimberley head coach Weldon Nelms, defensive coordinator Richard Smith and offensive line coach Dane Saucier for helping him become a two-way all-stater. "I didn't think I was very good until those guys convinced me. They believed in me before I believed in myself. It makes a big difference when a coach has a lot of faith in you."
Mann helped Wimberley to an unbeaten state championship season his junior year then an 8-3 mark his senior season. Despite that success and all of his individual accolades, Mann wasn't turning many college coaches' heads as he sought to realize his dream of receiving a college football scholarship.
After both his junior and senior seasons, Mann sent his highlights "to almost everyone in the nation. I'm talking every (NCAA) Division II, every Division III, some NAIAs and even some Division I-AAs." All that resulted were a handful of walk-on offers.
Mann had impressive statistics, but he pointed to his size – 5-foot, 8½-inches and 205 pounds – as the reason colleges didn't give him a chance. "That was every bit of the reason I didn't get any offers, and I don't blame them."
It wasn't until Mann's defensive line coach at Wimberley, Shawn Cockerham, contacted then Wayland defensive backs coach Bryan Hill, whom he coached at Llano High School, that Mann was noticed. "Coach Cockerham told Coach Hill something like, 'If I never tell you anything again, you need this guy.' Bryan trusted Coach Cockerham and he had a little bit of (scholarship) money, so Wayland gave me the last little bit of defensive backs money to come play linebacker.
"That's all it took, one guy to believe in me."
Hill left Wayland in 2013 about the time Mann arrived on campus, and it took a year or two before Mann really began to make an impact for the Pioneers.
"The first year at Wayland I was hardly playing, just special teams. We went 0-10 (they later earned a forfeit), which was a complete culture shock." Mann played all 10 games and recorded 29 tackles. The team improved to 3-8 Mann's sophomore season when, as an outside linebacker due to his size, speed and ability to cover wide receivers, he boosted his tackle total to 114, a record for the program then in its third year since being restarted in 2012. The total was highlighted by a team-record 19 tackles in the season-finale against Oklahoma Baptist. Mann also had 10½ tackles for loss plus forced four fumbles and grabbed three interceptions to earn All-Central States Football League Second Team honors.
A coaching change prior to the 2015 season helped Mann take his game to an even higher level. "Coach (Marcos) Hinojos immediately took me under his wing. He told the defensive linemen that if they can take care of the offensive line (and prevent them from blocking the linebackers), it makes it a 1v1." For the next two years Mann proved Coach Hinojos' philosophy – that Wayland's linebackers were better than the other teams' running backs and quarterbacks – correct. Mann said among the defensive linemen most responsible for preventing blockers from reaching him were Nate Askins, Reggie Pierce, Denzel Washington, Billy Hatten and both of Coach Hinojos' sons, Marcos Jr. and Jacob.
As a junior in nine games, Mann broke his own school record with 124 tackles (57 solo, 67 assists). As Wayland went 4-6, Mann finished third in the NAIA in tackles per game (13.8), fifth in tackles for loss per game (2.1, 19 total) and 12
th in sacks per game (0.8, seven total). He logged two interceptions, forced a pair of fumbles and recovered one, was named All-CSFL First Team and became the first football all-American since WBU restarted its football program in 2012.
By this time, Mann said he felt tremendous pressure to perform every time he stepped on the field. "I was so worried I would have a bad game. Expectations were definitely there and I had a lot of anxiety pushing me. I'm sure I magnified them in my head, but if I had a bad game I felt like I let a lot of people down."
He seldom did, and as a senior turned in another stellar season to receive almost every post-season recognition available to him. For the third straight season and despite playing only eight games, he broke WBU's single-season tackles record with 136 (53 solo, 83 assists) and wound up second in the NAIA averaging 17 tackles per game. He was voted CSFL Defensive Player of the Year, AFCA NAIA All-America First Team for the second time, and made the Associated Press Little All-America Second Team. He also was a finalist for the Cliff Harris Award recognizing the nation's top small college defensive player.
That 2016 season remains as the finest in program history. "We finished 7-3 and should have won a conference championship," Mann recalled.
With the top three single-season marks, Mann, of course, holds Wayland's record for career tackles with 403. He also holds the mark for most tackles in a game, 25, which he logged his senior season against Texas College.
"I always loved playing Texas College because they did a lot of running, and I loved getting tackles," Mann said. "That game it was like I couldn't not go tackle the guy. I was in 'the zone' and they couldn't get away from me. That was one of the more fun games I had. They were all fun, though."
Two of Mann's other most memorable games both involved returning from injuries. The first came Mann's junior season when, after breaking his hand in the preseason, he missed the season-opener but returned the next week and helped secure a win by forcing a fumble despite being incorrectly lined up. "Coach Hinojos sent me on a stunt, but I was lined up on the wrong side…and ran straight into the guard. I slipped and go head-first between his legs. He's about to pancake me but I kept moving my legs and end up popping up and sacking the quarterback and forcing a fumble."
Another of Mann's fondest memories occurred his senior season. After injuring his leg in the season-opener against Lyon, Mann misses two games but returns in time for the Pioneers to take on No. 25 Webber International (Fla.). "I was supposed to sit out a third week but I said, 'Let's do it.'" Mann logged what at the time was a program-record 22 tackles that day, but what made it memorable was a late-game interception deep in Wayland territory that helped preserve a 31-20 victory. He was named NAIA National Defensive Player of the Week, and the Pioneers went on to earn their first-ever NAIA Top 25 votes.
Mann credits a tremendous amount of film study for much of his success. "I like to say I was probably the most prepared guy on the field because I watched more film and studied stats more than anybody. I knew what play (the offense) was about to run, and it worked out almost 100 percent of the time."
Mann said being so well-prepared – which also included hours upon hours in the weight room, many times all by himself – "all goes back to the mindset that I wasn't going to let anybody outwork me. I knew I didn't have any extremely-physical gifts, so I needed to have something up my sleeve."
In addition to his National Player of the Week as well as another national player of the Week by USA College Football, Mann was voted CSFL Defensive Player of the Week 11 times during his career. In addition, he was one of Wayland's two Champions of Character representatives for best representing the five core values of the NAIA: integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship and servant leadership. In addition, he received Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete and CoSIDA Academic All-American honors.
About the only thing Mann never accomplished at Wayland that he wanted to was score a touchdown, although his freshman year in a junior varsity game he did return an interception for a pick-six. "That was the last time I ever played on JV," he said.
Mann – who graduated in 2017 with an applied science degree with a specialization in biological studies and today works as a game warden in Zapata south of Laredo – said he "takes a lot of pride in" being inducted into the WBU Athletics Hall of Honor. He said it gives him "something to show for" the many hours spent lifting weights and studying film. He also feels the recognition honors those around him, including his parents and the coaches who believed in him when no one else did. The induction is further evidence, he said, that "proves a lot of people wrong and a few people right."
Alden Mann's Statistics at Wayland
Senior: 8 games, 136 tackles (53 solo-83 assists) 9.5 TFLs, 1.5 sacks, 1 INT, 0 FR, 1 FF
Junior: 9 games, 124 tackles (57 solo-67 assists) 19 TFLs, 7 sacks, 2 INT, 1 FR, 2 FF
Sophomore: 11 games, 114 tackles (59 solo-55 assists) 10.5 TFLs, 1.5 sacks, 3 INT, 4 FR, 4 FF
Freshman: 10 games, 29 tackles (14 solo-15 assists) 0.5 TFLs, 0 sacks, 0 INT, 1 FR, 0 FF
TOTAL: 38 games, 403 tackles (183 solo, 220 assists), 39½ TFLs, 10 sacks, 6 INT, 6 FR, 7 FF
