Senior Signing Spotlight: Niko Haen

This is No. 16 in a month-long series of profiles of Arizona high school seniors that signed with four-year colleges. Here's the full list (currently totaling 285) of players from within the state moving on to the next level.

SPOTLIGHT: 2/23/20

Northern Arizona completed a big (30-member) signing class earlier this month with an emphasis on the state. It's clear this new coaching staff is intent on building a roster of kids from Arizona.

Of those 30 players, 16 of them played their high school ball in the state. And just one of them is a quarterback - Niko Haen.

The 6-foot, 185-pound signal caller was a three-year starter at Sunnyslope. The Lumberjacks were on to Haen early as they offered him the first time they came to see him throw during Spring ball in 2019.

"The coaching staff was really genuine and honest with me and they really care about my development as a man," Haen said. "Flagstaff is a really cool place to be in, too.

He committed to Northern Arizona in December and signed a letter of intent during the early signing period.

Haen passed for more than 7,000 yards in his high school career and had 55 touchdowns. Accuracy is his strong point as he was above 60 percent in all three seasons. Following the Vikings' 41-14 victory over Agua Fria last September, Haen became a finalist for the Ed Doherty Award and was named the Arizona Cardinals Player of the Week. In the win over the Owls, Haen was 16-of-24 for 366 yards and five TD passes.

Haen finished last season with 2,202 passing yards, which was good for No. 6 in all of 5A. A dual threat, he also rushed for 751 yards (most on the team) and eight touchdowns. For the second straight year, Haen was Sunnyslope's punter and averaged 40.11 yards (No. 4 in 5A).

"I liked being the main focus of every opponents' game plan," Haen said. "I loved being the leading rusher as well."

In addition to football, Haen played two years of baseball (freshman and JV) for the Vikings. One other thing you may not have known about him is he volunteered to play basketball with the Unified Sports team at SHS. He said he enjoyed it and loved putting smiles on the kids' faces.

Less than 10 minutes after Haen publicly committed to NAU, his twin brother, David, did as well. David was the Vikings' leading receiver in each of the past two seasons catching 24 touchdowns in that time.

"Playing with David in college is something I will be very lucky to do since we always had the QB-WR connection and we get along very well," Niko said. "Playing with my brother has always been very special to me."

I've had the pleasure of seeing Sunnyslope play a game in each of the past three seasons. The Vikings were 3-0 in those contests. After a victory over Ironwood in 2018 that Sunnyslope needed to stay in the playoff hunt, I talked to Damon Pieri, then the Vikings' head coach, about the connection between the two.

"They know what each other is doing," Pieri said after the game. "We worked the scramble drill in practice the other day. Everything worked out."

We'll see in the coming years if NAU relies on Haen-to-Haen combat in its passing offense. For now, the Lumberjacks are opening up eyes by grabbing many top players in the state, which for this year, involved a stop at Sunnyslope High School.