EX-HART STAR FINALLY AT HOME AT NEW MEXICO.

Byline: Matthew Kredell Staff Writer

After one semester at the University of New Mexico, Cody Kase was ready to quit.

The former Hart High football player wasn't playing. As with many redshirting freshmen, he found it wasn't much fun to get beat up in practice each week with no game as a reward.

He missed home. He missed his friends.

Kase made the decision. He was going back to Santa Clarita. Maybe he'd enroll at College of the Canyons.

All that was left was to tell his parents.

``I had my mind set that I was going to come back, but my parents kept saying to give it one full year,'' Kase said. ``After a year, I had made some pretty good friends and didn't want to leave.''

Now a redshirt sophomore in his third year in Albuquerque, Kase couldn't think of any place he'd rather be. He is about to begin his first college football season as a starter.

During the offseason, Kase won a starting job at linebacker. It will be a dramatic transition for Kase, who played a few times in mop-up situations last year. The highlight of his young collegiate career came on special teams, when he blocked a punt into the end zone against Air Force, and it was recovered for a touchdown.

``I'm glad I stuck it out,'' Kase said. ``Starting in Division I-A football is going to be really exciting. People come out here just to watch practice.''

Kase's first game as a starter, Sept. 5 against UNLV, will be nationally televised by ESPN2.

``I'm nervous already,'' he said. ``That's what we've been talking about all summer.''

When he takes the field for the first time, Hart fans watching back in Santa Clarita will see a much different player than they might remember.

Kase weighs 215 pounds, compared to 185 when he was in high school.

``He didn't think he was big enough when he first went to New Mexico,'' Hart coach Mike Herrington said. ``I think that was part of his trouble adjusting.''

Kase, a standout at linebacker and receiver for Hart, probably is best remembered for catching a tipped 68-yard Hail Mary pass and running into the end zone to tie then-nationally ranked Los Alamitos in the final seconds the first game of his senior season.

Kase thinks playing at Hart, one of the area's best-coached prep football teams, prepared him well for the college level.

``Compared to a lot of the players who came in here at linebacker, I was able to read linemen and where the running back was going to go better,'' Kase said. ``I think Hart definitely gave me that advantage.''

Matthew Kredell, [phone]

matthew.kredell(at)dailynews.com