OPPONENT SPOTLIGHT: Harvard's Hu plays hard, lives well

Harvard junior running back Eion Hu was in a particularly good mood last night. Hu was not pleased about his Crimson squad's 1-7 record on the season thus far, nor its 0-5 mark in the Ivy League. Nor was he particularly pleased by his personal performance to date in 1995. Last year's Ivy League Rookie of the Year dashed for 1,011 yards and 11 touchdowns on 234 carries. With two games remaining in the '95 campaign, Hu's statistics have dropped considerably along with the Crimson's success this year: 158 carries for 766 yards and six scores. Hu was unusually cheerful because it was Wednesday. And Wednesday means only one thing to Eion Hu -- comic books. Having collected them since he was 10 years old back in Ringwood, N.J., Hu's shelves make a cozy home not just for that Rookie of the Year trophy and the Frederick Greeley Crocker Award for Harvard's most valuable player, but for Hu's 5,000-plus comic books. V "Spiderman is definitely my favorite," Hu said. "Every Wednesday me and my roommates go check them out." This hobby typifies the self-deprecating economics major both on and off the football field. He enjoys life. He plays hard, but he does not take his football off the field with him. In fact, Hu was unaware that he was fourth on the all-time Harvard rushing list, only 326 yards behind Vic Gatto, who tops the list with 2,130 yards on the ground. "I'm not any better than any of the other backs in the league," Hu said. "Last year, Coach just gave me the ball more [than other running backs in the league] and people saw my stats and thought I was great. I don't really have good speed so I just hit it up the middle. I don't need to make decisions that way. I just attack the first little crease I see until I get smashed." What Hu described as shunning the responsibility of making snap decisions is what football scouts everywhere call instinct. Countless coaches all across America at every level encourage their running backs to hit holes as hard and quick as Hu does. Hu has never thought about doing it any other way -- he's been doing it just like that as a tailback since he was seven. "My mother wanted me to play football as a little kid so I wouldn't just sit on the couch all day," Hu said. Harvard coach Tim Murphy thanks Mrs. Hu every day. Hu has been one of the few bright spots since Murphy took over the Crimson's reigns last year. The Crimson have not posted a winning record since 1987, but this season is shaping up as one of the worst in the school's long history. "As good a player as he is, and he's probably the best player on the team, he's an even better guy," Murphy said. "He works harder than anybody else on the field and he's the most humble kid you've ever seen. If we had 40 of him, we'd be in the position Penn's been in the last three seasons." Even though the Quakers held Hu to just 52 yards on 14 carries during last season's 33-0 Ivy title clincher at Franklin Field, the Penn coaching staff knows the Quakers have their work cut out for them. "We were fortunate to get a lead and take them out of their ball-control offense last year," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "He's a very good back. He's a violent north-south runner. He's durable -- the type of kid you can give the ball to 35 times a game. He's a legitimate player." Quakers defensive coordinator Mike Toop echoed Bagnoli's thoughts: "He's got great vision and a good forward lean, so he's a tough guy to get a clean hit on. You rarely see him stopped for negative yardage." As his coach mentioned, Hu is sheepishly modest about his personal success. "It's not fun running the ball every weekend," Hu said. "It hurts to be 1-7. I'd much rather win than think about all my personal stats." Hu wants nothing more than for that first Ivy League victory of 1995 to be against the Quakers Saturday at Harvard Stadium -- nothing except maybe coming to Penn one day. "I want to go to business school some day," Hu said. "Maybe down there at Wharton. That's about as good as it gets."