Linn of Hart Tackles Quarterbacks, Swimming

When defensive end Mike Linn of Hart High shaves his legs and arms for an important swim meet, football teammates look at him as if he were from outer space.

When swimmers hear football coaches telling Linn to eat ice cream before he goes to bed or encourage him to gain 15 pounds, they shake their heads in disbelief.

Welcome to Linn’s confusing world. From August to December, he’s a football player. From January to July, he’s a swimmer.

The sports are not supposed to be compatible.

Usually the only time you hear about a lineman swimming is when he drowns. Linemen are so big that when they dive into an indoor pool, the splash hits the ceiling.

Football linemen are required to bulk up so they become Goliaths. They lift weights and gobble doughnuts.

Swimmers, on the other hand, are lean, clean cardiovascular machines. Push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups--those are the exercises swimmers prefer. Pasta, not doughnuts, is their food of choice.

It’s startling that the 6-foot-4, 200-pound Linn has been able to coexist in both worlds.

He’ll be one of the favorites in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races Saturday in the Southern Section Division II finals at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

In football, he had four sacks last season and is expected to replace All-Southern Section defensive end Evan Allen as Hart’s key pass rusher this fall.

“He has big ol’ paddle hands,” swim Coach Steve Neale said. “He’s very powerful off the walls. He pulls a lot of water with his hands and feet.”

Linn has been torn over which sport is best for his future.

“I have a different mind-set for half the year,” he said. “While I’m in swim season, I often debate quitting football and training year round. Coaches say, ‘If you just quit football, you could totally drop your times.’ Then the football coaches say, ‘If you just quit swimming, you could get a full ride.’ A lot of it comes down to me making a choice what I really want to do.”

Linn’s father, Kenny, is a retired Navy captain and F-18 pilot who has flown off so many aircraft carriers he probably needs a separate closet to store all the hats he has from the USS Enterprise, Kitty Hawk, Independence, Midway and Constellation.

Because of his father’s Navy commitments, Linn has moved a lot, living in Virginia, Maryland, Florida, Japan and Northern California. Wherever he lived, there was always a pool. He has been swimming since he was 5.

Being a Navy brat had its good and bad elements. He was able to travel the world and see things most kids only experience from playing video games.

“I remember my Dad coming home from his six-month cruise at sea,” Linn said. “We were sitting in hangers. We were waiting when all of a sudden, we heard the roar coming over. They were in formation. He was in front. We were all, ‘Wow.’ They all landed, got out side by side. There were lots of hugs and kisses and, ‘Did you see my Dad?’ ”

Coming and going from military bases made it difficult for Linn to develop close friendships, but there was a plus.

“It’s fun being the new guy,” Linn said. “You get lots of attention from girls.”

He moved to Newhall in 1998 when his father retired from the Navy and started working for a defense contractor.

Linn had never played football. Wrestling was the sport he liked best after swimming. But Hart didn’t have a wrestling team, so he tried football. The coaches think he can be a standout in his senior year.

“We’re excited about him,” defensive coordinator Rick Herrington said.

Swimming, though, is the sport Linn probably will pursue in college. He has a 3.9 grade-point average, scored 1250 on the PSAT and is interested in attending the U.S. Naval Academy. The start of a swim race is what he enjoys most.

“Jumping off, you get that giant adrenaline rush pushing off the starting block,” he said. “You’re up in the air full blast. Your eyes are going out of your head and you want to go, go, go.”

Each summer, he returns to his grandparents’ home in Northern Virginia.

Think “Baywatch.” At least the football coaches do.

“They thought it was a vacation, sleep in every day,” Linn said. “No way. I wake up at 5 o’clock, do a workout, work as a lifeguard, do afternoon practice.”

Of course, it’s all swimming, which leads the football coaches to wonder what kind of shape he’ll be in.

“I think I’ll be very ready to go,” Linn said. “I’ll be constantly thinking about it in the back of my mind, ‘How’s this going to affect my football season?’ ”

In football, there’s a technique taught to defensive linemen called the swim move. It’s when a player uses his hands to get around an offensive lineman.

When Herrington yells at Linn to “Use the swim move,” it should cause plenty of laughter.

Then again, Herrington makes a good point when he says, “He should be the best we’ve had the way he swims.”

Somebody better inform Hart’s football coaches that swimmers don’t get graded on points, because Herrington added, “As long as he can dive against the quarterback, I’ll be holding up a 10 card for a sack.”

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Eric Sondheimer’s column appears Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at (818) 772-3422 or eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.