They call left tackle Blaine Halley “The Squatch”
- Tom Weber
- 8 hours ago
- 5 min read
CARBONDALE, Ill. — They call Blaine Halley “The Squatch,” and it might be the most appropriate nickname on the Saluki Football team.
For starters, he resembles the mythical Sasquatch beast. Halley stands a towering 6-foot-7 and 305 pounds, wears size 16 shoes, and has flowing dark hair with a full beard.
“My dad came up with the nickname when I was young, just because I had big feet at the time, but I developed into a really hairy guy,” Halley explained.
The story gets better, though, because Halley believes he actually had a close encounter with the legendary creature when he was 10 years old.
“I do believe in Bigfoot,” he smiled. “I think I've seen him.”
Ok, then. This we gotta hear.
Halley’s voice took on a semi-serious tone.
“We were at Ha Ha Tonka State Park in Missouri,” he began. “At one point I was by myself on this trail. I heard a big rustle in the woods and a couple of pretty big branches snap. I turned around and saw a shadow moving. I can't confirm it was him, but I believe it was.”
There is no photographic evidence to support Halley’s story, and it’s not clear he truly believes it himself.
“You know, all publicity is good publicity,” he laughed.
Squatch wasn’t even the first nickname that Shawn Halley gave his son. He was known as “Hurricane Blaine” after taking up competitive swimming in second grade and causing quite a stir in the pool.
“I always liked the water, so my mom suggested swimming,” Halley said. “It kind of translates to football. If you're doing the long races, like the 500 meter, you're in your thoughts forever and just try to keep going. It’s kind of like playing through the 4th quarter.”
Halley tried out for football when he was a freshman at tiny Olympia High School in Stanford, Illinois, a school of less than 500 students. He played defensive tackle and left guard.
“We ran the triple option, so you just had your big guys inside,” he said.
SIU offensive line coach Dan Clark watched Halley in-person during his junior year and was sold.
“You could visualize what this kid was going to look like in a few years, and his coach was adamant about how much he loves football,” Clark recalled. “Blaine had no pass-protection experience. He was raw at everything, but he had athleticism, he could bend, he could run. He wasn't ready made, but you knew he loved football and was going to work at it to become a really good football player someday.”
That day arrived during spring ball in 2025, shortly after his redshirt freshman season. After spending the early part of his Saluki career at guard, Halley was plugged in at left tackle.
“I don't know if he believed that he could play tackle at Division I,” Clark said. “It took a spring when he was simple in his fundamentals and efficient in his movements, and at the end of the spring, I said, ‘Blaine, you're a left tackle.’”
“In the back of my mind, I always wanted to play left tackle,” Halley said. “It’s you against the world.”
Halley stepped into the starting left tackle spot in Week 5 last season and has protected quarterback DJ Williams’ blind side ever since.
“You better have a guy that the quarterback trusts that when defenses dial up some blitzes, he’s going to be protected,” Clark said.
Clark foresees even more upside for Halley as he gains experience in the position.
“He hasn’t mastered everything because he hasn't seen everything yet, and that's the exciting part about Blaine Halley,” Clark said. “His work ethic is above and beyond, and he learns from every rep.”
Halley has taken what he’s learned back home to central Illinois, where last July he and several teammates ran the first-ever Squatch Youth Football Camp at Olympia High School.
“I really wanted to give back to my community,” said Halley, whose younger brother, Cael, committed to SIU in June.
Halley is working on a degree in forestry and loves hiking. He visited the Smokies over the summer for a class project and is interested in wildlife habitat management.
Might he conduct a search for the real Sasquatch someday?
“Yeah, maybe,” he smiled. “We'll see.”
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