He’s No Longer Out of Position : Orange Bowl: After last season, Colorado’s Darian Hagan wanted to switch from quarterback to running back. It’s the best change the Buffaloes never made.

The guy who finished fifth in this season’s Heisman Trophy balloting wasn’t even first on the Colorado depth chart a year ago.

Back then, Darian Hagan couldn’t read a defense if you spotted him the first three letters of z-o-n-e. He considered plays sent from the sideline to be mere suggestions, not commands. He performed so poorly in the Buffaloes’ last bowl game that even his mother wanted to ground him for a week. Too much style, too little substance, she said.

So Hagan, whose letter jacket remained C-less after the 1988 season, gave up. He pleaded to be switched from quarterback to running back. And secretly, he might not have been the only Colorado player hoping the move would be approved. After all, Hagan’s botched appearance in the 1988 Freedom Bowl (his only pass was intercepted, resulting in a game-winning field goal for BYU) wasn’t exactly the prelude to greatness his coaches and teammates had in mind when he arrived from Locke High School.

“I knew he was a great guy when he was a freshman,” said junior linebacker Kanavis McGhee, a Lombardi Trophy finalist. “But I figured he was a running back playing quarterback. Coming into this season, everyone still had their doubts if he would be able to do it.”

Leading the list was none other than Hagan himself.

Colorado quarterback coach Gary Barnett listened politely as Hagan detailed the many reasons why a change of positions would do the team good, to say nothing of Hagan’s own well-being. First of all, there was this business of deciphering pass coverages: Hagan couldn’t do it. He’d rather take a stab at reading Dostoevsky than try to understand the subtleties of a rotating zone.

Hagan also explained that truth be known, he was a runner first, a passer second. Oh sure, he loved throwing the bomb, but it was his travel by land that earned him two City rushing titles, 4,338 career yards and 44 touchdowns while at Locke.

And hey, who was kidding whom? As long as quarterback Sal Aunese was on the Colorado roster, Hagan would be an understudy. So why not do everyone a favor and readjust the job descriptions in the backfield?

Barnett said he would consider the request, which he did . . . for about a millisecond. Hagan wasn’t going anywhere, except back to the drawing board. And anyway, the Buffaloes needed another running back like they needed another visit from the Boulder Police Dept. Eric Bieniemy, a Heisman hopeful, was available at tailback, as was J.J. Flannigan.

So like it or not, Hagan was going to be a quarterback. Of course, the 1989 season was out of the question--Aunese was returning for his senior year--but if all went well, 1990 would mark the beginning of his reign.

Then came the telephone call last spring. It was Barnett. Aunese had inoperable stomach cancer.

“Somebody’s got to step up,” Hagan announced, “and it’s going to be me.”

There are better ways to inherit a job but none more painful. Six months after that phone call, Aunese was dead. Ask anyone connected with the Colorado football program why Hagan became a finalist at this year’s Heisman ceremony, and the answer is always the same: Aunese.

“Sal was kind of like Darian’s mentor,” said wide receiver Jeff Campbell. “He took care of what Darian needed, told him what he needed to improve on. I believe Darian even talked to him before several games.”

“(Aunese) meant a lot to him,” said Wanda Webb, Hagan’s mother. “Darian told me he gave him a lot of confidence in himself. When Darian felt that he couldn’t do something, Sal would talk to him.”

But inspiration can go only so far. At some point, emotion and talent collided, setting off this chain reaction of 11 consecutive Colorado victories, an Orange Bowl appointment with Notre Dame--and countless Hagan triumphs. No wonder the Colorado quarterback found himself at a Heisman photo session a few weeks ago, surrounded by also-rans Tony Rice of Notre Dame, Major Harris of West Virginia, Dee Dowis of Air Force, Mike Mayweather of Army, Blair Thomas of Penn State and Anthony Thompson of Indiana--distinguished company for someone who was supposed to spend this season cooling his cleats on the sideline.

“Here’s a guy who was a freshman last year, made his entry into the Freedom Bowl and didn’t do so well,” McGhee said. “This season, he stepped into a great man’s shoes and did the job and did it well and was a finalist in the Heisman. Now you tell me that isn’t an extraordinary person who can do something like that.

“And he’s only a sophomore.”

Said Flannigan, who was no less touched by Aunese’s death: “Sal taught him a lot, especially from the time Sal had cancer. But some things Darian had on his own.

“I call him Mr. Magic. Any time he steps on the field, something is going to happen. Darian is so elusive.”

In Colorado’s season opener against Texas, Hagan gained 75 yards on his first carry. He finished the game with 211 yards. Colorado State was victimized for 103 yards and a touchdown by Hagan. Against Missouri, he gained 106 yards and rushed for three touchdowns. Against Oklahoma, he had 107 yards and a score. The next week against Nebraska, he gained 86 yards and scored once.

You get the idea.

“It makes you hold onto your blocks longer because if Darian gets that one step, he’s gone,” tackle Bill Coleman said. “The next time we see him, we’re all in the end zone jumping up and down with our bellies hanging out.”

By the time the regular season was complete, Hagan had become the first player in Big Eight history, all 83 years of it, to both rush and pass for 1,000 yards. Only six players in NCAA history have managed double 1,000s. He accounted for 43% of Colorado’s first downs this season. As for crunch time, Hagan led the Buffaloes to scores nine times in nine tries during two-minute drills.

So, take that Freedom Bowl memory . . .

“I believed I could play pretty well,” Hagan said. “I had two goals, really: Lose the weight and make nonbelievers into believers. I think I’ve done a pretty good job so far.”

Hagan dropped 13 pounds--he now weighs about 185--but more important, he also shed the considerable weight of self-doubt. Pass coverages no longer caused panic. The loss to BYU no longer haunted him.

And all it took was that game against Texas and the advice of Aunese, who had counseled Hagan during spring and fall practice.

“I was looking for something to give me a confidence-builder,” Hagan said, “to get all the negative thoughts out of my mind. I mean, I was even thinking I couldn’t be a quarterback. The media, the magazines I was reading, they were saying that I was the weak link, that if I didn’t perform well, our dreams would just be washed away.”

At last look, it didn’t appear that Colorado’s hopes of a national championship were taking on much water. Notre Dame remains a formidable opponent but not unbeatable. Miami proved that.

And as you might expect, Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz was doing his part to elevate Hagan to legend status.

“Quicker than Tony Rice,” he said.

True.

“He’s had an unbelievable year,” Holtz added.

A fair statement.

“I would have to say his peripheral vision is the most impressive thing I’ve seen on film, ever,” he said. “If you tested him, you would probably find that his peripheral vision would be in the top 1%.”

OK, that’s enough, Lou.

Notre Dame thought about recruiting Hagan but didn’t. “He’s an outstanding quarterback, and let’s leave it at that,” Holtz said.

Oklahoma and then-coach Barry Switzer labeled Hagan an academic risk after his first set of college entrance scores were too low. Hagan took the exam again and passed. That done, he chose Colorado.

“I was looking for a family and friends, not a tradition,” he wrote on his freshman information questionnaire. “I loved CU.”

A perfect romance, it hasn’t been. There have been frustration and heartache, joy mixed with a sense of personal loss. Yet, Hagan has managed to do what he said he would.

And consider this: 52 Heisman voters considered him the best player in the country. A year ago, there weren’t 52 Colorado football followers who would have called him the best player on the Buffaloes’ second team.

Fame beckons, though it certainly didn’t seem it would ever find Hagan. Or was it the other way around?

“It’s really hard to believe,” Hagan said. “Never in my wildest (thoughts) did I figure I would be playing for a national championship on an undefeated team. . . . I just always dreamed of it.”

Dream no more.