He’s Hitting Holes, Not Books : College football: Sophomore season might be the last for Tennessee’s Chuck Webb, who prefers field to classroom.

This is one Volunteer who would rather get paid.

Chuck Webb is a college football player who likes football, but could do without college.

“I wouldn’t lie to you and say I like going to college and going to school,” the sophomore running back told reporters as Tennessee opened practice this month. “I don’t wake up with a smile on my face, saying, ‘I get to go to English class.’ ”

Webb ran for 1,236 yards last year as a redshirt freshman at Tennessee, with 296 of those coming against Mississippi, breaking the school record set in 1983 by Johnnie Jones.

It was enough to start people talking Heisman, though no one from Tennessee had finished in the top five in Heisman Trophy voting since the current coach, Johnny Majors, came in second in 1956.

But if Webb is to win the Heisman, he might have to become the first sophomore to do so. Two years could be as long as his college career lasts.

Now that restrictions on underclassmen entering the NFL draft have been eased, more and more are likely to make the move early.

As Tennessee prepares to play Colorado on Sunday in the first Disneyland Pigskin Classic at Anaheim Stadium, Webb is calling the chances “probably 80%” that his sophomore season will be his last.

“If I have a good year, I’ll probably think about it,” Webb said this week. “It might be an 80% chance I will go. It depends on how the team does, also, and whether we have a chance to win the national title.”

Webb and college have not been an easy mix.

During his redshirt year, he was arrested for forging a teammate’s signature on a scholarship check, and was ordered to make restitution and perform community service.

Last year, after a spectacular season in which he took over for starter Reggie Cobb after Cobb was suspended midseason because of a failed drug test, Webb ran into more trouble at school.

He was accused of cheating in a class, and though Webb denies any wrongdoing, he was suspended from school. That forced him to make up 20 hours in order to regain his eligibility for this season. He earned six hours through correspondance courses during his suspension, then returned to Knoxville and earned six more in a summer school mini-term and another eight during regular summer school.

The experiences--and the attention from the media and the public--have left Webb a guarded man.

“People are going to assume anyway, when they read Chuck Webb allegedly was caught cheating, that it’s true,” Webb said. “People remember things that are bad, not good about you. They remember when you lose a game more than when you win a game.”

Webb said the cheating accusation was the result of similar research.

“If you get the same information from the library, how can you say that is cheating?”

In his occasional interviews, Webb maintains a stoic attitude.

“Nothing people wrote or said on TV really bothered me,” he said. “They really didn’t know me.”

Now people get to know him mostly through his exploits on the field.

As a high school player in Toledo, Ohio, Webb averaged 10.7 yards a carry, a statistic that would lead you to believe you could hand him the ball and collect your first down. Give it to him eight times from the 20 and kick your extra point.

He showed that kind of talent at Tennessee last year, averaging 5.9 yards a carry.

“I think Chuck Webb has the talent to be as fine a running back as the country has,” Majors said.

Against Mississippi, Webb had a quarter most running backs would have been proud to have for a game. Tennessee entered the fourth quarter trailing, 21-20. As the final 15 minutes ticked off, Webb ran for 142 yards and the go-ahead touchdown. Tennessee won, 33-21.

“They just started giving him the ball, and he started hammering on us,” Mississippi Coach Billy Brewer said. “We couldn’t take the ball away from ‘em.

“Chuck Webb is a heckuva football player. He’s durable, he’s a powerful runner inside, he’s got great balance, great vision and excellent speed. When they get in trouble, they start giving the ball to Chuck Webb.”

For as long, that is, as Chuck Webb is there.