After Seeing History, He Repeats It

Tyrone Wheatley tried to get a straight answer. Why wasn’t Jesse Johnson accompanying the Michigan team to California? The coaches were saying: “Disciplinary action.” But that was so vague. A second explanation was: “Social misconduct.” The campus grapevine had Jesse getting into a quarrel in a public establishment after hours. One wherein words led to blows.

Whatever.

They left him home alone.

That’s as much as Wheatley knew. Johnson was not making the trip. The Wolverines were traveling to the Rose Bowl without their second-leading rusher. Wheatley would have to carry the football, and the load, pretty much by himself. Yes, he was Michigan’s leading rusher. Yes, he was the Big Ten’s leading rusher. But it was still a lot to ask.

What did Wheatley do? He went 88 yards with a handoff, the longest touchdown run in Rose Bowl history. He gained 235 yards in all, without touching the football in the fourth quarter. He scored three touchdowns, was voted player of the game and did it all with spasms near his spine that were so painful, Wheatley said he couldn’t feel his left leg touching the ground.

“I was scared of falling,” he said. “It’s like my leg wasn’t even there.”

What a runner.

On one good leg, Tyrone Wheatley, a young man 18 days shy of his 21st birthday, ran away with the whole bowl of roses. Keep an eye on this guy. If Friday’s game is any indicator of things to come, Ann Arbor, Mich., won’t be the only town in which Wheatley is famous. Battle Creek will give him a bowl of his own: Wheatley’s. Breakfast of Champions.

The reviews after the game were nothing but raves: “Best single tailback we’ve faced this year,” Washington defensive tackle D’Marco Farr said. “I haven’t seen any back with that much power and speed,” linebacker James Clifford said. Et cetera, et cetera. These guys didn’t know how hard Jesse Johnson might have run, but he would have been a welcome break from this Wheatley.

What makes Tyrone run?

He was a sprinter in high school, a track star who was very well-known in Detroit long before he ever set foot onto a collegiate campus. All the while, Wheatley wasn’t sure whether he had any future in football. One thing, though, he did know: “I knew what kind of football Michigan players played. I wasn’t sure I could be in their league.”

This guy’s going to be in another league, all right. The National Football League. You don’t often find combinations of speed and strength like this. Wheatley stands 6 feet 1, 225 pounds. He hits holes with that Herschel Walker impact. That Earl Campbell ramble. That Bo Jackson action. Bang. Gone. The 88-yard bolt from scrimmage he made in Pasadena? Nobody from Washington laid a finger on him.

“Tyrone Wheatley. . . ,” winning Coach Gary Moeller said, pausing like an emcee about to make an introduction, “. . . can hit the home run.”

Was it only a year ago that a Wolverine was the winner of the Heisman Trophy? Was the student body wondering how long it would be before another Desmond Howard would come along, even in a different-sized package? Or another Leroy Hoard, star of Michigan’s 1989 Rose Bowl champions? Not long. Fact, he’s already here. And what a body this student is.

Returning next term?

“Yes, I’ll be back at Michigan next year,” Wheatley vowed on the spot, and then the sophomore volunteered something else, for anyone back home who might already be anxious:

“And the year after that, too.”

He is a low-key kid known around the dorm as a player who likes to pass the credit to the other players. Tyrone Wheatley, anyone in Ann Arbor can tell you, doesn’t talk much about himself. He did willingly Friday, though partly because it would have been impolite not to after such a performance. Nevertheless, he kept his offensive linemen close at hand, and suggested: “Give the MVP trophy to them. They did all the work, anyway.”

On the field when the game was over, seniors were crying. Corwin Brown was choked up. Chris Hutchinson couldn’t hold back the tears. But Wheatley? Total composure. Nothing seems to disarm, not even the helmet-first tackler of the Huskies who rattled his bones during the first half. For the rest of the day, Wheatley felt a sharp pain down his left leg that left him numb. He was limited to 15 carries. And gained 235 yards.

What does get to Wheatley? Fred Jackson had a brainstorm. The day before the game, Jackson, the Michigan backfield coach, told Wheatley there was something he wanted to show him. Jackson thought maybe Wheatley might need a little incentive. He escorted Wheatley to a display of Rose Bowl most valuable players of the past.

“See who Michigan’s last MVP was?” Jackson asked.

“Leroy Hoard,” Wheatley verified.

“Right,” Jackson said. “A running back.”

And he said no more.

Wheatley took the hint: “That’s all he said. ‘A running back.’ That’s all he needed to say. He was saying: ‘We need you to have a big game.’ ”

This big?

“Maybe not this big,” Wheatley said.