Buffaloes’ Hessler Shows He’s Not Stampeding Type

The nation’s 14th-leading passer in 1995 can be found at Saturday’s home opener, sipping soda from a cup and clutching a clipboard.

Colorado’s record-holder for touchdown passes in a season, 20; consecutive passes thrown without an interception, 100, and 300-yard passing games, three, has been grounded against Washington State and, if everything goes according to plan, all other Buffalo opponents.

John Hessler--how does one put this delicately--has been benched. Yanked. Hooked. Demoted.

It wasn’t a dormitory scandal that did him in, or academics, or injury.

Rip-roaring conflict with the coach?

“John Hessler is a prince of a person,” the coach says.

Hessler is guilty only of having led Colorado to a 10-2 finish, a No. 5 national ranking, a Cotton Bowl victory over Oregon, and accepting a scholarship to the same university that Koy Detmer also chose to attend.

But wasn’t 1995 a hoot while it lasted?

Hessler, who rescued the Buffaloes from disaster when Detmer was sidelined in Week 4 after tearing up his right knee against Texas A&M;, is once again Boulder backdrop.

This transfer of power could have been dicey, with Hessler stampeding into Coach Rick Neuheisel’s office faster than Ralphie III, the school’s live Buffalo mascot, demanding his release.

It might have made for tabloid headline fodder if Detmer weren’t Detmer and Hessler his best friend.

“Koy’s going to be greater than he’s ever been this year,” Hessler predicts.

Truth is, there never was going to be controversy. Detmer was leading the nation in passing--his 189.4 rating was on a record pace--at the time of injury, and remains a unique talent. Detmer, the skinny brother of Ty, the 1990 Heisman Trophy winner at Brigham Young, has skills Hessler would steal for.

Yet, Hessler says of Detmer, “We have a great relationship.”

The second it became clear that Detmer’s knee was approaching 100%, which it appears to be after surgery and rehabilitation, Hessler began work on footwork drills to avoid all that hazardous head-set wire.

“It’s real hard for me to sit back down,” he said last week, not a trace of anger in his voice. “I’m having a good camp, and right now I’ve got a grasp of the offense that I never had last year, when I really didn’t know what was going on. Right now, it’s showing. They got complete trust in me getting the job done.”

Here’s why: In Hessler’s first start, against Oklahoma, he completed 24 of 34 passes for 348 yards and five touchdowns.

All that now is nice to know only for insurance purposes.

“I have to play behind Koy, Koy’s a great quarterback, I have no problem with that,” Hessler says. “But again, it is tough. But if I just sit back and let things fly by me, I’m not going to get better. Because next year is going to be my year to do something.”

Next year is Hessler’s mantra, given he’s a junior and Detmer a senior.

RETURN TO SLENDER

This transition hasn’t been easy for Detmer either, who came to Colorado from Texas as a 160-pound coat hanger who had to put on 30 pounds just to find uniform pants to fit.

Then, in the throes of a brilliant junior season, he suffered a complete tear of his right anterior cruciate ligament. Detmer tried to come back two weeks later against Kansas, wearing a knee brace, but it was wishful thinking. He had surgery two days later.

In the meantime, he learned that his girlfriend, Katie Kelly, was pregnant. Koy and Katie were married in January--”I didn’t even know he had a girlfriend” Koy’s mother reportedly said--and Koy Jr. was born in March.

Detmer’s head was swimming.

The injury:

“It was disappointing. I had been looking forward to the year for so long, waited my turn, then it was taken away in the blink of an eye. It was a very humbling experience for me.”

Marriage and parenthood:

“It definitely makes you grow up a bit. You realize football is not everything. I’m just going to go out, play hard, play my best. If it doesn’t work out in football, I’ll get my degree. There are other things I can do. That’s what I learned about the injury. You’d better have some options to go to.”

Getting back on the field never felt so good.

Detmer says support from the backup quarterback has helped. Detmer was Hessler’s host when the recruit made a campus visit and they have been close since.

“When his number was called, he played and did a great job,” Detmer says of Hessler. “He’s been a good sport about everything. He’s been fair to me. I’m thankful for that. It could have escalated into something more than that. I’m happy he’s accepted everything.”

Hessler says it’s more a case of biting his lip and biding his time.

“Next year, if I’m the man, I want to go out and prove to everybody that I belong out there,” he says, “that maybe last year wasn’t so much a fluke.”

WAIT A MINUTE, MR. POSTMAN

Wanted: Envelope lickers in Provo, Utah. Immediately. No experience necessary. Call now. No tongue refused. Will pick you up at airport.

Just when you thought the Heisman Trophy was Peyton Manning’s to lose, came two bolts of unexpected summer lightning, one in Utah, the other in New Jersey.

A week ago, Steve Sarkisian and Curtis Enis were two nice players from two nice universities.

Then, within 24 hours, they crashed the national scene with a 1-2 weekend punch that has some people talking that trophy.

OK, it is a tad early. Manning hasn’t taken a snap yet for Tennessee and, well, it’s not even September.

But what else is there to talk about? USC winning the national title?

Put it this way: Sarkisian, from West Torrance High, and Enis were not on anyone’s Heisman short list.

Yet, Sarkisian, Brigham Young’s senior quarterback, announced his candidacy last Saturday by passing for 536 yards and six touchdowns in BYU’s 41-37 upset of No. 13 Texas A&M; in the Pigskin Classic.

The next day, Enis, a Penn State sophomore converted from linebacker--you think Joe Paterno isn’t smart?--ran for 241 yards and three touchdowns in a 24-7 victory over USC in the Kickoff Classic.

For kids with Heisman hopes, this kind of publicity descends from the heavens every decade or so. Sarkisian and Enis starred in the only two college games of the weekend, both televised nationally.

The statistics were spectacular, but more impressive were the caliber of teams Sarkisian and Enis loaded up against.

The Aggies’ defense, which had eight returning starters, gave up eight touchdown passes all of last season. Believe it or not, the unit was known as “the wrecking crew,” before Sarkisian poked a few holes in a rebuilt secondary.

Enis ran through a USC defense that has seven returning starters, six of whom forgot how to tackle over the summer.

The Sarkisian-Enis weekend special caught a few people off guard, among them the schools’ sports information directors, who are responsible for leading junk-mail Heisman campaigns.

Val Hale, SID at BYU, knew Sarkisian was good after he finished last year by completing 31 of 34 passes for 399 yards against Fresno State.

But a Heisman candidate?

“No way,” Hale said this week.

But after Sarkisian’s sizzling performance, in which he posted an off-the-board passing rating of 217.7, Hale put all copy-machine workers on red alert.

Hale won’t push the Heisman button on Sarkisian’s campaign until he sees how the quarterback fares at Washington on Sept. 14.

“If he has another good outing, we’ll kick everything into full gear, a full promotion,” Hale said.

Restraint is always the operative word at Penn State, where Paterno never gets worked up over any one player, especially a sophomore.

Only one Nittany Lion--John Cappelletti in 1973--has even won the Heisman, which is fine by Joe.

Penn State SID Jeff Nelson knows not to make a big deal yet out of Enis.

“For us to say we’ll start planning some big campaign, no,” Nelson said.

LEFTOVERS

Well, Kentucky Coach Bill Curry took longer than expected to work freshman phenom quarterback Tim Couch into the lineup. Curry says junior Billy Jack Haskins will start Saturday in the opener against Louisville, but that Couch would also play.

“He’s earned that,” Curry said of Couch, the most important homegrown recruit Curry has ever nabbed.

And you thought Curry was going to rush Couch into the lineup.

*

During a commercial break during Saturday’s Pigskin Classic, ABC analyst Dick Vermeil was overheard saying about Brigham Young: “This is one of the best offensive lines I’ve ever seen.”

The line that thoroughly bullied Texas A&M;’s vaunted defensive front and allowed nary a hand to touch quarterback Sarkisian is, left to right: John Tait, 6-foot-6, 290-pound freshman; James Johnson, 6-6, 295 senior; Larry Moore, 6-3, 290 senior; Matt Cox, 6-6, 285 junior, and Eric Bateman, 6-7, 285 sophomore.

*

Tennessee, a national championship team in the myopic eyes of some, opens the season at home Saturday against Nevada Las Vegas.

Volunteer Coach Phil Fulmer is already sounding a bit tense, imploring folks not to look past his team’s first two games against UNLV and UCLA toward the Sept. 21 showdown against Florida in Knoxville.

“I think the players have [stayed focused],” he says. “I think if the media and the fans would do the same we’d be a lot better off.”