The Heisman Jinx? What Heisman Jinx?

Eddie George ran wild in college and won the Heisman Trophy. He’s doing just as well in the pros and might be headed for rookie-of-the-year honors.

What Heisman Jinx?

Rashaan Salaam had a 1,000-yard rushing season a year ago after winning the 1995 Heisman. While injuries have slowed him this season, he’s still a big part of the Chicago Bears’ plans.

What Heisman Jinx?

Barry Sanders, the 1988 winner, is the No. 8 rusher in NFL history. At his current pace, he could be the NFL career rushing leader at the end of the decade.

What Heisman Jinx?

Certainly the notion that Heisman Trophy winners tend to flop in the NFL has some basis in fact. Just ask Gino Torretta, Andre Ware and Doug Flutie. Or Charlie Ward, the 1993 winner who never even got drafted.

“It’s considered to be one of the most prestigious awards in football,” says George, who has 1,021 yards on the ground for the Houston Oilers. “People think it will carry over to the next year and that doesn’t always hold true.

“There are just a lot of expectations. It’s only an illusion. I can’t live with anybody else’s expectations.”

But they are there, along with the questions about how Heisman winners will fare in the pros. Even after Sanders ran for an NCAA-record 2,628 yards in 1988, people wondered whether he could go from starring at Oklahoma State to starring in the NFL.

“There was doubt. There was always doubt,” says Sanders, who has erased those questions with eight successive 1,000-yard seasons, an NFL record. “I mean, going into my junior year in college, it was very clear to me . . . that I hadn’t solidified the position. You know, I had never started at Oklahoma State and, so, everything changed so fast all in that one year. So, it wasn’t like I expected to even be here.”

Running backs seems to have the most success in the pros coming off a Heisman year. Of course, Archie Griffin, the only two-time winner of the Heisman, was a mediocre pro. So was Charles White. And John Cappelletti.

But then consider that Tony Dorsett, Earl Campbell, Billy Sims, George Rogers and Marcus Allen won it in a span of six years. That’s the kind of company George hopes to keep.

“I never paid any attention to the Heisman jinx stuff,” George says. “The award was something I achieved in college and am very proud of it. But it has had no effect in the pros. I am honored to have won it, but it is behind me and it’s now time for me to establish myself in my professional career, in the NFL.”

Quarterbacks have had more trouble establishing themselves than other Heisman recipients. Since 1970, winning quarterbacks have been Jim Plunkett, Pat Sullivan, Flutie, Vinny Testaverde, Ware, Ty Detmer, Torretta and Ward.

Plunkett overcame injuries to have a solid career and won two Super Bowls with the Raiders. After he didn’t make it in the NFL, Flutie went to the CFL and found success, winning the league’s MVP award the last five years.

Sullivan, Ware and Torretta were NFL busts as well. Ward opted for the NBA when he wasn’t drafted and is a point guard for the New York Knicks.

Testaverde, the top pick in the 1987 draft after winning the Heisman, has had a checkered pro career.

“Any athlete would say he would have liked to have done better,” Testaverde says. “At least I worked to try to be perfect. Nobody’s going to have a perfect career, but we all strive to maintain a very high level of consistency.

“Honestly, I don’t ever listen to what other people have to say, whether it’s good or bad. If it’s negative, you’ll think they’re wrong. If it’s positive, they’re usually blowing your horn too loud. So you’re never as bad as people say and never as good as they say.”

Detmer, the 1990 winner, sat on the bench in Green Bay until this year, when he signed with the Eagles as a free agent. When Rodney Peete was injured, Detmer stepped in and won four in a row.

The Eagles slumped after that, but Detmer has shown he can play in the NFL.

“I don’t think guys get satisfied with winning the Heisman and that’s it,” Detmer says. “For me, I just hung in there and waited for an opportunity and it came about this year.”

As for the jinx, Detmer dismisses it.

“It’s good to see guys having success so people will quit talking about it, more than anything,” he says.

The two most recent non-backfield winners are Tim Brown and Desmond Howard.

While Brown has been a perennial Pro Bowl wideout and an outstanding kick returner since joining the Raiders in 1987, Howard has knocked around. He has gone from Washington to Jacksonville to Green Bay since being drafted fourth overall in 1991.

Even with the Packers’ receiving corps decimated by injuries, Howard hasn’t gotten a lot of work. Used as a kick returner, he ran a punt back 75 yards for a touchdown last Sunday against the Bears.

“I got the Heisman for what I did in college,” he said. “In the pros, I’m doing different things. I’m asked to do different things.

“I think I’ll still make my mark as a receiver in Green Bay. But if my main job is to return punts, I’ll make my mark returning punts.”

He won’t be returning the Heisman just because his pro career hasn’t been anything special. Nor will the guys who have excelled in the NFL ever think of the Heisman as anything but a highlight.

“I think every kid growing up wants to win the Heisman Trophy,” George says. “It puts you in an elite group. It’s a great award to win because, even when my pro days are over, I can still take that trophy and show it to my kids.”