It’s All Good for White at the End

Oklahoma quarterback Jason White recovered from two bad knees and one bad game to win the 69th Heisman Trophy in ceremonies held Saturday night in New York.

The fifth-year senior earned 1,481 points to defeat Pittsburgh sophomore receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who finished 128 points back at 1,353.

Mississippi senior quarterback Eli Manning finished third with 710 points while Michigan senior tailback Chris Perry had 341.

White suffered season-ending knee injuries in 2001 and 2002 and wondered if he would ever play football again.

Yet, he returned this year to lead the nation in passing with a remarkable touchdown-to-interception ratio of 40 to 8.

“Last year about this time I was sitting at home watching the Heisman, and I thought, ‘How neat would it be just to be there, just be one of the finalists,’ and never would have dreamed after the two surgeries that I would even have the chance to come here,” White said in his televised acceptance speech.

White appeared a cinch to win the award until his poor performance in Oklahoma’s 35-7 loss to Kansas State in last week’s Big 12 championship game. It led to speculation White’s Heisman Trophy hopes might have also been dashed.

White, however, was helped by his overwhelming body of work and the fact 50% of Heisman Trophy votes had been cast before the Kansas State game.

He completed 64% of his passes for 3,744 yards and finished only three of Oklahoma’s 12 victories because most of the Sooners’ games were blowouts.

White became the fourth Oklahoma player to win the Heisman Trophy and the first since Billy Sims in 1978.

A man of few words, White thanked his coaches, parents and teammates for helping him to win college football’s most prestigious award.

White also credited the Oklahoma training staff for helping him through two arduous knee rehabilitations.

“It was a long journey, but they put up with me,” White said.

White grew up in Tuttle, a relative stone’s throw from the Oklahoma campus in Norman.

He was an option quarterback in high school and appeared to be a Sooner star on the rise when, as a redshirt sophomore in 2001, he came off the bench to lead Oklahoma to a 14-3 win over archrival Texas.

Later that season, though, in his second career start, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee against Nebraska on a play in which he was not hit.

He worked his way back to win back the starting quarterback spot in 2002, only to tear his right ACL against Alabama, in his second start. Again, White was not hit on the play.

“I had questions, wondering why it happened,” White told The Times in September.

Doctors, though, assured White the injuries were flukes and there was nothing genetically wrong with his knees.

He won the starting job in fall practice and had led Oklahoma to a 12-0 record until the shocking loss to Kansas State on Dec. 6.

Despite the defeat, Oklahoma finished first in the bowl championship standings and will play Louisiana State in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 4 for at least a share of the national championship.

Fitzgerald fell short of becoming the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy. He, too, struggled in his last game, catching only three passes for 26 yards in his team’s 28-14 loss to Miami on Nov. 29.

Fitzgerald led the nation in yards receiving per game (132.9) and touchdown catches (22) and holds the NCAA record with at least one touchdown catch in 18 consecutive games.

Pittsburgh finished the regular season 8-4, though, and no player on a team with more than three defeats has won the Heisman since Oklahoma’s Steve Owens in 1969.

Manning continued a family tradition of coming up short at Heisman ceremonies.

Archie Manning, Eli’s father and a legendary quarterback at Ole Miss, finished fourth in the 1969 balloting and third in 1970.

Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning, Eli’s older brother, finished second in 1997 to Michigan’s Charles Woodson.

Eli Manning had 27 touchdown passes this season in leading Ole Miss to its first nine-win season in 13 years.

Chris Perry’s late push was buoyed by his 154-yard rushing performance in Michigan’s Rose Bowl-clinching victory over Ohio State on Nov. 22.

At one point in his career, Perry considered transferring because he felt he wasn’t getting enough carries. That wasn’t a problem this year. In a victory at Michigan State, Perry rushed for 219 yards in 51 attempts.

He finished the regular season with 1,589 rushing yards.

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Heisman Breakdown

Voting for the 2003 Heisman Trophy, with first-, second- and third-place votes and total points (voting on 3-2-1 basis):

*--* Player 1st 2nd 3rd Total Jason White, Oklahoma 319 204 116 1,481 Larry Fitzgerald, Pittsburgh 253 233 128 1,353 Eli Manning, Mississippi 95 132 161 710 Chris Perry, Michigan 27 66 128 341 Darren Sproles, Kansas State 15 30 29 134 Matt Leinart, USC 5 27 58 127 Philip Rivers, N.C. State 18 20 24 118 Mike Williams, USC 12 12 18 78 Ben Roethlisberger, Miami (Ohio) 5 9 14 47 B.J. Symons, Texas Tech 1 7 21 38

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Quarterback Comparison

A look at what the six quarterbacks who got first-place votes for the Heisman Trophy did during the season compared to USC’s Carson Palmer, who won the award last year:

*--* 2003 Vote-Getters Player Att Comp Yds Comp % TD Int Yds/A Rating (Rk) Jason White 414 265 3,744 64.0 40 8 9.04 168.0 (1) Philip Rivers 438 311 4,016 71.0 29 7 9.17 166.7 (2) Ben 462 321 4,110 69.5 33 10 8.90 163.5 (7) Roethlisberger Matt Leinart 368 232 3,229 63.0 35 9 8.77 163.2 (8) B.J. Symons 666 429 5,336 64.4 48 21 8.01 149.2 (20) Eli Manning 410 253 3,341 61.7 27 9 8.15 147.5 (22) 2002 Winner Carson Palmer 489 309 3,942 63.2 33 10 8.06 149.1 (6)

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Heisman Winners

*--* 2003--Jason White, Oklahoma, QB 2002--Carson Palmer, USC, QB 2001--Eric Crouch, Nebraska, QB 2000--Chris Weinke, Florida St., QB 1999--Ron Dayne, Wisconsin, RB 1998--Ricky Williams, Texas, RB 1997--Charles Woodson, Michigan, CB 1996--Danny Wuerffel, Florida, QB 1995--Eddie George, Ohio St., TB 1994--Rashaan Salaam, Colorado, RB 1993--Charlie Ward, Florida State, QB 1992--Gino Torretta, Miami, QB 1991--Desmond Howard, Michigan, WR 1990--Ty Detmer, Brigham Young, QB 1989--Andre Ware, Houston, QB 1988--Barry Sanders, Oklahoma State, RB 1987--Tim Brown, Notre Dame, WR 1986--Vinny Testaverde, Miami, QB 1985--Bo Jackson, Auburn, TB 1984--Doug Flutie, Boston College, QB 1983--Mike Rozier, Nebraska, TB 1982--Herschel Walker, Georgia, HB 1981--Marcus Allen, USC, TB 1980--George Rogers, South Carolina, HB 1979--Charles White, USC, TB 1978--Billy Sims, Oklahoma, HB 1977--Earl Campbell, Texas, FB 1976--Tony Dorsett, Pittsburgh, HB 1975--Archie Griffin, Ohio State, HB 1974--Archie Griffin, Ohio State, HB 1973--John Cappelletti, Penn State, HB 1972--Johnny Rodgers, Nebraska, FL 1971--Pat Sullivan, Auburn, QB 1970--Jim Plunkett, Stanford, QB 1969--Steve Owens, Oklahoma, HB 1968--O.J. Simpson, USC, TB 1967--Gary Beban, UCLA, QB 1966--Steve Spurrier, Florida, QB 1965--Mike Garrett, USC, TB 1964--John Huarte, Notre Dame, QB 1963--Roger Staubach, Navy, QB 1962--Terry Baker, Oregon State, QB 1961--Ernie Davis, Syracuse, HB 1960--Joe Bellino, Navy, HB 1959--Billy Cannon, LSU, HB 1958--Pete Dawkins, Army, HB 1957--John David Crow, Texas A&M;, HB 1956--Paul Hornung, Notre Dame, QB 1955--Howard Cassady, Ohio State, HB 1954--Alan Ameche, Wisconsin, FB 1953--John Lattner, Notre Dame, HB 1952--Billy Vessels, Oklahoma, HB 1951--Dick Kazmaier, Princeton, HB 1950--Vic Janowicz, Ohio State, HB 1949--Leon Hart, Notre Dame, E 1948--Doak Walker, SMU, HB 1947--John Lujack, Notre Dame, QB 1946--Glenn Davis, Army, HB 1945--Doc Blanchard, Army, HB 1944--Les Horvath, Ohio State, QB 1943--Angelo Bertelli, Notre Dame, QB 1942--Frank Sinkwich, Georgia, HB 1941--Bruce Smith, Minnesota, HB 1940--Tom Harmon, Michigan, HB 1939--Nile Kinnick, Iowa, HB 1938--Davey O’Brien, Texas Christian, QB 1937--Clint Frank, Yale, HB 1936--Larry Kelley, Yale, E 1935--Jay Berwanger, Chicago, HB

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