Win and Share It

The question puts a grin on Reggie Bush’s face. He needs all of two seconds to answer.

Did watching teammate Matt Leinart win the Heisman Trophy last season make him eager to get one for himself?

“Yeah, it did,” he says, standing on the field after practice on a warm August evening. “It made me hungry.”

After finishing fifth in the Heisman voting last fall, the USC tailback starts this season as a leading contender for the award. He has been described as the most exciting player in college football and has graced the covers of two national magazines this summer.

But there’s a twist.

Leinart, who was expected to leave school early for the NFL, has returned to play his senior season. His star shines even brighter than Bush’s, his picture in even more magazines, the quarterback musing, “So much attention.”

So Bush’s toughest competition for the trophy might be standing next to him in the huddle, the guy who calls his number -- or doesn’t call it -- before each play.

Rarely have two players from the same team finished among the Heisman finalists. This is only the second time -- Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis did it at Army in the mid-1940s -- that top vote getters have played together the following season.

The potential for conflict, even jealousy, is obvious. The Trojans need only to watch the nightly news -- reports of harsh words between Terrell Owens and Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles -- to see what happens when star teammates clash.

“You look at that situation,” says Steve Sarkisian, USC’s assistant head coach. “I don’t think a team can function that way.”

Which leads to the next question: As the Trojans embark on their quest for an unprecedented third consecutive national title, is the huddle big enough for Leinart and Bush?

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Their football personas could not be more different.

Leinart is cool and unhurried, lanky, tousle-haired, calmly making decisions. Bush is explosive with the ball, likely to ignite at any moment, be it on a punt return or a simple halfback pass.

At the Trojans’ summer scrimmage, played before more than 20,000 fans at the Coliseum, the tailback struck first, dashing 19 yards into the end zone.

Minutes later, Leinart dropped back and lofted a 34-yard touchdown pass.

“I see it with those two guys all the time,” offensive lineman Fred Matua said. “They challenge each other. If Matt makes a big throw, it’s like, ‘Go ahead, Reggie, do some of your magic.’ ”

Blanchard recalls a similar dynamic between him and Davis when they were known as “Mr. Inside” and “Mr. Outside.”

“Glenn did his thing and I did mine,” Blanchard said in a telephone interview. “I was the fullback and he was the halfback. We were both happy.”

Blanchard and Davis finished third and second, respectively, in the 1944 Heisman voting. Blanchard won the trophy in 1945 and Davis was second again. In 1946, Davis won and Blanchard was fourth.

But those were different times, Blanchard said.

“The [media] exposure then wasn’t near what it is now,” he pointed out. “I suppose that makes it tougher.”

Most of the spotlight shone on Leinart last season. The athletic department launched a campaign to promote him for the Heisman, creating a personal blog on the university website. A security guard was assigned to walk him to and from practice.

Now the promotional machinery -- if not the official escort -- has been extended to Bush.

The teammates stand shoulder to shoulder on the media guide and have a weekly video log called “MattReggieTV.” Leinart got the cover of the Sporting News this summer, Bush got Sports Illustrated.

Almost like Blanchard and Davis on the front of Time in 1945, Leinart and Bush shared the cover of ESPN the Magazine.

“Matt’s had the hotter spotlight for longer,” said Tim Tessalone, USC’s sports information director. “Reggie’s time is ahead of him.”

That time, it seems, cannot come soon enough for the junior tailback. He occasionally becomes impatient at having to share the ball with not only Leinart but also LenDale White -- the team’s leading rusher the last two seasons -- and a complement of skilled receivers.

“We have so many weapons,” he said. “You just come to accept it over time.”

In and around the USC team, people say that Bush and Leinart have coexisted peacefully -- even happily -- because of several factors.

First of all, the program is nothing if not ultra-competitive. From the moment he arrived on campus five years ago, Coach Pete Carroll has demanded up-tempo practices in which players -- even established starters -- must prove themselves daily.

“If one of those guys were afraid of competition, we might have a problem, jealousy might show up,” linebacker coach Ken Norton Jr. said. “But competition is the core of our whole team and we bring guys in who understand that.”

Norton knows something about superstar egos. During a long NFL career, he played beside Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith in Dallas, Steve Young and Jerry Rice in San Francisco.

“People who are highly successful, they really respect one another,” he said. “They respect that someone has the same talent and dedication and focus.”

Personality also plays a role. Joe Steffy, an All-American guard who played with Blanchard and Davis, recalled his Army teammates as modest.

“At least to me, they acted perfectly willing to share the spotlight,” Steffy said.

Leinart and Bush appear to possess a similar trait. Bush has been known to theatrically dive across the goal line after a long run, but neither he nor his quarterback is the type to shoot off his mouth in public.

“We’re both to-ourselves-type people,” Bush said. “We like to keep it low-key.”

And although the spotlight’s glare might be intense this fall, it isn’t new. The duo got plenty of attention last fall as USC marched through an undefeated season to a second consecutive title.

This shared experience -- interviews and photo shoots, fans clamoring for autographs -- appears to have brought them closer.

“We have fun with it,” Leinart said. “You know, we joke about it and take it all with a grain of salt.”

So far, the rest of the team has adopted a similar attitude.

“You won’t see one player on this team get mad because someone else scored a touchdown,” Matua said. “Truthfully, we all know that Matt’s going to get the pub and Reggie’s going to get the pub. We don’t care [who’s] in the public eye.”

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Do two great players on the same team have to be friends?

“I don’t know that they need to hang out every night and go to each other’s apartments and go on double dates,” Sarkisian said. “But there needs to be positive communication.”

Leinart and Bush say they hang out occasionally, a chemistry that Bush says is growing stronger. Leinart doesn’t believe their situation can be compared to the one in Philadelphia.

“Obviously, the NFL is a little different,” he said. “There’s the business side of it, there’s the money involved. Being in college, we’re playing a game that we love. That’s really the bottom line.”

If his younger teammate needed any advice -- and Leinart isn’t saying that he does -- the quarterback would suggest keeping the adulation in perspective.

“Keep the mind-set that you can always improve,” Leinart said. “Just because of what people are telling you, you can never be satisfied.”

So, as the top-ranked Trojans head into their season opener against Hawaii on Saturday, there seems to be an understanding.

Consider the tailback’s clutch performances in comeback victories over Virginia Tech and Oregon State last season. Or the quarterback’s five touchdown passes to seal that national title against Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.

If USC is to make history as the first team to win three consecutive championships, Leinart and Bush will need each other.

Leinart knows it: “I’m just blessed to be playing with probably the best player I’ve ever seen. I’m not afraid to say that.”

Bush knows it too: “At that point of the game when we need a big play, we just kind of know. It’s our nature to go out and make something special happen.”

For now, at least, the huddle seems plenty big enough.

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Times staff writer Robyn Norwood contributed to this report.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Heisman Trophy candidates

The favorites and darkhorses to win the Heisman Trophy:

*--* TOP CANDIDATES

*--*

* MATT LEINART, QB, USC: Leinart, a senior, is the favorite, with a chance to join Archie Griffin as the only two-time Heisman winners. He completed 269 of 412 passes (65.3%) for 3,322 yards and 33 touchdowns and ran for three touchdowns. He was intercepted six times.

* REGGIE BUSH, RB, USC: Ran for 908 yards in 143 carries (6.3 average; six touchdowns), caught 43 passes for 509 yards (11.8 average; seven touchdowns), returned 24 punts for 376 yards (15.7 average; two touchdowns), and returned 21 kickoffs for 537 yards (25.6 average). He is a junior.

* ADRIAN PETERSON, RB, OKLAHOMA: Ran for 1,925 yards (5.7 average; 15 touchdowns) as a freshman. Rushed for more than 100 yards 11 times, including two times over 200 yards.

* VINCE YOUNG, QB, TEXAS: Passed for 1,849 yards and 12 touchdowns, and rushed for 1,079 yards and 14 yards as a sophomore last season.

* TED GINN JR., WR, OHIO STATE: Last season as a freshman, he had 25 receptions, including two for touchdowns. Ginn wound up the season with eight touchdowns, four on punt returns to set a Big Ten record, and two on rushing attempts.

*--* DARK HORSES

*--*

* KELLEN CLEMENS, QB, OREGON: Passed for 2,548 yards and 22 touchdowns and also ran for four touchdowns as a junior.

* OMAR JACOBS, QB, BOWLING GREEN: Another season like 2004 -- 41 touchdowns and four interceptions -- from the MAC’s latest prolific passer won’t go unnoticed.

* MARSHAWN LYNCH, RB, CALIFORNIA: Breakaway runner with Bush-like elusiveness, he might be more talented than J.J. Arrington, the 2,000-yard rusher he replaces in Jeff Tedford’s well-tuned offense.

* GERALD RIGGS JR., RB, TENNESSEE: It has taken the former most-wanted recruit four years, but he’s finally “the Man” in the Volunteer backfield. Father was a star for the Atlanta Falcons.

* JaMARCUS RUSSELL, QB, LSU: The Tigers need steady quarterback play to contend for a national title. A sophomore, Russell has the potential to provide so much more.