Damien Anderson has worn the same practice jersey for over three years — ever since he’s been enrolled at Northwestern. And it’s dirty. There are strings of bluish purple stain on his shoulders and holes around the adidas logo on his chest.

Spotting Anderson at NU’s practice field among 85 others — wearing pure white or purple jerseys — isn’t too hard.

“A lot of people, they get new jerseys every year,” Anderson said. “It’s just one of those things I don’t want to throw away. You get the new jerseys and, they’re all big and the sleeves are all this long, stuff like that.”

Lately, it isn’t much of a task to spot Anderson anywhere, period. For the past two years of his career, the junior tailback has been productive — to say the least — but campaign 2000 has been his breakthrough year.

The 5-foot-11, 208-pounder turns a mere handoff at the line of scrimmage into multiple-yard runs along the sidelines. People have actually begun to talk about him as a Heisman Trophy darkhorse.

He may not sprint the fastest. He may not drag two linebackers for first downs.

But Anderson has rushed for 151.6 yards per game, fifth-most in the nation. He’s second in the Big Ten after Wisconsin’s Michael Bennett, a sure Heisman candidate. He has compiled more yards than Michigan State’s T.J. Duckett and Michigan’s Anthony Thomas — both of whom were projected as the conference’s top backs.

“I’ve coached big ones, short ones, fast ones and slow ones,” NU coach Randy Walker said. “They all have a paintbrush in their hand — they all paint a different a picture. We played three great backs (Duckett, Bennett and Texas Christian’s LaDainian Tomlinson) this year. He’s different from all three, but he’s contributed to our team in a different way.”

Five games into the season, Anderson has garnered 758 yards at a staggering 7.2 yards per carry. His nine rushing touchdowns already qualify as the sixth-best season total in school history, and put him on pace to eclipse Darnell Autry’s 1995 total of 17. He’s just 220 yards shy of becoming NU’s second-leading career rusher.

In just the last two weeks, Anderson was named the Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week and USA Today.com National Player of the Week.

Great. So what else is new?

“I’m a normal guy. Nothing new — I just happen to play football,” Anderson said. “It’s not like one those big old stories — like he’s a private dancer when he’s not playing football.”

He has braces, which is pretty hard to believe for a guy who gets smothered with the ball almost 20 times a game. Anderson also takes his reel and hits Kankakee River in Wilmington, Ill., in the offseason. No farther than 100 yards from his home, Anderson has the luxury of nature and old-school friends to ponder the life he can’t enjoy in Evanston.

“Relaxing — especially, when you’re always moving, you don’t really have the time to appreciate things you have,” Anderson said. “I like the calm scenery.”

And back in his high school days, Anderson came across a quarterback named Zak Kustok, of Orland Park, Ill. The two played in different leagues and never played against each other.

But Anderson heard and read of Kustok — now NU’s starting quarterback after transferring from Notre Dame. Anderson and Kustok became good enough friends that the two hit the road together as high school seniors for an official visit to Notre Dame.

Naturally, Kustok smiles looking back a few years and comparing the Damien Anderson he knew back in high school and the one that lines up in the shotgun today.

“I’m around Damien enough that I’m not in awe,” Kustok said of his rusher’s success this year. “I don’t think he hasn’t changed as a person at all. He’s still the same guy and him having success hasn’t gotten to his head or anything. But every time I hand the ball off, I do think he has an opportunity to break it for a touchdown.”

It’s that bust-and-blast running form that has made Anderson the tailback he is today. Anderson has broken open numerous plays this year, including a 69-yarder against Duke in the second game of the season.

Is it a coincidence that NFL great Barry Sanders, an idol of Anderson’s, was wearing the same No. 20?

“Actually, it’s one of those weird stories,” he said.

When committing to play for NU, Anderson originally asked for either No. 2 or 20, but both were taken and he was told he could take No. 29. His father, Scheree, even ordered a hat with No. 29 carved in.

But just as Anderson came to Evanston, then-No. 20 free safety Casey Bynum transferred. The vacant number gave Anderson an option.

“I was like, ‘Fine. I’ll take it,'” he said.

It wasn’t necessarily Sanders’ running style that Anderson mimicked. Sanders would slip through linebackers and safeties. Anderson runs more into the defense and makes the quick cuts when he sees an opening.

But there were things he did want to emulate.

“Every time he hit the end zone, he’d act like he’s never been there before,” Anderson said of Sanders. “It was total class — whether he had 20 or 200 yards. He was always cool about it.”

Walker said Anderson can climb to his idols’ league with improvements on certain aspects of his game — catching passes and blocking, for instance.

The basics, however, have been embedded.

“A lot of what takes the guy to the next level is things beyond talent,” Walker said. “I think he certainly has some of the intrinsic values.”