Texas Christian running back LaDainian Tomlinson grinned at Northwestern’s team bus last September from one of the billboards that adorned the Fort Worth, Texas, highways.
“He was on the billboards, and they had posters of him and this and that,” Wildcats linebacker Billy Silva recalls. “And if you’ve got someone like that, why not pub him? It brings great press for the school and for the team.”
The billboards, the posters, the Web site – all were a part of the biggest Heisman campaign ever run, a $90,000 blitz intended to nab college football’s biggest individual prize. Few of the Cats could have thought back then that one of their own would be in a similar position this year.
But when Damien Anderson ripped off 2,063 yards and 23 touchdowns in the surprise performance of 2000, that far-fetched notion of seven months ago became reality this spring. Still, as far as the Heisman voters are concerned, Anderson will be presented to the sporting world in a very different light.
NU is unlikely to push Anderson nearly as hard as TCU hawked Tomlinson – a potential top-five pick in Saturday’s NFL Draft. When Anderson opted to spurn the draft for one final year of college, NU coach Randy Walker made it clear that he would not receive the same red-carpet treatment.
“It violates everything I’m about to single out a guy or hold a guy up,” says Walker, who has made and will continue to make the decisions on the Heisman campaign for his best player. “I said, ‘If anything, we’re going to minimize what you are. Everybody knows you’re the guy. You’re special, and you have been for two years. We’re not going to put out posters that say Heisman Trophy and have you strike the pose and all that bull.’ That doesn’t win you the Heisman. I don’t believe it and I never have believed it.”
Walker may be right, too. After all, TCU’s big bucks got Tomlinson a trip to New York as a finalist, but nothing more. He finished behind three quarterbacks, including winner Chris Weinke of Florida State, who had few resources thrown behind his name.
An NU official suggested last week that Anderson’s campaign will consist largely of e-mails to voters, but made no mention of extensive mailings. And as Walker indicated, don’t expect to see posters or DAin2001.com any time soon.
NU believes that the Big Ten, coupled with the school’s Chicago locale, will give the Heisman candidate all the “pub” he needs.
“We have all the advantages of being in Chicago,” Walker says. “It’s not like we’re in Hoboken, Tennessee, or some place nobody’s ever heard of. No, we’re in a place where people are going to hear about you. We’re going to play a schedule that’s going to give you exposure.
“We can spend a billion and it won’t duplicate what the Ohio State game might mean.”
The low-key approach fits Anderson just as well as it does Walker. No. 20 has never been one to embrace the limelight, and he’s more than happy to avoid the Heisman talk and let his numbers do the shouting.
“My name is pretty much out there,” Anderson says. “In some polls, they’ve got me as the frontrunner. As long as I continue to do well and produce every game, I’m sure that will take care of itself. I’m not really worried about the marketing department.”
So while some Heisman candidates – a group that has shrunk considerably thanks to the departures of Virginia Tech’s Michael Vick and Michigan’s Drew Henson, among others – talk a big game, Anderson is ready to do exactly what he did in 2000: put up ridiculous statistics week after week and hope that carries him all the way to the Downtown Athletic Club in New York.
The Cats are certain of one thing: Anderson isn’t about to change his humble demeanor just to win a trophy. If self-promotion is a necessity, his teammates say you might as well scratch him off the list.
“If he’s putting up those great numbers and (voters) can’t respect that he’s not going to be up there with a ‘Me, me, me’ on his chest,” linebacker Kevin Bentley says, “then maybe he doesn’t deserve to win their Heisman.”
The Cats are excited, if nothing else, about the attention Anderson’s Heisman run will bring to the team and the school. Even without making a big deal of the campaign internally, there’s sure to be enough buzz in the media and the general public to create a stir.
No matter how a Heisman campaign is run – through a click of the mouse or a series of billboard promotions – the final test of a candidate’s strength lies in his performance when the referee’s whistle blows in September.
And if Anderson can put up eye-popping numbers early in the season, look for Walker to embrace a little Heisman talk, even if it means standing on a soapbox.
“Somewhere in October I hope I can say, ‘Hey, if you all don’t vote for him, you are crazy and you are on something,'” says Walker, grinning at the thought. “He’s put himself in the mix. That’s all you can do at this stage. Now let’s turn that mixer on and see what it shakes out.”
