By Bob Hertzel
MORGANTOWN — As this season begins, Florida quarterback Tim Tebow is in position to become the second college football player in history to win consecutive Heisman Trophies, Ohio State’s great running back from the 1970s Archie Griffin being the only one to accomplish that feat.
While that makes Tebow unique, it puts Mountaineer assistant coach Doc Holliday in an even more unique position.
If West Virginia quarterback Patrick White can win the Heisman Trophy this season — and he enters the season as one of the favorites, along with Tebow, Chase Daniel of Missouri, Knowshon Moreno of Georgia and Michael Crabtree of Texas Tech — Holliday will have been on the staff of consecutive Heisman Trophy winners at two different schools.
The long-time Don Nehlen assistant at West Virginia was the associate head coach and handled the safeties for Urban Meyer at Florida for the last three years before WVU coach Bill Stewart brought him home as his associate head coach, director of recruiting and, in his spare time, coach of tight ends and fullbacks.
Holliday spent a couple of years with Tebow as he rose to fame and now has spent a spring and summer with White. While he hasn’t had a chance to see White operate during a game, he has had a chance to analyze him and compare him to the only sophomore ever to win the Heisman.
“It all starts with character,” Holliday began during a break in preparations for the Villanova game.
Character, in a team leader, is often more important than even talent and when you become a star on the major college level it can assumed that the talent is there in excess.
“Everything you heard about Tebow is absolutely true,” Holliday said. “He cares about football; he cares about church; he cares about school. That’s about it.”
It has become obvious over three years as West Virginia’s starting quarterback that White’s priorities are similar and that you can toss in caring about family as a bonus. His dedication to his sport is obvious, considering the baseball option he turned down, one where if all had gone right he could be earning upwards of $1 million a year right now and possibly on his way to major league stardom.
When it was pointed out that he could have kick-started a major league career much faster had he accepted the Anaheim Angels package that totaled about $400,000 when he was a fourth-round draft pick out of Daphne High in Alabama, he simply shrugged and said:
“There are a lot of islanders, a lot of people from South America who come here and play baseball 365 days a year. We don’t do that. They are hitting bottle caps with broomsticks down there. Their game is something to be reckoned with.”
Put another way, the Latin Americans dedication to baseball is equal to White’s dedication to football and could have kept him from reaching his full potential.
His dedication to his position also can not be questioned, for LSU recruited him to play on a national championship team but he would have had to do so as a wide receiver, not a quarterback, and Pat White leaves no doubt in anyone’s mind that he is a quarterback.
When asked if he ever wondered what might have happened had he gone to LSU as a wide receiver, he thought for a moment, smiled and replied:
“Do I ever wonder? I probably wouldn’t be having as much fun. I just wanted to play quarterback and I thought West Virginia was the best place for me.”
In one way White and Tebow are alike, neither seems to fit the role of quarterback. While White is thin, looking almost frail, and fleet of foot more like the wide receiver and kick returner others envisioned for him, Tebow has become a quarterback wrapped in a linebacker’s body.
White is listed as 6-2, 192 by West Virginia. Tebow at 6-3, 232 by Florida.
White is speed and elusiveness, Tebow pure power.
“They are a little different. Pat’s a little faster than Timmy is, and Timmy is a little more physical than Pat is. They both bring the same threats to the table because they both can throw it and they both can run it,” Holliday said.
The statistics tell that story.
A year ago, White threw for 1,724 yards and 14 touchdowns while Tebow threw for 3,286 yards and 32 touchdowns. White ran for another 1,335 yards and 14 touchdowns while Tebow rushed for 895 yards and 23 touchdowns.
Those touchdowns — an amazing 55 accounted by Tebow — probably gave him the Heisman while White’s lack of passing statistics probably dropped him down into the No. 6 spot on the Heisman ballot last year.
Both, of course, are legendary in their own territory, although the legend of Tim Tebow pushes the envelope when you consider some of things being said about him in Florida.
“Superman wears Tim Tebow pajamas,” they say.
Or “Tim Tebow counted to infinity … twice.”
Or “Tim Tebow ordered a Big Mac at Burger King … and got it.”
While all that may be true, there is one other thing to consider when you compare the two quarterbacks.
Florida lost four games last year.
West Virginia has lost four games started by Patrick White in his career … and he was injured in two of them.
“Winning the Heisman as a sophomore can only happen to special kid … and Tim Tebow is a special kid,” Holliday said. “So is Pat. Let’s just hope …”
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
