Heisman'Eers
Mountaineers White and Slaton Chase The Trophy
By Tony DeFazio

Seventy players from 36 schools have won 71 Heisman Trophy awards since the honor for the most outstanding college football player was first awarded to the University of Chicago's Jay Berwanger in 1935. Notre Dame, Southern Cal and Ohio State lead the way with seven apiece. The 13" tall, 25-pound bronze player, sidestepping and straight arming his way downfield to a mythical touchdown, has never, however, found his way to Morgantown.

Major Harris came closest, finishing fifth and third in the balloting in 1988 and 1989 - even winning the Mid-Atlantic Region in '89. Jeff Hostetler placed seventh in 1983; Amos Zereoue snuck into the top 10 in 1997.

But all of that could change this year. In 2007, the dynamic duo of tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Patrick White will be major contenders for the coveted award, and it's not a stretch to imagine either player bringing the hardware home to the country roads of West Virginia.

For sure, if Slaton and White limited their action to contests against Pitt only, they would have to award dual trophies.

In the 2006 game at Heinz Field, Slaton ran for a career-high 215 yards and White rushed for 220. Both players scored two touchdowns and both averaged more than 9 yards per carry (10 for White, 9.3 for Slaton). White also threw for 204 yards-130 of them to Slaton-and two touchdowns.

The year before, as freshmen, the two superstars combined for a garish 399 yards rushing. White accounted for three first-half touchdowns-two rushing, one passing-and gained 220 yards on the ground. Slaton added 179 yards and two scores.

In just two games against the Panthers, they have combined for 834 yards and 11 touchdowns. Just deliver the trophy already.

"They are great players and if you give them any room, they'll score touchdowns," Pitt linebacker H.B. Blades said about the pair.

Unfortunately for Slaton and White, Pitt is not the opponent every Saturday. Not that other teams are doing a much better job slowing them down.

Last season Slaton rushed for over 100 yards in 10 of his 12 starts, twice topping the 200-yard mark, and bested 145 yards seven times. He finished the season with over 2,000 yards from scrimmage and finished fourth in the Heisman balloting.

And when Slaton was limited due to an injury in the Gator Bowl, it was White who put the team on his shoulders. He battled a high-ankle sprain to earn MVP honors, passing for 131 yards and two touchdowns and rushing 22 times for 145 yards. For the season, White topped the century mark in rushing five times and hit 200 twice.

Considering that both players only became starters midway through their freshman seasons, it's almost startling to see what they've accomplished in a season and a half.

Slaton is in third place on the WVU career rushing list with 2,872 career yards on 453 career carries. He is fourth all-time in WVU career rushing touchdowns with 33, and his 15 career 100-yard games rank him third in that career category.

White set a Big East and WVU quarterback rushing record with 247 yards in an Oct. 14, win over Syracuse. He is already the Big East career quarterback rushing yardage leader at 2,171, surpassing Syracuse's Donovan McNabb and WVU's Rasheed Marshall. No quarterback in the country has rushed for more yards since the start of the 2005 season.

Neither player seems to be too focused on the Heisman, however.

"It's in one ear and out the other," White said. "It's a great accolade, but Troy Smith won the Heisman last year and went in the fifth round. I think national championship is where you want to be."

Slaton has even less to say on the subject of individual awards.

"If I can help my team get to the championship, that's all I really need."

In spite of their impressive accomplishments, both players still have their critics.

For Slaton, some wondered why he was almost invisible during a disappointing 24-19 loss to South Florida late in the season. He also had two crucial fumbles in the Mountaineers' 44-34 loss at Louisville, a game that ultimately decided the conference title.

White has showed time and again what he can do with his feet. It's his arm that has some wondering.

For all their rushing acumen, the WVU passing game accounted for just 152 yards per game in 2006 - 100th out of 119 D-1A teams. And while White's completion percentage was an outstanding 65.9, he only went to the air an average of 15 times per game last year.

"Some games he's going to have to make certain throws more often than other games," Rodriguez said. "The challenge for him is to become even more accurate and to make great decisions."

Both White and Slaton quieted some critics with superb individual performances in late-season wins last year.

First it was Slaton who stepped to the forefront when White missed the regular season finale against Rutgers with a high-ankle sprain. He responded with 112 yards on 23 carries and two touchdowns in a triple-overtime, come-from-behind 41-39 victory.

Then it was White's MVP performance in the Gator Bowl win over Georgia Tech, when Slaton was unable to go.

And while many will argue that, as teammates, White and Slaton will take valuable votes away from each other, that has not been the case historically.

Teammates have finished high in the Heisman Trophy voting many times over the years, including every year from 2001 through 2005. But only twice in the 71-year history of the award have teammates votes cancelled each other out.

In 1956, Notre Dame's Paul Horning won the award, narrowly edging Tennessee's Johnny Majors. Oklahoma's Tom McDonald and Jerry Tubbs finished fourth and fifth. McDonald had the most first-place votes that year, and the combined point total of McDonald and Tubbs was 1,967 - more than 900 points more than Horning.

In 1944, Army's Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard finished second and third respectively. Their combined point total of 524 would have topped Ohio State's Les Horvath, who won with 412 points.

If either White or Slaton is to have a real shot at the 2007 Heisman, though, WVU will need to reach its potential as a team - and that means the defense will have to help out. The Mountaineers gave up too many points for a national championship caliber team last season, and if the offense has to win shootout after shootout, the margin for error decreases. But if the wins continue to pile up in Morgantown, it will be because Slaton and White are putting up Heisman-type numbers.

And if that happens, the chances of that ball-carrying, straight-arming, side-stepping bronze statue making its way to Morgantown are better than ever.

Tony DeFazio is the editor of the Pittsburgh Sports Report. He can be reached at tdefazio (at) psrpt.com.