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EVENTS
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |
Oklahoma Daily Report Even under spotlight, Heupel the strong, silent type
Updated: Sunday December 31, 2000 4:27 PM
By Stewart Mandel, CNNSI.com MIAMI -- Even a full hour of Media Day interviews on Sunday wasn't enough for reporters to penetrate Josh Heupel's eternal shell. That's where his teammates come in handy. Running back Seth Litrell, conducting one of many light-hearted interviews for ESPN, asked Heupel to explain why he gave up his one-time position of linebacker. "Back in pee wee, I was known as 'Dr. Crusher,' said the Heisman Trophy runner-up, "because I hit a little too hard. They made me move to quarterback." "So you were the chubby kid?" cracked Litrell. Heupel flashed his trademark sheepish grin. "Yeah." At least that shed some light. Heupel is by far the quietest major college football star in recent memory, not that there's anything wrong with that. Even roommate Josh Norman, one of the Sooners' receivers, often can't get a word out of him. "He likes to keep to himself, whereas I'm the exact opposite, I love talking to people," said Norman. "Like when he got back from New York [for the Heisman ceremony], I was like 'man, I haven't seen you in like a week, let's talk.' But he just wanted to go to his room and sleep. Not even the constant spotlight that has followed and increased around Heupel as the season went on could cause the prototypical coach's son to open up, said Norman. "What you see is what you get. He's not going to change. That's the way he was raised. It will be the same Josh yesterday, today and forever more."
Media day, and then someOne sure sign that these Sooners are new to this national championship thing: Over a third of the team sported hand-held mini-cams on Sunday, documenting the craziness that is Media Day. By contrast, no more than three were spotted among the Florida State players an hour earlier. The mini-cams turned into an endless source of amusement for the players, many of whom pretended to interview each other when they weren't fielding "real questions." Norman and Roy Williams nearly missed the team photo at the end because they were too busy filming the session. One who did not have time for amateur photography but seemed to be taking in the moment a bit more than usual was coach Bob Stoops. "I've always as a player and coach wanted to compete in the Orange Bowl," said the second-year head man. "I had gotten that opportunity when the University of Florida was going to come down here to play Syracuse [in 1998, when Stoops was defensive coordinator], but then I get hired by Oklahoma -- not that I'm complaining -- and I have to go out recruiting and what not, I can't stick around for the game. So it's ironic that it's two years later and we are back here playing for the national championship."
It's gotta be the numberThese days No. 20 belongs to linebacker Rocky Calmus, but there was another Sooner donning the number on Sunday. Former OU star Spencer Tillman, now a TV broadcaster covering the game, took time out to model the jersey of the same number from his playing days in the mid-1980s, which he said he dug out of his attic just for this week. He also talked with several players about his own experience playing at Orange Bowl stadium, where the bowl is no longer played but where Media Day was held. "Maybe I'm crossing beyond my role as journalist a little bit, I'm in my Oklahoma mode then," said Tillman, whose 1985 team won OU's last national championship by beating Penn State in the Orange Bowl, and who himself scored on 77- and 21-yard runs in the following year's game against Arkansas. That the All-American Calmus now wears the same number is no coincidence. While still in college, Tillman conducted a clinic in Calmus' hometown of Jenks, Okla., and took pictures with then-child Rocky and his brother sitting on Tillman's lap. Calmus' mother Linda was so impressed she mailed Tillman the pictures and told him she was making her sons start wearing No. 20. Tillman kept in touch with the brothers briefly before moving on to pro football. Rocky obviously still wears 20, despite it not being a traditional number for his position. "When he [Calmus] first came, I was watching a game and said, 'what's this linebacker wearing No. 20?" said Tillman, who himself wore the number in honor of Heisman winner Billy Sims. "Then I realized, 'man, that's Rocky Calmus! That's pretty cool.'"
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