 |
| |
|
 |
 |
In character After 12 games, Dorsey finally comfortable in role as seniorPosted: Sunday December 29, 2002 9:06 PMUpdated: Monday December 30, 2002 9:28 PM
PHOENIX -- A year after earning co-MVP honors and a national championship ring at the Rose Bowl, Ken Dorsey arrived here for the Fiesta Bowl older, wiser -- and more than a little thick-skinned. Never before have so many people had so many different opinions about a skinny, brainy, video game-obsessed college kid. As sports fans, we expect nothing short of perfection from our superstars. Overthrows, interceptions -- these are the deeds of mere mortals, not the most recognizable player on the nation’s most recognized team. And so, following several such human moments throughout his senior season, there became a critical backlash of sorts against Miami’s star quarterback -- unlike nearly any ever seen over a college athlete -- that probably cost him a shot at the Heisman or other awards. Sides were drawn. Either you exalted him for all his positive attributes and his 38-1 record or you mocked his lack of pizazz and decreed that anyone could go 38-1 with talent like Miami’s.
Turns out, all this silliness may have been unnecessary, and not just because the guy ended up throwing for 3,073 yards and 26 touchdowns. There may have been a perfectly reasonable explanation for those picks against Florida, those wobblers against Pittsburgh. It seems that for all he’s mastered about the art of being a quarterback, there’s one thing that may have thrown Dorsey for a loop this season: being a senior. Previously content with being the quiet leader and leaving the pep talks and the trash talk to now-departed stars like Ed Reed and Clinton Portis, Dorsey attempted from the beginning of the season to start embracing his role as the face of the 'Canes and become more vocal. Didn’t work. “He was just trying to do too much,” said center Brett Romberg, Dorsey’s roommate. “We’d get phone calls from our family back home saying, ‘What is Kenny doing? Why is he playing so bad?’ We knew what was going on, but we didn’t want to say anything to him because we didn’t want to hurt his feelings or anything. “But after a couple games, it got kind of tiring, and we were just like, ‘Kenny, man, you need to relax and go back to the things that made you who you are.’” Those things are simple: studying and practicing football, playing video games, hanging out with his girlfriend. So uncomplicated is Dorsey’s life that he went most of his college career without a cell phone or credit card; Romberg handles keeping up with bills. If anything else comes up, his mother, Maggie, lives nearby during the season and his many Hurricane QB mentors (Bernie Kosar, Steve Walsh) are only a phone call away. By season’s end, Dorsey had succeeded in recapturing his previous form, torching Syracuse for 345 yards on just 16 completions and, in a fashion eerily reminiscent of last year’s Rose Bowl, hooking up with receiver Andre Johnson for six long plays totaling 193 yards against Virginia Tech. “Having pep talks and leadership discussions and stuff like that, it wasn’t Ken Dorsey’s style,” said Romberg. “When he tuned all that out of his game plan, he got back to the regular things that made him who he was. He worked on his game, and that’s what he did in past and that’s what made him so good.” He also had to tune out the criticism, a distraction that blindsided him and had a visible effect. Happy-go-lucky in previous years, Dorsey was often recalcitrant and curt in media situations this season, especially as the Heisman drew near. “Bitter” was a word heard by some who cover him regularly. None of that was evident Sunday, though, in the week’s first of several planned interview sessions, even as Dorsey reflected on his often turbulent final season. “As a sophomore, it was all about earning my teammates’ respect. My junior year, we learned very well how to handle success,” he said. “This year, I learned a lot about how to handle criticism." “The thing with Kenny that’s been amazing to me this season is from day one, he’s been under the microscope,” said offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski. “If his towel was a little bit off to the right instead of being in middle -- everybody had things to say about everything. And the kid handled the pressure with tremendous class. Has he had a perfect year? No. But he’s got us in a position to play for the national championship. That’s what his main goal was.” A rejuvenated Dorsey could be a very scary thing for Ohio State. While no one will ever confuse his arm for Brett Favre’s or his feet for Michael Vick’s, Dorsey has hardly been an innocent bystander in this 34-game winning streak. As a sophomore, he led a last-minute drive to beat a Florida State team ranked No. 1 in the country. As a junior, in the biggest game of his career, he threw for 362 yards against Nebraska. Breaking down the defense, making his teammates better, delivering the big play -- these have been his norm for over three years now. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, that probably means his struggles earlier this season were the exception. Stewart Mandel covers college football for CNNSI.com. Got a comment, question or scoop for Stewart? Click here. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
