NEW YORK - Hugh Green eventually pushed aside the Heisman heartache 32 years ago and consoled himself that he had finally broken down the door for good.
There would be a movement ? ?a maturity in thinking? as he calls it ? that would allow defense to matter not just when it came to winning championships, but when it comes to the balloting for arguably the most coveted, debated-about, mega-hyped individual honor in all of
sports ? the Heisman Trophy.
That Notre Dame senior linebacker Manti Te?o?s parents were in grade school at the time when the Pitt defensive end finished second to South Carolina running back George Rogers and that the debate has largely repeated itself instead of advancing is why Green will watch
Saturday night?s Heisman Trophy presentation on TV from New York?s Best Buy Theater (8 p.m. EST, ESPN) with a heavy heart.
?From the people who supposedly know these things, they say Manti is going to finish second,? said Green, whose assessment is backed up by Vegas setting Texas A&M redshirt Johnny Manziel as the prohibitive favorite at 1-to-15 odds. ?I?m pulling for him. I?ve been pulling for him for a while, except of course when they played Pitt.?
If Te?o somehow defies the odds, with the unwieldy electorate of media members and former Heisman winners, he would become Notre Dame?s eighth Heisman Trophy winner, joining Angelo Bertelli (1943), Johnny Lujack (1947), Leon Hart (1949), John Lattner (1953), Paul Hornung (1956), John Huarte (1964) and Tim Brown (1987).
By virtue of the small finalist invite list, Te?o is guaranteed to finish no lower than third, which will make him the highest-placing linebacker ever and just the 12th primarily defensive player to finish in the top 5 of the Heisman voting in the roughly five decades of two-platoon football.
Green was the first such player to finish as high as second. Some still consider it the best showing by a ?pure defensive player.? Michigan cornerback Charles Woodson?s 1997 triumph over Tennessee?s Peyton Manning, Washington State?s Ryan Leaf and Marshall?s Randy Moss was undoubtedly aided by his versatility.
None of his four TDs that season came on defense. He had one via punt return, and averaged 8.6 yards on 33 returns. One came rushing the ball on offense and two were touchdown catches ? he amassed 228 yards in total offense that season. Woodson?s eight interceptions as a defensive back were one more than Te?o collected this season as a
linebacker.
?He could have kicked field goals on the side, and I was going to count him as a defensive player,? Green said of Woodson. ?I was behind him to win the Heisman, because I wanted people to break the egg yolk about defensive players.?
The biggest difference between Te?o?s and Green?s Heisman campaigns is that Te?o?s was never formally a campaign. Notre Dame didn?t spend any money on it, didn?t see it coming, didn?t change his last name to ?Football? or to rhyme with Heisman, a la Joe Theismann. But social media, YouTube a compelling story and ND?s unexpected ascent all kind of thrust it upon him.
In the era in which Green made his run, it was almost a prerequisite that you were an established player from the year before, that your school?s sports information department come up with a clever (and sometimes expensive) way to promote you and that you not be a
freshman.
Georgia running back Herschel Walker, perhaps the most impacting true freshman college football player ever, finished third in 1980 behind Rogers and Green. He won the Heisman two years later.
?In 1980, I thought I had a chance to win going into the year and all the way up to the announcement,? said Green, whose team finished No. 2 in the polls after routing South Carolina and Heisman winner Rogers, 37-9, in the Gator Bowl.
?I felt like that was the time and era that a defensive player would win it, because it wasn?t just me. In my freshman class of 1977, there were some of the most dominant defensive players who have ever played the game.?
That group included Alabama defensive end E.J. Junior, North Carolina linebacker Lawrence Taylor, Baylor linebacker Mike Singletary, UCLA defensive back Kenny Easley and USC defensive back Ronnie Lott. Only Easley (ninth) joined Green in the top 10 of the Heisman voting in 1980, but the next spring Taylor, Easley, Junior, Green and Lott all went in the top eight picks of the NFL Draft ? but behind Heisman winner Rogers.
?We not only dominated for one year, but we had worked for three to four years in unison of building the criteria of being defensively dominant and defense winning games,? Green said. ?So yes, I thought I had a great chance. I thought I had paid my dues. I thought people
were finally going to see that sacks are the glory, that defensive stops on fourth-and-one, that holding teams to a field goal after a turnover deep in your territory was as important and as exciting as running for zillions of yards.
?Even exaggerating the fact that they?ve changed every rule you could name to make football more offensive-oriented, what happens? Defenses catch up, individuals catch up. And Heismans still go to offensive players.?
Green did win the Maxwell and Walter Camp awards in 1980, the lesser-known-but-still-prestigious national Player-of-the-Year honors, as well as the Lombardi.
?I would have won the Outland, too,? he said, ?but that went to my teammate, (offensive lineman) Mark May.?
Yes, that Mark May. The one who spars with Lou Holtz on ESPN all college football season and who had to don a leprechaun costume recently when he lost a bet with Holtz involving Notre Dame football.
Te?o won the Maxwell and Walter Camp, too, Thursday in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. ? and the Bednarik (best defensive player). Earlier in the week, he claimed the Butkus (top linebacker), Nagurski (top defensive player) and Lombardi (top linebacker or offensive/defensive lineman).
That made him the most decorated college football player ever, no matter what transpires Saturday night in New York.
It may also make him one of the most exhausted. By the time Te?o flies to Newport Beach Sunday for the Lott Impact Trophy presentation and back to South Bend to take finals Monday morning, he will have logged 9,902 miles. His parents, Brian and Ottilia, have been with him every step since the Monday stop in Charlotte, N.C.
?He?s burnt out, there?s no question,? Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said before Te?o started his victory lap. ?He?s on fumes right now, but he also respects where he is in this process.
?To be mentioned for the kind of awards that he?s in, he?s finding the energy to be engaged in all of these things, but he?s a football player and he wants to be with his teammates on Friday and Saturday when they practice. And he?s not going to be able to be there, so
that?s hard for a guy that?s wired that way.
?But he respects the process. He understands how important these are and how they?re recognized nationally, so he?ll get through this week. He?ll get a little time off during the holidays and he?ll be ready to go.?
Green hopes somehow, someway when that day comes, there will be a Heisman on Te?o?s mantel.
?He?s a hell of an athlete, a very instinctive player,? Green said. ?And the best thing is he?ll have a chance to play for a national championship. I know the signs are pointing to him finishing second, but I guess watching him, if there?s ever going to be a guy who beats
the odds, it?s going to be him.?
Staff writer Eric Hansen:
ehansen@sbtinfo.com
574-235-6112
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