A year ago, a Joey Harrington billboard greeted visitors in Manhattan, a quarter-million-dollar promotion of the Oregon quarterback’s Heisman Trophy campaign.
This year, the Pacific-10 Conference’s poster boy is Washington State quarterback Jason Gesser, whose 25-foot poster in Dusty, Wash. (pop. 10), was hoisted in jest of the Ducks’ East Coast campaign. Despite the joke, Gesser has still received national attention.
All the while, Onterrio Smith has shied away from the camera. The Oregon tailback with the troubled past is undoubtedly one of the elite ball-carriers in college football, but he has yet to receive a promotional nod from his own program. Hence Oregon’s return to New York this year in the form of a Keenan Howry billboard.
“Onterrio’s the type of person that creates his own hype,” Oregon safety Keith Lewis said. “He doesn’t care about the billboards and all those things. All he cares about is wins and producing.”
Through three games this season, Smith has done nothing but produce. The Sacramento, Calif., native scored three times against Idaho en route to a 104-yard performance on just 18 carries.
In a 28-24 come-from-behind win over Fresno State on Sept. 7, Smith took every Oregon handoff — 34 in all — and rushed for 124 yards for the second straight week.
He also scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns, including the game-winner in the final minutes.
“I think I could handle it every week if it were necessary,” Smith said of his 34 carries. “(Against Fresno State) it was necessary, so I had to do what I had to do for the team.”
While Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said he was impressed with Smith’s performance against Fresno State, he doesn’t want his star running back to have to carry all of the load.
“He’s a very strong, very durable back who wants to be in the game. And obviously we want him in the game when the game’s on the line,” Bellotti said. “I don’t want him running the ball 34 or 35 times a game because he’s also blocking on passing plays. We’ve talked about getting the other guys in there. I was frustrated we did not do that earlier in the game, and that will not happen again.”
Even without 30-plus touches a game, Smith could become the first Heisman Trophy winner from the Pac-10 since 1981, when USC’s Marcus Allen won the award.
If Smith is going to win, he’ll have to do it without much promotion.
“He’s going to take care of that himself,” Bellotti said. “If he continues to play well, the marketing will come.
“I think the marketing for Joey last year was a combination of things designed to acquaint the world with the Oregon football program. I think they’re acquainted now. Onterrio and Joey both will earn the right (to qualify for the Heisman) on the field, and Joey did that.”
Harrington, of course, became the first Duck to be a finalist for college football’s most prestigious award after leading Oregon to an 11-1 season in 2001. To get to New York for the Heisman presentation, Smith may have to produce nearly the same results this year.
“He’s going to have to carry the load,” Lewis said. “He’s going to come at you with everything he has. He gives you everything he has every time he touches the ball.
“He never says ‘mercy.’”