Jason White's savior
When things looked hopeless, Chuck Long responded
When things looked hopeless for White, Chuck Long responded
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49
By Berry Tramel
Published: July 7, 2008
Jason White had tears in his eyes, so Chuck Long knew something was up. White displays all the emotion of the Marlboro Man, so Long didn't have to be Tony Soprano's psychiatrist to know something was amiss in his quarterback with the wounded knees.
The parties don't even agree on when the fateful meeting occurred. Long says February 2003, before spring practice, but White says after a spring scrimmage in 2003, which would make it March or April. Matters not. All that matters is this: White arrived at Long's office that day ready to quit. Ready to step away from the sport that had brought him so much pain and heartache. The other day, I asked White to name his favorite coach ever. He said Long, then told me this story. White said he'd never shared it with any Oklahoma media, just a San Diego writer when Long was hired by San Diego State after the 2005 season. You know the background. How White was an athletic, runaround quarterback as a redshirt sophomore in 2001, before a torn knee ligament ended his season at Nebraska. And how the same thing happened on the other knee two games into the 2002 season. Few thought he ever would play again. Those who did dared not believe he would be effective. Count White himself among the doubters. "I think everybody was telling him to hang it up,” Long said. "I don't know who those people were, but he was hearing it.” That was the spring of Brent Rawls, the ballyhooed QB recruit. Rawls clearly was the superior physical quarterback. Better arm, better mobility. White went into that spring knowing he had to prove himself worthy to retake the Sooner reins, and he sensed his moment passing. Couldn't run. Couldn't plant stiffly. His knee was killing him. "In my opinion, I didn't think I was playing the way I should,” White said. "I was really favoring my leg.” So White decided to quit. He went to see his quarterback coach, the man who deserved to know first. "He knew exactly what I was coming in there to tell him,” White said. "He seen it in my eye.” Funny how lives can change with one simple chat. How we all have the power to impact someone who comes our way. Long didn't go all General Patton on White, trying to shame him into toughing it out. Long also didn't commiserate with his quarterback. "You have to find different buttons to push,” Long said. Long found the right button. It wasn't sexy. Wasn't profound. But it was just what White needed to hear, and it's a precious trait in this instant-gratification society. Patience. "Regardless of what people think or how you feel, it's only February,” Long told White. "Let's see what happens.” White recalls the message more succinctly: "He said no. He said, ‘We don't play until August.'” Truth is, the coaches knew how bad off was White. Long said Jerry Schmidt's strength staff had warned them, "Better be sure you get another guy ready to play.” Long gave White a plan. Coaches would modify spring practice. He would have to run very little. He would sit out every third or so workout. "He's so tough,” Long said. "I knew he had a chance to get through this thing. I told him I believed in him as a quarterback, his toughness and work ethic. "He's a man of few words. He said, ‘OK. I'm going to keep working.' He picked up his stuff and left.” White's the kind of player, whatever a coach says, he accepts. Long said to wait, so White waited. You know the rest. White gutted out the spring and didn't get discouraged when the other quarterbacks received more work. Rawls fell from favor through a series of bonehead decisions. Coaches anointed White the starter. His knees improved, though not to the point where he ever was his old mobile self. Trainer Scott Anderson surveyed White every day to determine how much he could do in practice. White threw 40 touchdown passes and won the Heisman Trophy. Hard as it is to believe, the story really did go like that. "He had to total reinvent him as a quarterback,” Long said. "As a 21-year-old kid, he couldn't run anymore. Went from one style of quarterback to another. I don't think people realize how hard that was to do. "He did it in such a graceful way. I use his example all the time with guys who get hurt.” Coaching is about many things. Devising schemes and intuitive game moves and being organized and motivating players. And sometimes coaching is simply telling a player what he needs to hear, exactly when he needs to hear it. Said Jason White, who won a Heisman Trophy and contended for another after walking into an office with tears in his eyes, "I couldn't ask for a better coach.”
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Hey does anyone know when the team starts to practice in August? Thanks