DECEMBER 8. 1994 • BENNETT BANNER • 5
More Sports
Heisman hopeful: 'The Air down there'
Cinzia Atkinson
Sports Editor
Commentary
What’s going on down in the
little city of Lonnan, Miss?
Alcorn State’s Heisman
Trophy and Walter Payton
Award candidate, Steve aka Air
n McNair has become college
football’s all-time offensive
yardage leader by surpassing Ty
Detmerof BYU.
Air II has more than 16,000
passing yards and now stands
alone on college football’s
history charts.
Earlier this season against
Tennessee Chattanooga, he
gained 647 offensive yards
breaking a single-game record.
McNair broke his own NCAA
division I-AA record for total
offense in a single game.
As Sports Illus
trated so bluntly stated on
the cover of their Sept. 26
Steve "Air II"
McNair NCAA's
all-time colle
giate passing
leader
issue, “Hand him the
Heisman.” He has the
numbers and unquestionably
the talent, so what’s the
problem?
The level of compe
tition is now in question that
Ungers in the minds of many.
like myself. Alcorn is a Division
I-AA school and that is the only
reason that will keep McNair from
getting the Heisman Trophy. The
numbers prove how raw his talent
is. But some analyst don’t agree.
Bud Withers of the
Seattle Post Intelligencer said
“Until he plays Miami, Michigan,
or Nebraska...you’re never going
to know.”
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muD
Is he as good as those guys?
No doubt. But he can place those
Heisman chances on a shelf with
the rest of his trophies.
Sorry Steve, although you’re
well-deserving of the
Heisman, you’re in the wrong
place at the wrong time.
Alcorn?
Why not Michigan or Penn
State?
Alcom State has been a family
tradition for the McNair family.
Steve’s brother Tim is
Alcorn’s leading receiver, and
brother Fred preceeded both of
them. All three have left an
everlasting impression at this tiny
Division 1-AA institution.
Not winning the Heisman
isn’t the end of the world for you.
Steve. You are already a million-
dollar man.
7I8W. Market St.
Greensboro, N.C. 27401
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Such tiUk hiis most sports
experts certain that he will be a
top five driiftee in the NIT dral't
next April.
And his coach, Cardell Jones,
agrees.
“There may be a better
player somewhere, but in
another universe,” Jones s;iid.
McNair will play for a long
time on the next level. His
chitnces of grasping the lleismiui
may be over, with a deatii-
defying loss to Youngstown
Stiite, 20-63, last month.
But as sportswriter Rick
('leveland of the Clarion-Ledger
puts it, “If McNair was a lawyer,
not a quarterback, he could have
rested his case.
“A jury of a thousand woulil
have declared him deserving.”
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