What UM's Dorsey has: know-how

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© St. Petersburg Times
published January 2, 2002

PASADENA, Calif. -- Poor Ken Dorsey. There is so much he does not have.

A cannon on his shoulder, for one thing. Dorsey's right arm has accounted for a lot of yardage over the past two seasons, but it has come one ordinary pass after another. He does not hang ropes. He does not fire lasers.

Magic shoes on his feet, for another. Have you heard about the trend toward mobile quarterbacks? Well, Dorsey isn't in on it. He is not nimble. He does not skitter. He kind of, well, tromps.

The big trophy on his shelf, for another. This season, two other quarterbacks wrestled for the Heisman. Eric Crouch, the guy who runs, beat out Rex Grossman, the guy who throws. During the ceremony, Dorsey was the guy who sat.

Drool over his potential, for another. Scouts do not fall all over Dorsey as they watch him play. They do not recheck their math. They don't compare him with legends.

Yep, Dorsey certainly was shortchanged by life.

Heck, the guy doesn't even have a defeat this season.

In a sport full of measurables, playing a position full of statistics, we keep measuring the wrong ones. Quarterbacks playing college football were never supposed to be judged by how well they might play in pro football. It is not about pop and sizzle and glitter. It is about grit and pluck and spunk.

Dorsey? He has a belly full of those.

"I don't know that he's the most gifted athlete or quarterback ever to play the game," Hurricanes coach Larry Coker said. "But he takes a lot of pride (in his game). He doesn't just walk onto the field. He takes advantage of the players around him."

In other words, all you can say about Dorsey is this: The guy knows how to play the game.

It isn't about being tall or running fast or throwing far. There is a knack to the position, particularly at the college level, that transcends arm strength and foot speed. That's why Josh Heupel won a national championship. And Danny Wuerffel and Tommy Frazier. They are often players with more attitude than aptitude, the players who win the trust of their coaches and the faith of their teammates. They throw out patterns that wobble and deep passes that float, but they find their way to the end zone. Tight games do not bother them. A bad first half does not guarantee a bad second one.

Through the years, there have been a lot of college quarterbacks like that. Dorsey should know all about them. After all, several of them played at the same school.

Remember Gino Torretta? Once upon a time, he was Dorsey. Remember Steve Walsh. He was Dorsey, too. Remember Bernie Kosar? More than anyone, he was Dorsey. Those quarterbacks, too, received poor grades for their physical tools. Those quarterbacks, too, looked just fine with the winning scoreboard over their shoulders. They, too, were more than the sum of their parts.

"It's funny," said Rob Chudzinski, the 'Canes offensive coordinator who played with Walsh and Craig Erickson. "They're cut out of the same mold. Their personality, intelligence, competitiveness. You would think they're all brothers. That's how they are. But if you could see him on the sideline, what kind of competitor he is, he's like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He looks like Eddie Haskell here, and once he's on the sideline he's a different guy. That's what makes him so good.

"He doesn't have the best arm of the quarterbacks who have played here, he doesn't have the best mobility. But he works at it. His understanding of the game is unbelievable."

A scout's version of Dorsey would tell you this: He isn't a great athlete, doesn't have a great arm, lacks a good deep ball. His accuracy comes and goes. But consider this: The most talented quarterbacks to play at Miami, Jim Kelly and Vinny Testaverde, never won titles there. Walsh did. Erickson did. Torretta did. Kosar did.

Dorsey?

We'll see.

By now, you'd think the world would have caught on to Dorsey. After all, he is 25-1. After all, he was third in the Heisman voting. At a position that has defined Miami's excellence, he has thrown more touchdowns than any UM quarterback in history, more than Testaverde, more than Erickson, more than Kosar.

And yet, you hear it still.

If the Canes' are going to lose, it will be because of Dorsey.

Odd, isn't it? One month, Dorsey is being talked about as possibly the best player in the nation, and the next, he's the weakest link.

The thought goes, however, that if Nebraska has a puncher's chance in this game, it has to pressure Dorsey and hope he has the same sort of mediocre day he had against Boston College. Most expect the Huskers to come hard after Dorsey early in the game and see if he can stand up to the heat.

Does he have the stuff? We'll see. The world seems to look upon Dorsey and notice first the things he does not have. Grace. Zip. Power. Physique. Quotability. And, if you believe Dorsey himself, a social life.

What he does have is fire. And smarts. And toughness. And competitiveness. Also, he has this: A shot at the national championship.

Put it like that, and it sounds like plenty.

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