Keegan: Heisman campaign picks up

By Tom Keegan     Oct 24, 2007

Seven weeks after the birth of the Todd Reesing Heisman Trophy campaign here, it finally went national.

It’s about time.

Reesing placed tied for ninth place in CSTV’s Heisman Watch voting. The CSTV panel had Florida sophomore quarterback Tim Tebow leading the voting in a tight race with Kentucky senior quarterback Andre’ Woodson.

What does the campaign’s expansion from local to national mean? Not much, really. It means that one of the 10 CSTV panelists – Roland Williams – wrote down Reesing’s name for a third-place vote.

Consider that a start toward an achievement Reesing can chase for two and a half more football seasons. For now, he’s worried about leading Kansas University to a victory over a Texas A&M program that, like the rest of the Texas schools, did not recruit the Austin, Texas native.

“I think they called me one time,” Reesing said of the Aggies. “I don’t know who it was, one of their assistant coaches, told me I wasn’t a bigger guy, a faster guy, and I was on their B list of quarterbacks. I was kind of shocked that he would say that to me. It’s one thing if you don’t want to recruit me, but to say I’m on your B list, it was kind of a slap in the face. I didn’t take it personally. I wasn’t an Aggie fan growing up anyway. At least he was honest. He shot me straight. OK, thanks for your time. I’m moving on.”

Anyone excited that this could give Reesing additional incentive to play well doesn’t know him. His focus, as are his passes, is trained accurately on the right target.

“It was disappointing, the whole recruiting process, because I didn’t get recruited by a lot of people,” Reesing said. “Nothing ever hurt my feelings. I don’t look back and ever regret anything. I’m glad I ended up where I am, and it’s ended up working out better than I could have ever expected, so no regrets there.”

Coaches with regrets? There’ve been a few dozen, but then again, a few too many to mention.

Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione called Reesing, “just a gutty winner.”

Texas coach Mack Brown said, “Anybody that didn’t recruit him, including us, made a mistake.”

Reesing said he went to numerous chapters of the Longhorns-Aggies rivalry, including “a couple” at Kyle Field, and always rooted for UT, his hometown team and the school his father attended.

“I know how rowdy that crowd can get and how loud it’ll be, but we’ve handled the pressure and the noise this season very well, so I don’t think we need to be too worried about that,” Reesing said. “We know it’s going to be a wild, hostile environment. We know we’re going to get A&M’s best shot because of where we’re ranked and the chance for them to give us our first loss. There’s a lot on the line, and everyone understands that.”

Fear not, the doubling of Reesing’s Heisman campaign staff since Week 1 won’t distract him. His and teammates’ eyes remain on the target.

PREV POST

6Sports video: Reesing 9th in Heisman watch list

NEXT POST

25998Keegan: Heisman campaign picks up