Published Jun 21, 2005

Willis McHeisman

During spring practice prior to the 2002 season, a pair of Hurricane freshmen going into their sophomore campaigns, Frank Gore and Sean Taylor, would meet head-on during a scrimmage.

Taylor would get up from the collision - Gore would stay down on the turf, clutching his knee. Gone would be his sophomore year and with it, it seemed, the hopes of back-to-back national championships for the University of Miami football team.

The onus would then fall on one Willis Andrew McGahee.

With Clinton Portis declaring for the NFL after his junior year, Gore was thought to have had the inside track for the starting tailback job. While McGahee had had a decent redshirt freshman year in 2001 with 67 carries for 314 yards, Gore burst onto the scene with 562 yards in just 62 carries - a robust 9.1 yards per carry.

McGahee was a highly-recruited runner out of Miami Central High who came to UM in 2000. But in 2001, he was clearly passed up by the true freshman out of Coral Gables High. When McGahee hurt his knee against West Virginia, Gore would take the reins of the backup running back job and proceed to electrify the country. As he was named to the Sporting News All-Freshman team, he had pundits talking about him as a future Heisman Trophy winner. Like Roy Hobbs, he was a natural.

On the other hand, McGahee was quickly gaining a reputation as Mr. April - a guy who would excel in the spring, but then run tight and tentatively in the fall. He would finish out the 2001 season by starting at fullback - in front of his nemesis Portis - in place of the injured Najeh Davenport in the Rose Bowl versus Nebraska. But while he was a supporting actor in Pasadena, this understudy would proceed to put on an Oscar-worthy season in 2002.

He would become Willis McHeisman.

In the opening week of the 2002 season, McGahee would have rather pedestrian numbers, rushing for 60 yards on just six carries, which were overshadowed by Jason Geathers? 199 yards on the ground. But McGahee would set the tone for his season and Miami's by scoring the first points of the year with a 19-yard touchdown scamper. It was the sign of things to come.

It was the next week in Gainesville against the hated Gators that McGahee would make a statement to the Hurricane faithful and the rest of the nation ? Miami has another blue-chip runner.

While Ken Dorsey was a bit erratic, tossing three INT's it was McGahee's hard-charging running that spearheaded a Miami offense that totaled 508 total yards. Carrying the rock 24 times for 204 yards, he would gash the Gators time and time again, moving the chains and controlling the clock.

It was during this 41-16 conquest that Gore became Wally Pipp. The Canes had found their 'Iron Horse.' A guy who was once more prone to run up the backs of his own blockers with his head down was now a powerful blend of speed, power, quickness and durability. He was the prototype 21st century runner.

The next week at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, while most of his teammates had the expected emotional letdown against Temple, McGahee just kept building momentum by rushing for 134 yards on 21 carries and scoring four touchdowns. It was a familiar storyline for the season, while others may have been listless, McGahee would be stellar week in, week out. But it was in week four that everyone began to notice
just how special McGahee was. It wasn't just about numbers with this guy, but how he got them. It's a familiar mantra at Miami, 'Big time players make big time plays.'

Nobody embodied that better than #2.

Down 6-3 to a gutty Boston College team in the final minute of the first half in front of restless Orange Bowl crowd, McGahee would make a series of plays that made him look like Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl '88. He would bust a draw play from around midfield, breaking a tackle and cutting across the grain, for 48 yards to take Miami to the goal line. A play later, he would scamper around left end to give Miami a 10-6 halftime lead. In the second half, he would take a screen pass for 77 yards - breaking a few more tackles and reversing field ala Mel Bratton versus B.C. in 1984 - to blow open what had been a tight, defensive struggle vs. the Eagles. In that 38-6 win, McGahee would account for 221 total offensive yards. Yeah, Miami had a Heisman Trophy candidate in its backfield, and it wasn't Ken Dorsey.

There have been some great individual campaigns in the long and storied history of Miami football. Bernie Kosar and Eddie Brown in '84, Warren Sapp in '94, Edgerrin James in 1988, Dan Morgan in 2000, Ed Reed in 2001. But nobody had the type of year filled with so many defining plays as McGahee.

Against FSU, Miami would find itself down 27-21 with just over six minutes left in the game. For the most part, McGahee was bottled up by the Noles defense - rushing for just 95 yards on 26 carries - but an explosion was on the way. As Miami began its climactic drive, it began with a screen to McGahee on the right, using a seal block from Andre Johnson and another from Chris Myers, all he would need is one step to explode away from a trio of FSU defenders. As he galloped down the visiting sideline, it seemed as if the Orange Bowl rafters were going to come falling down. He shocked the Seminoles while bringing down the house. It was one of those classic Miami moments at the famed Orange Bowl. It doesn't get any louder than this place. And it was on the legs of McGahee that the 'Grand Ol' Lady' would rock once again. Like Erik B and Rakim, he moved the crowd.

He was finally tackled at the Nole 11-yard line. A play later, Geathers would put Miami up 28-27, which ended up being the final score.

Fast forward to the tenth game, a Big East showdown, a nationally-televised Thursday night game on ESPN against Walt Harris and his upstart Pitt Panthers. Miami would get off to a quick start as Sean Taylor would score on a punt-reverse early in the game to put Miami up 7-0. But then something funny happened; the Panthers took control of the game. Pitt stifled Dorsey and the passing game, while scoring two touchdowns on the arm of Rod Rutherford, to take a 14-7 lead just minutes before the half.

But then it was McGahee, making like Clark Kent stepping into a phone booth, who saved the day once again. It seemed as though offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinksi ? who had inexplicably ignored McGahee through much of that first half for some reason ? was intent on just running out the clock and regrouping for the second half. Instead, McGahee would take a handoff, move left and then burst up the middle for a 69-yard touchdown that tied things up and swung momentum towards Miami. In the second half, like Superman, McGahee would fly through the air to score his second touchdown, this time from seven yards out to give Miami a 28-14 lead in what was eventually a 28-21 UM victory.

Strangely, McGahee would finish the game with only 19 carries, but still tallied 159 yards. It seemed the only thing that could stop this guy was his own offensive coordinator, who almost seemed to have an agenda - more on that later.

On Thanksgiving weekend in front of a national audience on ABC, McGahee would have touchdown jaunts of 61 and 51 yards in Miami's 49-7 blowout of Syracuse. To finish out the year and secure a Fiesta Bowl bid, the Hurricanes would end the season against the Virginia Tech Hokies at the Orange Bowl.

It was here that McGahee would make his statement for the Heisman, although unfortunately, he wasn't able to punctuate it. In front of another national audience on ABC, McGahee would gash the Hokies for 205 yards on 39 carries and an incredible six scores. But what will be never forgotten was how his chance at history - and perhaps a certain piece of hardware ? was taken away from him.

Up 49-21, after a blocked punt, Miami would find itself on Tech's doorstep in the middle of the third stanza, ready to seal the game and finalize their plans for Tempe, AZ. And what better and more appropriate way would there be than to give the ball to McGahee for his seventh heaven? Well, Chudzinski seemed to have different ideas, as he decided to call for a halfback option on the goal line with Jarrett Payton throwing to Dorsey. It was a transparent attempt by Chud to put an exclamation on Dorsey's senior campaign and his own Heisman aspirations - the dreaded 'Heisman Play.'

It was stupid, selfish and self-serving. Not on Dorsey's part, but on the part of the coach, who should have known better. Noted hoops coach Larry Brown speaks incessantly of 'playing the right way.' Here, Miami didn't and they got exactly what they deserved as Virginia Tech safety Willie Pile camped under a pass he could have fair caught and housed Payton's duck 96-yards for a Hokie touchdown. What was turning into a celebration of Miami's undefeated season and McGahee's great accomplishments quickly turned back into a real football game. Miami would eventually hold off the Hokies, 56-45. But again, the only man who could stop McGahee seemed to be in Miami's coaching box.

We all know how that year ended, for the sanity of you readers I won?t rehash the 2003 Fiesta Bowl in too much detail. But it was on this night that McGahee finally looked mortal. As the Hurricane front line was handled by Ohio State, McGahee would run a bit tentatively and the UM offense would struggle. But as the second half progressed, McGahee would get lathered up, bringing Miami to within 17-14 late in the third quarter with a nine-yard touchdown run. As he started getting the rock more and more in the final quarter, yards started to come more easily.

But then, it would come to a tragic end. Taking a screen pass from Dorsey, he would turn upfield and then get swiped by Buckeyes safety Will Allen. As a writhing McGahee stayed down, a pall went over the Miami crowd. We had seen this before with storied runners like Bratton and Stephen McGuire. In a cruel irony, it was a knee injury that had opened the door for the son of Jannie Jones, and it was a knee injury that would end his collegiate career.

As he was whisked away on the trainers cart into the dressing room for X-rays, a piece of the Hurricanes died that night. Its heart and soul was gone. Miami's quest for back-to-back titles would end with four plays inside the Bucks' two-yard line that resulted in nothing. It was perhaps here, we found out just how valuable this guy really was.

In this incredible year, McGahee would set school marks with 1,753 rushing yards, 28 touchdowns and 2,108 all-purpose yards. His 28 touchdowns led the country in rushing scores and he was second in the nation in total scoring with 12.92 points per game.

While many other high-profile Canes in 2002 turned in one desultory and disinterested performance after another, all McGahee did was flat out ball. It's safe to say that without his efforts that Miami drops at least a game or two during the regular season and when Hurricane fans think of a Terry Porter, what would come into their minds is Clyde Drexler?s running mate in Portland.

In 2002, he was the best player on a squad that featured the likes of Andre Johnson, Kellen Winslow Jr., Ken Dorsey, William Joseph, Jerome McDougle, Vernon Carey, Antrel Rolle, Sean Taylor, Vince Wilfork, DJ Williams and Jonathan Vilma. He was the best - and most valuable - player in the country.

He was Willis McHeisman.

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