West Virginia's Slaton testing his Heisman stature
STEVE SLATON IS MODEST about his abilities as a running back. But ask him about his West Virginia football team, and modesty goes out the window.
"The biggest thing we want to do," Steve Slaton says, "is go out there and win every game and play with no flaws."
Um, that's all?
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If his Mountaineers win every game, even with a few flaws, they might well win the national championship.
"Definitely," Steve Slaton says. "That's the big picture that we're all playing for. I think it's possible to do."
It's also possible for Steve Slaton to win the Heisman Trophy. "That would mean everything," he says. "All the hard work that I put into college, all the drills I did to better myself."
Steve Slaton finished fourth in the voting last season behind Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith, the winner, Arkansas running back Darren McFadden and Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn. Of the three, only McFadden returns.
Steve Slaton rushed for 1,744 yards last season, third best nationally. Only one returning back ran for more, Rutgers' Ray Rice, who had 50 more yards on 87 more carries.
All of which is why Steve Slaton is prominently mentioned on the preseason lists of Heisman hopefuls. Still, for all that, you won't catch him practicing the Heisman pose for end-zone celebrations.
"No, not at all," he says.
That's not his understated style.
"He's a little uncomfortable talking about himself too much," says Juanita Tiggett-Steve Slaton, his mother.
"I think it's a great honor" to be included in the lists, he says, "especially this early before we start playing. It's a lot of respect."
ONE OF THE OTHERS often mentioned is Steve Slaton's best friend, West Virginia quarterback Pat White. That would seem to put Steve Slaton and White at a disadvantage in that they might split ballots. But the two winners before Smith — quarterback Matt Leinart (2004) and running back Reggie Bush (2005) — were teammates at Southern California.
Steve Slaton is sometimes compared to Bush for his ability to change direction at full throttle. Does Steve Slaton see the similarities?
"Somewhat," he says. "Reggie Bush is still ahead of the game. He is more known than I would be. He's a good person to watch and to mold myself after."
All this is heady stuff for a player who came to West Virginia as a lightly recruited back from suburban Philadelphia. Maryland offered a scholarship but rescinded it before signing day. Steve Slaton says several schools were interested in him more as a defensive back because he is only 5-10.
"West Virginia was the right choice for me," Steve Slaton says. "The fans are real supportive because we don't have any (major league) professional teams" in the state.
He played sparingly in his first four games as a true freshman in 2005. Then against Virginia Tech he had 90 yards on 11 rushes. The next week he got his first start (139 yards against Rutgers). By season's end, he had 1,128 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns (plus 95 yards and two more TDs on catches), including a Sugar Bowl-record 204 yards rushing in a 38-35 upset of Georgia.
"It's kind of unreal how it all unfolded," his mother says. "I'm still surprised when I hear people say he's one of the best. It still hasn't hit me yet because I still look at him as just being Steve."
LOOKING BACK, she says, she should have known her son was born to run: "When he was little, you couldn't let go of his hand or he would just take off. He liked the chase. And he was hard to catch, even then."
Last season, as a sophomore, he ran for 1,744 yards and 16 touchdowns and added 360 yards and two TDs on 27 catches. But an accumulation of injuries (eventually including both wrists and a deep thigh bruise) caught up with him toward the end of the season. He had only 11 yards on three rushes in the Gator Bowl victory against Georgia Tech.
A pin was inserted in Steve Slaton's right wrist in January, and he missed spring practice. But Steve Slaton says he is ready to go now. "I'm getting back to where I was," he says, "getting cleared into lifting weights again."
West Virginia runs a spread offense. That's usually associated with passing, but the Mountaineers use it to find seams for their speedy running back and quarterback to dash through.
"I like it a lot," Steve Slaton says of the spread. "I think that's what all running backs enjoy doing, running the ball. And West Virginia does enough of it."
So much — and so well — that Steve Slaton often hears cheers ringing in his ears, which is important to someone who was nearly deaf at times as a child.
"I was real young, so I don't even remember too much about when it happened," Steve Slaton says. "I guess I was a little hardheaded and I didn't really listen."
That wasn't it at all, his mother says. He couldn't hear well because his adenoids often swelled from allergies and he got bad infections, she says.
"His hearing was like he was under water," she says. "I worried about what it would do to his speech."
She says he got immediate relief when he had his adenoids removed at 6.
"Maybe it's been a plus for me," Steve Slaton says. "I can listen without hearing."
THE MOUNTAINEERS WERE 11-2 last season, with losses to Louisville and South Florida. But Steve Slaton says he doesn't circle dates on the schedule.
"All of them are big games," he says. "Once we get started and get rolling, every team is going to go after us. We're going to have to play our game every day."
Steve Slaton's ultimate goal is the NFL. What team he plays for doesn't really matter, he says. "My favorite team has been the Cowboys since I was little. But I wouldn't mind playing for anybody. I definitely want to play two more years at West Virginia."
Steve Slaton grew up in Levittown near Philadelphia but always cheered for the Dallas Cowboys because his favorite player was Emmitt Smith. If he follows in Smith's fancy footsteps, he could end up as a Dancing with the Stars champ, not to mention the NFL's leading rusher.
"That's a little far down the road," Steve Slaton says, laughing. "We'll see."
Smith made the cover of Sports Illustrated 11 times, eight solo, according to a searchable database at SI.com. Steve Slaton made a regional cover last August along with White and fellow running back Owen Schmitt.
"That was a big deal," Steve Slaton says. "Sports Illustrated has been around a long time, and since I was a little kid I saw a lot of different people on the cover."
If Steve Slaton follows his game plan — win every game, play flawlessly and perhaps collect the Heisman along the way — he could be a cover boy again.
"Anything is possible," Steve Slaton says. "If we play the way we can, a bunch of guys could get on the cover."
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