21 into can go

Sporting News, The, August 9, 1999 by Kyle Veltrop

With quarterbacks Keith Smith and Ortege Jenkins striving to coexist as a tandem, Arizona might have the firepower for a national championship

An old football coaches' tale goes like this: "Teams don't become winners on Saturdays in the fall, but in the weight room in the offseason."

If so, Arizona has its StairMasters to thank for last season. Before fall camp, Keith Smith, the star quarterback of 1996, worked out next to Ortege Jenkins, the star quarterback of 1997. With each step on the machines, the quarterbacks worked to get stronger, better. But as long as the cloud of who would be the star quarterback of 1998 lingered, the team would get weaker, lesser.

"That day," Jenkins says, "I said, `What's up, man? We've never even talked about what's going on at quarterback.'"

The chat didn't turn into one quarterback making his case for the job. Instead, it went like this: Egos are out; teamwork is in. You push me, I push you. Go team, go. Final scores: Wins 12, Losses 1. Quarterbacks 2, Controversies 0.

This season, there is talk of a national championship in Tucson and it has nothing to do with Lute Olson's basketball team. Dick Tomey's football team is being mentioned with the Florida States and Tennessees of the world regarding who could emerge from the Sugar Bowl feeling the sweetest. The Arizona offense may be the nation's best; there are seven returning starters-eight if you count both quarterbacks. And you have to. They are a package deal. Jenkins-Smith. Smith-Jenkins.

"What they have there," says Cal coach Tom Holmoe, "is a two-headed monster."

But is it a monster that will devour opponents, or one that will scare up a loss as the team tries to follow two leaders? Most coaches, even ones who have successfully used two quarterbacks, prefer one regular. And fans agree overwhelmingly. But they love their system in the desert, and starting with No. 4 Arizona's date at No. I Penn State in the August 28 Pigskin Classic, Smith and Jenkins will get their turns this season. A look at the past 25 years reveals that no team has won a national championship while rotating quarterbacks. But college football has never seen a tandem like this one.

Keith Smith, Big Man on Campus? Try Joe Campus. Smith is a sturdy 5-11, 202 pounds, his standard wardrobe includes a backward hat and flip-flops and he talks like a fan in the stands. Nearly three years after earning freshman AU-American honors, Smith Sits in a football office in the McKale Center, which sits at the end of National Championship Drive, a street that also runs in front of Arizona Stadium and is a sign of what may come.

The only sign Smith is a big-time quarterback is the football in his hands, but a different kind of ball almost kept him from Arizona. Smith had committed to Tomey's program out of Newbury Park (Calif.) High but was distracted by a fat contract offered by the Detroit Tigers. Smith, a shortstop, spent a year as a minor leaguer.

Smith had fun playing baseball, but it wasn't a passion, and passion he knew. Hours before the first pitch of his games in the Appalachian and South Atlantic leagues, Smith walked around his apartment carrying a football. He has kept a football on his bed since his Pop Warner days, and to this day, on his pillow, are two shiny footballs that he calls his "babies." He never takes them outside.

The Tigers sent Smith a renewal contract, but he wasn't signing this time. Smith had to return the money, save for a school stipend, and a beloved 4Runner. But Tomey welcomed

"I worked so hard in football," Smith says, "and I figured I did all that for nothing. I let money talk myself out of it."

Tomey calls Smith a "gym rat," which wouldn't seem appropriate for the baseball/football player unless you know he'll throw the football with anyone anywhere, even on the McKale Center floor. During two-plus hours with Keith Smith, the only time that football leaves his hands is when he finds someone to play catch with, when he knows he's getting it right back.

Ortege Jenkins came next, arriving from D.S. Jordan High in Long Beach; Calif., with as impressive credentials in basketball as in football. Three years removed from those days, Jenkins sits in a booth at Gentle Ben's, a restaurant on the edge of Arizona's campus, and shares stories of playing in summer-league camps with Mike Bibby and Kobe Bryant

Jenkins' plan was to star at Arizona in both sports, but in November 1996, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during basketball practice. That ended his hoops dreams for the season, one that ended with the Wildcats-led by Bibby--winning the national rifle. The injury made Jenkins sort out his priorities, and he decided football would be his main athletic focus. With Smith and senior backup Brady Batten on hand, Jenkins started the '97 season playing a little at receiver and even less at quarterback.

But Batten got hurt in the second game, and Smith went down two games later against UCLA. On his first snap, Jenkins wasn't wearing rib pads, didn't have a mouthpiece and hadn't snapped his chin strap. But Jenkins wasn't overwhelmed, and he nearly rallied the Wildcats to a win. The next week, against San Diego State, Jenkins threw three touchdown passes. The week after that, against Stanford, he threw four on his way to a 19-touch-down season in just seven starts. At 6-2, with a chiseled 224-pound frame, Jenkins looks the part of star quarterback.