21 into can go

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

"You just think big play when he's out there," ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit says. "There's something different about him. O.J. has that look that champions have."

As a redshirt freshman in '97, Jenkins played like a champion. The quarterback of the future had arrived in Tucson, even though one already was in town.

"I was gone," Smith says. Smith didn't know where he was going to transfer, but he had to play. And the way Jenkins played in '97, Smith figured he wouldn't get that chance at Arizona. He visited Tomey's office four or five times, and the coach assured him he would get a shot. Smith stuck it out and was the star of the spring. With two very good quarterbacks, Tomey decided to use them both last season.

"In hindsight, you would say that you would use them the way Dick has," Holmoe says, "but it takes guts."

Terry Dean-Danny Wuerffel. Stanley Jackson-Joe Germaine. Jesse Palmer-Doug Johnson. Just a few recent examples of high-profile quarterback tandems, and for each there was a different way the coach handled the dynamics. Ohio State's John Cooper usually rotated Jackson and Germaine every third series. Florida's Steve Spurrier often went with the hot hand between Dean and Wuerffel. With Palmer and Johnson last season, and Johnson and Noah Brindise in '97, Spurrier occasionally alternated every play.

Tomey constructed his plan: He and offensive coordinator Dino Babers would pick a starter, usually Smith, and he would play the first quarter. The other quarterback would take over at the start of the first new drive in the second quarter. At halftime, Tomey and Babers decided who would start the second half.

"Once we'd get to the second half," Tomey says, "we'd just try and win. We may not switch again, or we may do it three or four times."

Under this direction, the stars became co-stars, and it worked to the tune of a final national ranking of No. 4, the school's highest ever. Smith had a better season statistically. Healthy again, he was locked in, completing 68.5 percent of his passes. With 15 more attempts, Smith would have been the second-rated quarterback in the nation. Think of Smith as a slightly shorter, righthanded version of Cade McNown.

Jenkins still was raw, completing 49.3 percent of his passes, but he could be brilliant His midair somersault over three Washington defenders into the end zone with four seconds remaining gave Arizona a stunning 31-28 victory. On that drive, Jenkins repeatedly completed clutch passes; Smith played for one snap and completed a 22-yard pass--to Jenkins. That is a microcosm of what Jenkins, whom Tomey likens to Kordell Stewart, can do. Still, the coaches would like Jenkins to improve his completion percentage to between 55 and 60 percent. They want him to read defenses better, see the whole field and take what's there.

"I tell him the Akili Smiths, the Donovan McNabbs, the guys who he would like to be one day, they make the big plays and little plays," Tomey says. "It's an evolution, and he's starting to understand that. You can't just be the mad bomber. You also need to keep the chains moving."