‘It was almost overwhelming’ – Heisman Trophy winner with connection to Josh Heupel recalls being at 1998 Tennessee vs Florida game
A former Heisman Trophy winner who has a strong connection to Josh Heupel detailed this week being at the memorable 1998 matchup between the Tennessee Vols and the Florida Gators. Former Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Jason White, who was a high school senior in 1998, was still deciding where he was going to play college football […]
A former Heisman Trophy winner who has a strong connection to Josh Heupel detailed this week being at the memorable 1998 matchup between the Tennessee Vols and the Florida Gators.
Former Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Jason White, who was a high school senior in 1998, was still deciding where he was going to play college football at the time.
Miami, Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State were among the programs White considered as a high school recruit.
White appeared on the ROK Podcast this week and he detailed taking a visit to Tennessee in 1998.
“I remember watching the Florida vs Tennessee game,” said White. “Got to meet Peyton Manning as a senior in high school. It was pretty cool.”
“It was awesome,” added White when asked about the visit to Tennessee. “Amazing stadium. I mean, I’d never been in a stadium that held that many people. But I got to see Florida play Tennessee. Got to go to a game and got to be on the sideline for it. I got to go in the locker room and all of that stuff.
“Just the the atmosphere at Tennessee — it was almost overwhelming. I remember walking into the stadium and just thinking to myself, like, ‘Holy cow, like I’m used to playing in front of maybe 1,000 people — not 110,000.’ But I think that’s where my love for like, hey, I want to do this [started]. I think that’s when [that desire] started.”
White ended up staying close to home and playing for the Sooners. Heupel, who is entering his fifth season as the head coach at Tennessee, was Oklahoma’s starting quarterback during White’s first two seasons in Norman (1999 and 2000). White battle some injuries during his first few seasons with the Sooners before enjoying a breakout year in 2003 in which he won the Heisman Trophy while leading Oklahoma to a 12-2 season (White and the Sooners lost to Nick Saban and the LSU Tigers in the national championship game).
Last year, White joined The Family Business Podcast and he credited lessons he learned from Heupel as the reason he won the Heisman Trophy in 2003.
“I don’t ever take credit for that (Heisman), I always give the credit to Heup,” said White. “You know, Josh Heupel, when I got here, it was his first year here as well — he was a transfer, so it was his first year. But I always noticed that he would go do these extra workouts after our workouts. And I asked him one day, ‘hey, what are you doing with all of this?’ And he’s like ‘oh, it’s all footwork drills and stuff like that’. And I said ‘do you mind if I join you?’ And he’s like ‘well, I’ll make you a deal, if you join me, the first time you miss, that’s it, don’t come back’. And I was like ‘ok, well you’re not a coach, but ok’. So I ended up joining him and I started doing it and it just kind of snowballed from there. Because after that, Paul Thompson started joining me. And then after that, Sam Bradford was joining Paul Thompson. So it just kind of snowballed that everyone — I don’t know if they still do it or not.
“But that was just, Josh kind of started it for everybody. Just started that work ethic in the quarterback room. And then spending the time in the film room, Josh spent so much time in the film room studying. And he actually helped me like ‘hey, this is what you need to look for when you’re studying’. Just to be a part of that group of quarterbacks that came through, it’s truly an honor.”
Things worked out pretty well for White at Oklahoma. Tennessee, meanwhile, found plenty of success with quarterback Casey Clausen from 2000 to 2003.
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