Anderson: The big ‘Eau’

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2001 | 10:20 a.m.

Next up

The Northwestern Wildcats hope to be smelling roses when bowl season rolls around. And if the Big Ten favorites make it to this year's national championship game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., it will probably be due to another aroma that doesn't smell quite so sweet.

Call it Eau de Damien.

Senior tailback Damien Anderson, who enters the 2001 college season as the front-runner for the Heisman Trophy after rushing for a school-record 2,063 yards and 23 touchdowns last season, continues to wear the same white practice jersey he has donned since his freshman season. And you can count on one hand the times it has been washed.

Anderson calls the No. 20 practice shirt his "security blanket." Others who dress nearby in the Wildcat locker room, which lacks air conditioning, probably don't have such complimentary names for it.

"They try and take it away from me every year," Anderson recently told the Chicago Sun-Times. "It's been washed once or twice a year, but it's dirty and it's going to stay that way. It's something that makes me comfortable and allows me to get where I need to be for game day.

"I've had that jersey since freshman year. It's like a security blanket. When I have that thing on, I feel I can do anything. It humbles me every time I put on the jersey because it reminds me of the bad times as well as the good times."

Asked this week how that jersey was holding up, Anderson replied: "It's still dirty. It looks terrible. I haven't washed it in a year. Now it's getting so bad I'm actually thinking about washing it."

The fact that Anderson is even back in Evanston, Ill., to wear the grimy old jersey is somewhat of a surprise in itself.

The 5-foot-11, 204-pounder finished fifth in Heisman Trophy balloting last year and earned All-America honors after breaking Lorenzo White's Big Ten rushing record for yards in conference games with 1,549. Only TCU's LaDainian Tomlinson rushed for more yards.

But the smell of a big NFL payday wasn't enough to make Anderson forego his final year of eligibility.

"He came back for his fifth year, which, let's be honest, he didn't need to do," Northwestern head coach Randy Walker said. "He had all that stuff that you usually sell a kid on to stay -- degree, high draft choice -- it was all in place."

But Anderson, who played on Wildcat teams that went a combined 1-15 in Big Ten play his first two seasons, decided to return and try to lead Northwestern to a second straight Big Ten title.

"I'd by lying if I said I didn't think about (turning pro) much," Anderson said. "The major motivation for me to come back was because I think we have such a great team."

Anderson said he consulted with former Northwestern linebacker Barry Gardner, who went to on to play for the Philadelphia Eagles, as well as former Chicago-area prep star Donovan McNabb, now the starting quarterback with the Eagles, before making his decision to return to college.

"They told me when you decide to make that jump where playing football becomes your job, that you'd better be prepared," Anderson said. "I valued their opinions greatly. And I felt I could improve in all aspects of my game if I came back."

Walker made it clear to Anderson that if he did decide to return, the school wouldn't mount a big Heisman campaign for him a la Oregon and quarterback Joey Harrington.

"When I talked to Damien and his family about whether to stay or go, I said very straightforwardly to them, 'This is not going to be the Damien Anderson show,' " Walker told the Sun-Times. "Obviously, he'll get his chances and he won't be anonymous on the field, but we are a team first."

A team that reminds UNLV coach John Robinson of another successful college program, defending national champion Oklahoma.

"I think (Anderson) is really fast," said Robinson, who coached two Heisman Trophy-winning running backs at USC in Charles White and Marcus Allen. "He's a very good runner. Their offense gives him a chance to get out in the open field. They stretch you out and then they do some good things with him. He doesn't have to run in the middle of traffic very much. He's a very elusive player. He reminds me a lot of (Quentin) Griffin of Oklahoma. They're used in a very similiar fashion."

Now the question is whether Anderson & Co. can do what Griffin and the Sooners did last season -- win the national championship.

Robinson, for one, thinks so.

"We play a football team this week that has a chance to win the national championship," Robinson said. "They're positioned a little like Oklahoma was last year. They're a very good offensive team, one of the best in the country, and everybody is back. ... It will be a real challenge for our defense."

Especially when it comes to containing Damien Anderson.