LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville's Lamar Jackson rolled right with Clemson defensive linemen pursuing him from each lane — giant orange obstructions with either arm high or shooting low — and kept gliding toward the sideline before he fired a cross-body pass toward the goal line where only tight end Cole Hikutini had a chance.
Everyone remembers the fourth-and-12 pass that fell one yard short afterward. The Cardinals were that close at Death Valley on Oct. 1, 2016, in a 42-36 loss where Jackson rolled up 295 passing yards, 162 rushing yards and three total touchdowns while dueling with Clemson's Deshaun Watson. If Jackson and Hikutini had connected on that third-and-7, then the narrative of the returning Heisman Trophy winner might be much different heading into 2017.
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What if Hikutini hauls that pass in for the touchdown? Would Louisville — which flattened Florida State 63-20 just two weeks earlier — end up in the ACC championship game? Would Jackson be the favorite to win a second Heisman Trophy for the first time since Ohio State's Archie Griffin pulled that off in 1974-75? Would the three-game skid to end the season, the one that tugs at Jackson's value more than his September highlight reel, even be a talking point? Would Jackson be more prominent in that conversation with No. 1 pick conversation with USC's Sam Darnold? What if, indeed.
Jackson, wearing gray Louisville shirt and shorts with socks-in-sandals, ponders that third-and-7 pass as part of a one-on-one interview with Sporting News on July 7. A poster with eight "Principles of Standard of Learning" in the linebackers meeting room at the Howard Schnellenberger Football Complex serves as the backdrop. Rule No. 6 reads "Sit up in chair, both feet on floor."
It's no coincidence Jackson sits with back straight with both feet planted in that same floor. Another poster behind him simply reads, "Finish." That has been the message all offseason at Louisville. Jackson answers the question.
"We had a lot of moments where we could have won that game," Jackson told SN. "A lot of key moments, but we know we've got to deal with it. It's over. We're just preparing for this year, and try to see what's going on this year."
Translation? He's not interested in what-ifs. Jackson seems more concerned with what's next instead.
There's a new game to play.
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The September Heisman is a popular early-season moniker, but 2016 was a rare case where the winner actually won the award in September.
Jackson didn't come out of nowhere. He had a strong finish in 2015 against Kentucky and Texas A&M and appeared comfortable in the spotlight at the ACC Kickoff last summer. Few could have predicted the real-time rise, however, which unfolded in hyper-drive and required a calculator.
Jackson opened the season with eight total touchdowns against Charlotte — all eight coming in the first half. He hurdled a Syracuse defender on a touchdown run the following week, an unofficial Heisman moment that greets visitors on the first wall inside the Schnellenberger Complex.
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Jackson allows a chuckle when told how the offense looked the following week against the Seminoles; the game where a lot of early Heisman ballots were sealed. He finished the season with 3,543 passing yards and 30 passing touchdowns and 1,571 rushing yards and 21 rushing scores. No player had a better individual line during the regular season, including Watson.
That's why Jackson took the trip to New York with the other Heisman finalists. Tasked to reenact that scene, he breaks out a wide smile — and starts tapping his chest for effect.
"Right before he said my name my heart started pounding fast," Jackson said. "I already had the speech ready and wanted to go up and say what I had to say. But when he said my name like chills ran up my body. Butterflies were in my stomach, I was just overwhelmed. Humbled. This is crazy."
"This is crazy." Jackson, wearing that Cardinal-red suit with black trim and white shirt, couldn't say that three-word phrase enough on the podium that night. He smiled through it. He hugged Johnny Manziel and Tim Tebow on the stage first. Like Manziel and Tebow, Jackson faces the scrutiny of coming back to school with the most prestigious individual honor in college football.
Jackson is the ninth Heisman winner to return to school looking to repeat since Griffin won back-to-back awards. Billy Sims came the closest to winning twice when he finished second to Charles White in 1979. Tebow and Manziel took turns in that spotlight.
Jackson, who played at Boynton Beach Community High School in Florida, grew up idolizing Tebow, who told Sporting News he gave Jackson some advice for what to expect with Heisman in hand. The preordained script is that Jackson won't win that trophy again. Other teams want to make sure that's the case.
"Know going into the season it's going to be harder," Tebow told SN. "The other teams; they don't care if the other guys get the big plays. Their game plan will be to stop you and shut you down. Focus on getting your teammates involved, and that's also going to help you. It can't be on the numbers, it's got to be on, 'Did I do my job every single play?'"
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Watson did that last year. He didn't get a Heisman Trophy, but he led Clemson to the College Football Playoff championship in a thrilling 35-31 victory against Alabama. The Tigers made a few more plays down the stretch than the Cardinals in that fateful night in Death Valley.
"He was a great leader," Jackson said of Watson. "He put the team on his back at all times. When the situation went down, he ran with it and was successful. I feel like I should do the same this year."
Watson inherited the ACC throne from Florida State's Jameis Winston, who also went through the Heisman grinder after winning the award and a national championship. Now it's Jackson's turn to stake his claim in a conference that isn't afraid to throw its weight around.
Yet it has been nonconference losses that have followed Jackson into the offseason. He took 11 sacks in a loss to Houston. The Cardinals lost a 41-38 shootout to rival Kentucky, then got manhandled by LSU in a 29-9 Citrus Bowl loss.
"I take those games as motivation coming into my junior season," Jackson said. "People don't like losing. Shouldn't no one like losing, and they were pretty good teams that we went up against. ... We're just ready to get it on this year."
The response from Louisville coach Bobby Petrino is to put Jackson under center more. Mix up the looks. It's a gamble, but it's also a tweak designed to get closer to an ACC championship. Jackson must prove it all over against preseason favorites Florida State and Clemson.
"I think one of the things that's great about Lamar is he likes being coached," Petrino said at the ACC Kickoff on July 13. "He listens. He really tries to do what you ask him to do, and he sees himself getting better. You know, sometimes he would get in trouble last year if he guessed or thought he could get the wrong read but still beat him. So he worked hard at that, and he's doing a great job with it."
Petrino, a renowned offensive visionary, has come a long way with Jackson, who ran an offense that used only hand signals in high school. Jackson said he knows the playbook in depth now, but he recalled an instance in spring football where he was speaking with Petrino off to the side while Jawon Pass ran the second team. Petrino stopped practice without breaking eye contact.
"Coach was talking to me and something went down on defense and he blew the whistle," Jackson said. "He was like, 'You're supposed to hit this target.' I don't know how he was able to do that. I want to get inside his head and learn and try to find out."
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Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson knows the 2017 season will present several new challenges. (Bill Bender/SN)
Jackson's feet stick to the floor when he mentions rooming with Darnold at the Manning Passing Academy. Darnold has inherited labels such as Heisman Trophy front-runner and future No. 1 pick as a potential NFL franchise quarterback in the vein of Andrew Luck. Jackson loved rooming with Darnold. They had fun and didn't talk much football. Jackson, however, faces different future forecasts than Darnold, and one hits harder than most.
"Probably the receiver one," Jackson said. "The one that's like, 'Oh he might play receiver.' A lot of people say that, but I don't see how. I can throw with the best of them. I don't know how many touchdowns I threw, but I threw a lot. That's the biggest one that gets me.
"I feel like I can throw any route on the field," he continues. "I don't feel like I can just throw a 20-yard pass or a bomb. I feel like I can throw slants, hitches, out routes, freak outs, speed outs. I feel like I can throw any pass on the field."
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Jackson never gets frustrated at any point, but he shouldn't have to go that far into the route tree for validation. Writer Chase Goodbread, who covers top prospects for College Football 24/7, offers what he perceives to be Jackson's next proving ground — and an underlying reason for more snaps under center.
"His ability to run through progressions, look for the second receiver, third receiver and read defenses, I think that's probably behind where scouts feel like Darnold and (UCLA's Josh) Rosen are at this point," Goodbread said. "I think the offense with Louisville being in the shotgun all the time has a little bit to do with that as well.
"But his arm is as strong as anyone in the game, and I don't think scouts see his arm strength on a lower level than Rosen, Darnold or anyone else," he said. "I think in terms of polish as a passer, that's where he might have some ground to make up."
That's a whiff of the future tear-down for Jackson, who can close that gap in 2017. He embraced the comparisons to his favorite player Michael Vick last season, the No. 1 pick in 2001. Yet Jackson could easily face the same NFL Draft experience as Watson, who fell behind North Carolina's Mitchell Trubisky and Texas Tech's Pat Mahomes II in the first round.
Even with a Heisman, there's everything to prove. Tebow remembers that feeling, too.
"You won't be able to block all the noise out, but do your best to let it go in one ear and out the other," Tebow said.
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Jackson rolled right before reversing all the way to left and sprinting 38 yards to set up his own touchdown a few plays later. The Cardinals led Clemson 36-28 at that point and silenced Death Valley with 9:20 remaining in the fourth quarter.
It's easy to forget Jackson brings that kind of play-making ability. It's easy to forget no one can turn that corner on a quarterback sweep with a stride quite like that. It's easy to forget the upstairs trophy case at the Schnellenberger Complex is full of awards Jackson won in 2016, and that he's a big reason why the Papa John's Stadium renovations are almost guaranteed to be a hit for a program that found its footing in the ACC.
It's easy to forget all that, unless you live with the label every day.
"Wherever I go now people always say, 'Mr. Heisman' and stuff like that," Jackson said. "There's a lot of Heisman winners out there. It's not just me. I'm just humbled by the situation and already trying not to get too overwhelmed about it. I'm still in college."
It's OK to stay there a little longer. Tebow stayed through his senior year and was part of two more memorable seasons at Florida. He said Jackson is set up for more success, too.
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"I think with his talent and the coaching staff they have there and some of his surrounding talent, if they are able to get a few big wins during the season he could have another special season," Tebow said.
Jackson might leave after his junior year, or he could stay and develop for the next level. Yet the focus doesn't seem to be on him heading into 2017. There's not much Heisman hype for the returning Heisman winner. It seems almost out of place.
"One of the reasons for the absence of hype in him is because he hasn't got in a bunch of trouble," Goodbread said. "Johnny Manziel did. From that standpoint, a quiet offseason is a good thing. Once they start playing football in September, it will get crazy enough."
There's that word again. Jackson allowed himself to ponder what it would be like to be called up to the podium again at the Heisman Trophy ceremony. He smiles again and recalls the path that put him in that position last year.
What if Jackson joined Griffin in that super-exclusive club of two-time Heisman winners someday?
"That would be crazy," Jackson said. "I'd have a lot more to say if anything. But that would be crazy, because he's the only person to have ever done it. I won it my sophomore year, and to come back and junior year — I don't want to say hopefully — but I hope if my name is called I'd be prepared."
Jackson picks his feet up off the floor and stands up. The what-ifs of talking season are almost over, and it's time to find out what happens next.
It's time to finish the game.
