Exclusive | 59 years later, UCLAs lone Heisman winner calls for Wayne Knight to replicate the feat
Put up the billboards.Pass out the T-shirts.
Get the campaign rolling.Wayne Knight for Heisman!Why should UCLA tout its tiniest running back for college football’s biggest award only four games into the season?Why the heck not?Have you seen the guy? He’s the most electric player in the nation, bursting through holes, spinning around defenders, a highlight on seemingly every play.Helping his resurgent team stand improbably tall under a first-year coach, the 5-foot-7 ball of energy has catapulted the unbeaten Bruins back into the national rankings while placing them on the brink of becoming a national story.Here’s giving you first dibs on what everyone else will be saying a month from now.The guy is a winner, with a combination of speed, patience and power unlike anything Bruins fans have seen.Knight has already generated early buzz with his nine rushing touchdowns – tied for second in the nation – while ranking third nationally with 164.75 all-purpose yards per game.Those stats helped him win the weekly Paul Hornung Award – given to the most versatile college player in college football – in two of the season’s first three weeks.He’ll need UCLA (4-0) to keep winning while maintaining his production against better teams, starting with the No.
23 Bruins’ showdown against No.15 Oregon on Oct.
10 at Autzen Stadium.“If the Bruins are going to beat the Ducks in Eugene,” Gary Beban, UCLA’s only Heisman Trophy winner, wrote in an email to the California Post, “Wayne has to have a big game!!”Fortunately, the stage shouldn’t be too big for the little guy considering what he’s already done there.Those who watched Knight in his final game at James Madison saw him trample the Ducks defense on the way to 110 rushing yards in December during the College Football Playoff.But there’s more work to be done than offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy cooking up another masterful game plan in what amounts to a rematch for most of the coaching staff and ...