Payback Time : After an Off-Season of Highs and Lows, Detmer Is Eager to Prove Critics Wrong

PROVO, Utah —  For the first time in nearly eight months--it seemed more like eight years to him--the 1990 Heisman Trophy winner strode up behind his offensive line to take a snap. He dropped back five steps, looked left, looked right, looked cool, then fired a pass over the middle to Micah Matsuzaki as the wide receiver broke free across Brigham Young University’s practice field.

“Same old Ty,” Matsuzaki said. “Same old Ty.”

Ty Detmer is eager to get on with football after shoulder injuries forced him out of last season’s Holiday Bowl and into an off-season of joy and tragedy.

He may be, as Matsuzaki said, the “same old Ty,” but, from the moment in December when he won college football’s most prestigious individual honor until the first day of fall practice, much changed in Detmer’s life.

To begin with, BYU lost its final two games last season, to Hawaii and Texas A&M;, by a combined score of 124-42. In the Holiday Bowl blowout against the Aggies, Detmer suffered separated shoulders. The right shoulder required surgery in January.

During the next two months, Detmer’s sister, Dee, lost her baby in the ninth month of pregnancy. Then his grandfather, Hubert Detmer, to whom Detmer was particularly close, died of cancer. And not long thereafter, his mother, Betty Detmer, was found to have breast cancer.

In April, Detmer changed religions--from Methodist to Mormon--becoming the most celebrated religious convert in Utah.

In July, he got married.

In between, the Pro Set card company of Dallas, contrary to NCAA rules, issued a Ty Detmer football card as a part of its NFL set, precipitating a legal battle between BYU and the company.

Through all of this, Detmer traveled to New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Nevada, Ohio, Hawaii and Colorado for awards, banquets, funerals and a honeymoon.

“It’s been an eventful time for him, a bittersweet time,” said LaVell Edwards, BYU’s longtime football coach. “I don’t think Ty’s been able to do anything in a normal way.”

Including winning the Heisman Trophy. On the afternoon of Saturday, Dec. 1, Detmer hit the heights when C. Peter Lambos of the Downtown Athletic Club in New York proclaimed the quarterback “this year’s greatest football player, the winner of the 1990 Heisman Award.”

Detmer’s teammates celebrated by chucking him into the swimming pool at the Princess Kaiulani Hotel, where the Cougars stayed before their night game at Hawaii. A few hours later, the Rainbow defense all but drowned him during its 59-28 victory.

Detmer plumbed the depths.

“A disaster,” Detmer said. “We got our butts kicked.”

Nothing like four whole hours of pure, unadulterated Heisman joy.

Twenty-eight days later, in the Holiday Bowl, college football’s player of the year suffered a separated left shoulder, ran off the field, took an injection of pain killer, then ran back on the field while doctors and trainers were still deciding whether he was physically capable of playing.

“It was incredible,” said George Curtis, BYU’s trainer. “There we were discussing options and he’s already back in the game. The doctor wasn’t adamantly opposed, but we didn’t think he could do it because of the pain. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and I’d never seen anything like it. That kid is tough.”

But then Detmer was hit again as he released a pass. This time, his right shoulder was separated and it was clear, even to him, that his season had ended.

Later that night, doctors decided that both shoulders would heal without surgery. The next morning, the quarterback slumped into his family’s van for a trip to his home in Texas. When they got there, the Detmers dropped in on Bud Curtis, a San Antonio orthopedist, who promptly suggested surgery for the right shoulder to repair ligament damage and thought a screw in Detmer’s dislodged collarbone would help the healing process.

The left shoulder would be left to make it on its own.

Detmer and his father, Sonny, agreed.

After the surgery, Detmer began a gradual rehabilitation that had evolved into high-intensity weightlifting by the start of summer.

“When we first got him (in May), he couldn’t bench-press the bar,” said Chuck Stiggins, BYU’s strength and conditioning coach. “Now he’s bench-pressing 265 pounds, 10 pounds more than before (his injuries). All our strength tests indicate his shoulders are significantly stronger than they were before.”

Detmer’s shoulders had carried heavy burdens of another kind--his family’s adversities--months before he made it to BYU’s weight room.

“That was tough on him,” said Edwards, who spoke with his quarterback regularly during that period. “About the same time his mother was diagnosed, his grandpa died. They are a close family. He was really close to his grandfather.”

When Detmer received the Heisman, it had gone directly to Hubert Detmer’s coffee table in his San Antonio home.

Detmer, although unceasingly polite and cordial, does not discuss his personal grief.

“These are things I’ve had to deal with,” he said simply. “I’ve been up and down.”

On July 2, Detmer and Kim Herbert were married in Salt Lake City. Their reception was attended by teammates, coaches, family, friends and, of course, reporters.

“I’d say somewhere around 3 or 4,000 people showed up,” said running back Scott Charlton, who had roomed with Detmer for four years. “There were a ton. We got to stand in line about 4 1/2 hours.”

There have been other changes, as well.

Detmer’s coaches and teammates say he is more serious than in past years, a notable switch considering his reputation as a prankster.

Folks around here still talk about the time Detmer swiped a barbecued pig’s head from a team luau and put it in then-Cougar running back Matt Bellini’s bed.

Mention of the incident elicits a proud smile from the senior quarterback, who insists, however, that such shenanigans are a thing of the past.

“I’ve calmed down some with that stuff,” Detmer said. “I’m older now. I have to be more of a leader.”

“He’s very focused this year,” said Robbie Bosco, former BYU quarterback and now an assistant coach. “With all the things that have happened over the past few months, he’s grown up a lot.”

He has also grown out, which is big news in Provo, where Detmer’s weight is of paramount concern. Last year, the slightly built quarterback dropped weight as the season wore on. Curtis says that Detmer was down to 162 pounds--from 175 at season’s start--the day of the Heisman announcement.

During the off-season, Detmer has been tag-teamed by his wife, Curtis and Stiggins, who force-fed him a minimum of 5,000 calories a day.

“My routine has been, ‘Eat more, lift harder,’ ” Detmer said.

The good news for BYU fans is that Detmer, at last count, was up to 187 pounds. And, Stiggins says, stronger than ever.

As for Detmer’s arm strength?

“I haven’t noticed any problems with his arm,” said Matt Zundel, a senior tight end. “He’s the same as he was before the injuries.”

Exactly how good that is apparently is open to debate. Football observers seem to agree that Detmer is long on leadership, savvy and unusual abilities to read defenses. But some say he is short on arm zip and height, although he is listed at 6 feet.

One football magazine rated Detmer, who is 426 yards short of breaking the NCAA career passing record, the 12th-best quarterback in college this year. Others excluded him from first-, second- and even third-team All-American lists.

Even in Utah, Weber State Coach Dave Arslanian said earlier this month that he wouldn’t trade his quarterback--Division I-AA All-American Jamie Martin--for any quarterback in the state.

Is this showing a little lack of respect for a man who holds 42 NCAA records for passing and total offense?

“It’s a lot of lack of respect,” Detmer said.

He said it evenly, without raising his voice, but, for Detmer, this kind of pronouncement is akin to screaming.

“They say, ‘He’s a good college player, but he’ll never make it in the pros,’ ” Detmer said.

“(ESPN analyst) Mel Kiper said that. That’s one reason he’s not coaching. I don’t think (Joe) Montana was much bigger than I am coming out of college. I know I can read defenses. What’s the big deal about a couple of inches?

“I’m a competitive person. It gets you going when you hear things like that.”

The long-term question of whether Detmer can make it in the NFL is as intriguing as it is unanswerable at this point. Some scouts guess yes, some no. Edwards, who has seen a number of his quarterbacks go on to the NFL, says probably.

“Our system here is based on making the right decision, getting the ball up on time and seeing the field,” the coach said. “If Ty gets into the right program in the pros, the 49ers or some (team) like them, he could be another Joe Montana. His arm is good enough, he’s so smart, he has such a grasp of the game.”

He also has a tendency to force the ball into coverage, resulting in interceptions. Along with his 5,188 yards passing and 41 touchdowns last season, he had 28 interceptions.

“I need to be more consistent and cut down on my interceptions,” Detmer said. “If an opening is there, I’ve always been one to take a chance. This year, we have such a young team that we’ll run more of a ball-control type offense.”

Which brings up a question: Can Detmer become the second player in history--the first was Ohio State running back Archie Griffin--to win two Heismans?

A key to the answer comes from another change the quarterback must deal with--new personnel in most offensive positions.

Another key is the Cougars’ schedule. Their first three games are against Florida State, Thursday night at Anaheim Stadium in the Pigskin Classic, UCLA on Sept. 7 at the Rose Bowl and at Penn State. It is doubtful whether the Heisman electorate can stomach more blowouts after last season’s.

Of course, any debilitating injury would quickly answer the question.

“We anticipate people wanting to blitz him, harass him and make life difficult for him,” said Roger French, BYU’s offensive coordinator. “We know Florida State, and everybody else, is going to come after Ty like a ton of bricks.”

Let them come, Detmer said. After the events of the last eight months, a ton of bricks is a load he is willing to shoulder.