Thursday, September 7 Texas Christian's Tomlinson quietly a Heisman hopeful By Ed Graney Special to ESPN.com

It's not as if he didn't agree with the announcers. It's not as if he too couldn't believe some of the moves, the jukes, the separation. It's not as if he wasn't impressed.

	TCU's LaDainian Tomlinson led the nation in rushing with 1,850 yards last season.

LaDainian Tomlinson respects the game of football and anyone who can, if only for a few minutes, make the field his personal stage. It's not as if he can't give others their due, their props.

Thing is, will there be enough left for him next year?

He sat there, the nation's leading rusher this season, the guy who went for a cool NCAA-record 406 against Texas-El Paso, and watched Virginia Tech quarterback Michael Vick prance and dance all over the television screen, in and around Florida State defenders during last week's national championship.

The same Vick who was one of five Heisman Trophy finalists, who most have anointed next year's favorite to strike the pose for real.

Well, him and a guy named Drew Brees.

"Michael Vick is a great player," said Tomlinson. "Everyone knows that. But I think what I did was also special this season and it didn't seem like as many people noticed."

There are reasons for it. Make that letters. Three of them. W-A-C.

Tomlinson rushed for 1,850 yards and 18 touchdowns for Texas Christian, which plays in the Western Athletic Conference, which hardly spends time on the same playground as the nation's elite leagues, which wouldn't know a BCS invitation if it arrived first-class mail.

If you are a WAC player, however brilliant, yours is a weekly destiny of reaching beyond the minimum limits of greatness. Oh, it's possible to compete in the conference and win trophies like the Heisman. Just ask Ty Detmer.

It's also possible to compete in the conference, be twice as gifted as any other candidate, and not win. Just ask Marshall Faulk.

Ron Dayne won the Heisman this year and Thomas Jones won everyone's nod as the best NFL prospect. Tomlinson accepted his fate as a second-team this and that.

"We don't get on television as much as other conferences," said Tomlinson. "We don't get the hype. But when teams are stacking eight and nine defenders against you every play and you're still going for 200 and 300 and 400 yards, I really don't think it matters who you play for."

He will work hard this off-season, but not because of any vision about Vick running or Brees throwing or awards or glory. He will religiously visit the weight room, where four of six TCU records for running backs are in his name. He will keep his speed and massage his 40 time by running those hills in the blistering Texas heat. It's just him, is all.

"He is a kid with a very strong faith that everything happens for a reason," said TCU coach Dennis Franchione, whose team capped an 8-4 season by upsetting East Carolina in the Mobile Alabama Bowl. "I think when you look at some of the games he had this year, particularly the 406 yards, something no player in the history of the college game had accomplished, you have to say he was slighted a bit."

Tomlinson in his senior year can't control the WAC factor (TCU moves to Conference USA in 2001), but he can make it awfully difficult for media and others who vote on postseason honors not to glance toward Fort Worth. His entire offensive line returns, not to mention those instincts. Football players talk about being in the zone, too, a place Tomlinson (5-11, 217 pounds) says he visited a few times this year. He knew it was a special season when he gained 300 yards against San Jose State. He never dreamed of 400.

Maybe that's it. He's more about reality than fantasy. On his left shoulder to a tattoo. It is a picture of his mother (a former Pastor for a gospel chruch in Waco) surrounded by the words "My Inspiration -- Loreane."

"She has taught me about life," said Tomlinson. "She taught me how to be a man and that nothing is ever handed to you. You earn whatever it is you achieve.

"Those other guys (Vick and Brees) and anyone else who has a great year in the fall ... I don't want any special treatment. I just want a fair chance."

His numbers are certainly deserving.