Switzer was "in awe"
Source unknown:
"It didn't take but a second, when you looked over, to figure out who [Aikman] was, because he was taller than the rest of them," Switzer said. "When I saw the ball jump out of his hands -- his motion, his delivery, the release -- I could not believe what I had just seen. I stood there in awe, knowing I had seen something special. It's one of those moments in life you remember.
"I keep telling people, I knew before anybody else knew."
Aikman ultimately turned down Jimmy Johnson, then coaching at Oklahoma State, because he felt he had a better chance to win a national championship at Oklahoma. As it turned out, he was right, though it didn't happen exactly as Aikman had planned.
Aikman rejected Johnson again after his sophomore season when he decided to transfer to UCLA instead of Miami, where Johnson then was coaching. Switzer initiated the Bruins' interest in Aikman by calling UCLA coach Terry Donahue on Aikman's behalf.
"I really didn't realize what we had gotten until I saw him the first day on the practice field," Donahue said. "...When I saw him throw, I just said, 'Oh, my gosh.' I called Switzer and thanked him."
In the two seasons that followed a redshirt season, Aikman went 20-4 as the Bruins starter and his team won the Aloha Bowl and the Cotton Bowl, respectively, in two postseason appearances. But losses to Southern Cal -- 17-13 in 1987 and 31-22 in 1988 -- cost Aikman & Co. trips to the Rose Bowl.
"The only athletic regret I have is that at UCLA I failed to take our team to the Rose Bowl," Aikman said. "That's really the only thing I can look back on and think, 'Wow, I wish I had been able to do that.'"
Aikman finished his career as the third-highest rated passer in NCAA history. In two seasons at UCLA, he completed 64.8 percent of his passes for 5,298 yards, with 41 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. He was third in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1988 behind Oklahoma State running back Barry Sanders and USC quarterback Rodney Peete.
"We probably offensively were capable of winning a national championship," Donahue said. "Defensively, we had gotten hurt during that [1988] season and lost some of our better players toward the end of the season and couldn't play as good a defense as you need to play to be a national champion. But it certainly had nothing to do with Troy Aikman.
"If everybody on the team had the ability and the competitiveness and the leadership and the talent that that guy had, you would have won back-to-back national championships. He was certainly a tremendously successful college quarterback, and I really hope someday he'll be in the College Hall of Fame. He should be."
In 1989, Aikman became the NFL Draft's first overall pick by the Cowboys, who recently had named Johnson head coach. Tony Mandarich (Green Bay), Barry Sanders (Detroit), Derrick Thomas (Kansas City) and Deion Sanders (Atlanta) followed Dallas' selection of Aikman in one of the greatest top-five drafts in NFL history.
"I joked with Troy," Johnson said. "I said, 'You turned me down at Oklahoma State; you turned me at Miami. You can't turn me down with the Cowboys, because I'm going to draft you No. 1.'"
Seventeen years later, Aikman is a bust -- a bronze bust in Canton.
"After a career of really putting team accomplishment ahead of personal achievement, when it was all said and done, I'm being bestowed with one of the greatest individual honors you could ever be given," Aikman said. "I'm very proud of that. I think in there somewhere is a lesson for young kids. That means more to me by receiving this honor than anything else."
"It didn't take but a second, when you looked over, to figure out who [Aikman] was, because he was taller than the rest of them," Switzer said. "When I saw the ball jump out of his hands -- his motion, his delivery, the release -- I could not believe what I had just seen. I stood there in awe, knowing I had seen something special. It's one of those moments in life you remember.
"I keep telling people, I knew before anybody else knew."
Aikman ultimately turned down Jimmy Johnson, then coaching at Oklahoma State, because he felt he had a better chance to win a national championship at Oklahoma. As it turned out, he was right, though it didn't happen exactly as Aikman had planned.
Aikman rejected Johnson again after his sophomore season when he decided to transfer to UCLA instead of Miami, where Johnson then was coaching. Switzer initiated the Bruins' interest in Aikman by calling UCLA coach Terry Donahue on Aikman's behalf.
"I really didn't realize what we had gotten until I saw him the first day on the practice field," Donahue said. "...When I saw him throw, I just said, 'Oh, my gosh.' I called Switzer and thanked him."
In the two seasons that followed a redshirt season, Aikman went 20-4 as the Bruins starter and his team won the Aloha Bowl and the Cotton Bowl, respectively, in two postseason appearances. But losses to Southern Cal -- 17-13 in 1987 and 31-22 in 1988 -- cost Aikman & Co. trips to the Rose Bowl.
"The only athletic regret I have is that at UCLA I failed to take our team to the Rose Bowl," Aikman said. "That's really the only thing I can look back on and think, 'Wow, I wish I had been able to do that.'"
Aikman finished his career as the third-highest rated passer in NCAA history. In two seasons at UCLA, he completed 64.8 percent of his passes for 5,298 yards, with 41 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. He was third in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1988 behind Oklahoma State running back Barry Sanders and USC quarterback Rodney Peete.
"We probably offensively were capable of winning a national championship," Donahue said. "Defensively, we had gotten hurt during that [1988] season and lost some of our better players toward the end of the season and couldn't play as good a defense as you need to play to be a national champion. But it certainly had nothing to do with Troy Aikman.
"If everybody on the team had the ability and the competitiveness and the leadership and the talent that that guy had, you would have won back-to-back national championships. He was certainly a tremendously successful college quarterback, and I really hope someday he'll be in the College Hall of Fame. He should be."
In 1989, Aikman became the NFL Draft's first overall pick by the Cowboys, who recently had named Johnson head coach. Tony Mandarich (Green Bay), Barry Sanders (Detroit), Derrick Thomas (Kansas City) and Deion Sanders (Atlanta) followed Dallas' selection of Aikman in one of the greatest top-five drafts in NFL history.
"I joked with Troy," Johnson said. "I said, 'You turned me down at Oklahoma State; you turned me at Miami. You can't turn me down with the Cowboys, because I'm going to draft you No. 1.'"
Seventeen years later, Aikman is a bust -- a bronze bust in Canton.
"After a career of really putting team accomplishment ahead of personal achievement, when it was all said and done, I'm being bestowed with one of the greatest individual honors you could ever be given," Aikman said. "I'm very proud of that. I think in there somewhere is a lesson for young kids. That means more to me by receiving this honor than anything else."
posted by The Gryphon at 11:35 AM
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