Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

7/19/2010 at 1:00am

Image by Will Flowers

Arkansas Razorback quarterback Ryan Mallett, shown here during the Hogs' Liberty Bowl win, has a national buzz building around him that isn't necessarily spontaneous.

Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett has been mentioned for months as a possible candidate for the Heisman Trophy and other major college football awards. The buzz has been building, as Mallett has been featured on a number of national media platforms, including football preview magazines and TV shows, radio broadcasts and websites devoted to college football.

Plenty of work is being put in behind the scenes to keep Mallett in the national football conversation.

Who is responsible and how can the visibility be maximized for Mallett and the Razorbacks?

Associate athletic director for media relations director Kevin Trainor and associate media relations director Zack Higbee have been instrumental in planning and implementing elements of the campaign.

Both Trainor and Higbee have major college award experience, including Higbee’s work with 2007 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow at Florida. Trainor most recently worked on campaigns for two-time Doak Walker Award winner Darren McFadden (2006/2007) and 2007 Rimington Award winner Jonathan Luigs.

We asked Trainor to explain to ArkansasSports360.com readers how Mallett’s campaign is being handled from the inside. Mallett and the Razorbacks will have a captive audience this week at SEC Media Days in Birmingham, meeting with hundreds of local, regional and national media on Thursday.

ArkansasSports360.com: A lot of folks have asked me when Ryan Mallett’s Heisman Trophy campaign begins. Didn’t it more or less start with the announcement he was coming back to school?

Kevin Trainor: Yes, the Ryan Mallett campaign for not just the Heisman Trophy, but the Davey O’Brien Award, the Maxwell, the Walter Camp, began with that announcement. We’ve been looking at every opportunity we have from that point. It’s under way. It’s been started. Certainly, some people look for very public starts to something, but this is something that has been ongoing with Ryan since, really, late last season.

Darren McFadden twice finished runner-up. What do you carry over from that experience to help with Ryan?

We’re very fortunate I had the opportunity to be part of two seasons with Darren. Zack Higbee on our staff was very instrumental in Tim Tebow winning the Heisman Trophy. Certainly, Tim and Darren were two of the marquee players in recent football history. Having that experience you have an appreciation and understanding for how the system works. Sometimes you feel like you have to get out there hard and fast, do a lot of things, but I think what most people may not realize [is that] there are things that are part of this campaign that they might not realize.

What types of things? You mean stuff like setting up photo shoots and interviews, compiling stats and things the public might not see first-hand?

Well, late last year and the early part of this year we were working with preseason magazines, pushing them and telling them we think Ryan Mallett is the best quarterback in the country, we feel like he’s somebody you should put on your cover. From the time Ryan announced he was coming back, there’s been an ongoing dialogue with national writers. Ryan has been on ESPN’s College Football Live a number of times, as have his teammates. All of that is part of it. Like anything else, there’s some momentum to all this. If you’re the Davey O’Brien winner, the Walter Camp player of the year or the Maxwell Award winner, you’ve got a good shot at being in the mix for the Heisman Trophy.

What role has Ryan’s injury played in the campaign? Has it effected what you can do with him at all?

His injury really hasn’t changed a whole lot in our sense. We certainly expect him to be ready to play. It has given us a chance to show that Ryan has really matured and taken command as a leader of this football team. We had several national outlets in during spring practice and several more that talked with Ryan over the phone. I think the injury will provide another great story angle when Ryan overcomes adversity and is able to go out and perform to the level we know he can.

To have a player in the conversation for national awards is good for the football program. How can it benefit the Athletic Department and university at large?

There’s no question when you have a marquee student-athlete like Ryan Mallett, it’s great for the football program, the Athletic Department and the University of Arkansas. When Darren McFadden and Felix Jones were part of the program, you saw kids wearing their jerseys that maybe hadn’t always been Arkansas fans. You saw more of a buzz about the University of Arkansas. That’s what is exciting about being in the situation we’re in. This isn’t just about Ryan Mallett or the football team. This is a chance for the fans and people of the state to take pride in the program and the university we have. … That’s why you embrace an opportunity like this.

There have been some pretty public attempts at getting players into the Heisman conversation. How effective have things like a billboard in Times Square and mailing out memorabilia been, and do you anticipate anything like that for Ryan Mallett?

For the Heisman Trophy, in particular, there are just more than 900 voters. There are a lot more than that who debate the award. There are a lot more than that who see the publicity, but at the end of the day, there are about 900 people that vote. … If you go back and look at the history of the award, it … is primarily based on a player’s performance and a team’s success in the national spotlight. I point people back to last year. When did Mark Ingram win the Heisman Trophy? Certainly, Alabama did a good job of promoting him and putting him in the limelight, but he won with his performance in the SEC championship game. Many things play a role, but I think a big splash in August or September doesn’t necessarily lead to success in December.

Ultimately, a lot depends on what happens on the field, right?

Certainly, you want to put your student-athletes in a position to have their stories told. You want to show a glimpse of who they are as a person. At the end of the day, though, winning the big game, having the big performance and having a signature moment are always key. The Heisman Trophy is the most debated award in college football and maybe sports. … You’ll see a lot of approaches and styles, but I think performance on the field, team success and the name recognition of an institution like the University of Arkansas plays into who wins the Heisman Trophy.

Tagged: Tim Tebow, Doak Walker Award, Rimington Award, SEC Media Days, Zack Higbee, ESPN, Walter Camp Award, Maxwell Award, Arkansas Razorbacks, Kevin Trainor, Ryan Mallett, Heisman Trophy, Darren McFadden, Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, Felix Jones