| | It wasn't as if Deuce McAllister really needed to escape. Sure, Oxford, Miss., is not a large town by any stretch of the imagination, and, yes, McAllister has been its star attraction ever since arriving on campus in 1998. After all, setting a new school record for career all-purpose yards (3,401), averaging 6.42 yards per carry and leading Ole Miss to an 8-4 season in 1999 and an Independence Bowl win over Oklahoma can make it tough for a guy to blend in.
Still, things had been manageable for the criminal justice major from Morton, Miss. But the idea of dropping out for just a bit began sounding better and better, especially once he saw his first "McAllister for Heisman" bumper sticker and realized that his senior season was going to be a little crazy.
And so, while the other legitimate Heisman Trophy contenders presumably spent their offseasons working out, honing skills, preparing hard for the fall campaign, McAllister decided to go to Costa Rica. To live. For the summer. Considering the high crime rate there and foreign surroundings, McAllister's coaches weren't exactly thrilled with the idea..
"My position coach was like, 'There's no way I'm letting you go down there and get sick and ruin your whole senior career,' " McAllister says.
But McAllister didn't let up and wasn't about to give in, no matter what his coaches said.
|  | | Deuce McAllister rushed for 809 yards and 12 TDs and had 201 yards receiving last year. |
"I looked at it as if something's going to happen it's going to happen regardless," he says. "I just thought it would be a good opportunity for me to get away, experience a new culture and an opportunity to go learn a new language."
It was a plan McAllister and quarterback Romero Miller concocted a while back: go to Costa Rica, take six hours of Spanish, come back, graduate early, win the national championship, McAllister gets the Heisman, and with school out of the way -- concentrate on the NFL combines and preparing for life after college.
Unfortunately for Miller, the plan didn't fit with his course schedule and McAllister was left on his own. Still it was still a good plan and he decided to go it alone. He knew he needed an outlet to breathe and some time to be just another face in the crowd, instead of a campus superstar mobbed for autographs walking to class.
"I just wanted to be a regular student taking classes," he says.
Eventually, McAllister won over head coach David Cutcliffe and received his blessing to make the trip.
"I had a fear about it initially and the first thing that went through my mind was his safety certainly," Cutcliffe says. "I wanted to know where was he staying, who was he staying with, where the school was located. After getting involved with it and realizing the people that were involved with it, how well it was run, I felt very good about it. It finally dawned on me, this is pretty brave for this guy to take this on himself."
As part of the program, McAllister lived in with a local family, and promptly became the playmate for a 4-year-old daughter, whose English was about as good as McAllister's Spanish.
"The first couple of days she always wanted to play, so it started off as just playing, but the longer I stayed there, I started to learn (more) Spanish." he says. "She was taking English and I would help her and she would help me," he says.
Together, McAllister and his host family forged a friendship and an understanding.
"They went out of their way to take care of me, like I was on of their own children," he says. "A lot of times I didn't even know what I was eating. But I knew if in my house my mom was going to take the time out to cook for me, the least I could do was eat it."
School turned out to be a grind he didn't expect. Classes began at 8 a.m. and didn't finish until 3 p.m. And, of course, everything was conducted in Spanish. Getting a proper workout in was even tougher. McAllister joined an athletic club and tried to keep up with what he knew his teammates (and opponents) were doing back home, but it was hardly the same. The only football he threw or caught all summer was to a 4-year-old, suddenly his new best friend.
"I really wasn't worried about the workouts because I knew I had plenty of time when I got back to play catchup," he says. "But it was definitely on my mind and I did whatever I could."
Part of it was hooking up with a local soccer team, which, at first was hesitant about inviting the 6-foot-1, 220-pound American to play. But McAllister quickly allayed their concerns -- he grew up playing forward on a soccer team in Morton -- and, in one game, scored the winning goal.
Back home, news of his activities and well-being, initially, was hard to come by.
"At least once a week we were calling and more than once it was difficult to get through," Cutcliffe says. "We would call the school and you'd have a communication barrier. I think a couple of times we got a McDonalds. But it didn"t take long for them to realize when you said, 'McAllister,' they knew exactly what we were talking about. "Sometimes we said 'Dos,' so I guess they knew who we were talking about."
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I love to think that if what Deuce has accomplished here was done when he wasn't relaxed, just think what can happen when he is relaxed. ” |
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— Ole Miss QB Romero Miller |
Along the way, McAllister says he gained a better understanding of his own life and his own role with regards to football. The world is a lot bigger than he ever imagined. Before the trip, football seemed so large and encompassing where as after the trip it seems like such a small, but still important part, of who he is. It's called perspective.
"I learned to be more patient," he says. "That's the one thing they do down there. They're not in a rush. They look at it as if it's going to happen, it's going to happen. And now, I'm not in a rush to make things happen. I'm just going to go out and be patient with everything and just go out and play my game."
For Cutcliffe and his staff, they were just happy the franchise was home safe and sound.
"The first day I was back I talked to Coach Cut and he just looked me up and down to see exactly what I looked like," McAllister says. "He told me I was in pretty good shape. For me, it was good to get back, see the guys and see how everybody was doing."
Miller noticed a change in his roommate and best friend, too.
"I think he's a little bit more relaxed," Miller says. "Before he went, it seemed like was always in a rush. Now it seems like since he's been down there, he's sort of relaxed and sort of laid back."
And that can only bode bad things for opposing defenses.
"I love to think that if what Deuce has accomplished here was done when he wasn't relaxed, just think what can happen when he is relaxed," Miller says.
We'll all soon find out.
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