Player of the Year Whitney knew how to win

Now you see him.

Now you don't.

Jackson coach Carl Gross once said tackling Mario Whitney was like tackling smoke.

Indeed, Whitney was magical.

With his cat-like jukes, he'd vanish from the grasp of one, two, maybe three defenders, and with a slide of the feet, he'd re-appear in the end zone.

He was a player who, every time he touched the ball, made thousands of fans hold their breath as they waited to see something they had never seen before.

"How'd he do that?" had to have been asked hundreds of times during his career.

So it shouldn't surprise anyone that Whitney's high school career ended up just like so many of his touchdown runs. Has it really been three years since he scored his first touchdown on his first varsity carry? Is the Mario Era already over?

Poof! Gone.

Just like that.

Selecting Whitney as the Southeast Missourian football player of the year was the easy part.

What's difficult is coming up with new words to describe the magic.

No comparison

Whitney, with his blazing speed (4.38 40-yard dash), was by far the best player in the region.

Many believe he was the best player in the state.

Whitney's statistics are like something from a video game.

He rushed the ball 290 times for 2,782 yards (9.6 yards per carry). He scored 43 touchdowns -- 41 of them rushing, one receiving and one on a kickoff return. He also threw a touchdown pass. His 262 points set a scoring record for the SEMO North Conference.

He led his team where it had never gone before -- the Class 5A semifinals. The Indians went 12-1 and ended up ranked the fourth-best team in the state.

He set a state record for most yards in a game -- 463.

He ended up the state's all-time career leader for yards per carry -- 9.2.

But the numbers don't tell the whole story.

His flair was even more impressive than his numbers.

"He had four or five runs every game where you just say 'Wow,'" said Gross. "Every time you saw him do something the best you've ever seen, he'd do something better. He was just that kind of player."

No parts of soft

Whitney had numerous runs of more than 50 yards in his career, but his favorite run this year was a 10-yard score against Perryville.

Whitney received the toss on a sweep to the left and the Pirates were all over it. At least three defenders had angles on Whitney and, with no blockers in front of him, No. 20 had nowhere to go but out of bounds.

Perhaps a year earlier, Whitney would've taken the easy way out, take the loss and line up again. Not this time.

He broke an arm tackle near the out-of-bounds stripe. Then, he cut back toward the middle of the field and plowed over the next man, knocking him on his back.

Barely bounced off stride himself, Whitney accelerated again and outran everyone past the orange pylon.

"That was the first time I ran over somebody like that," Whitney said.

But it wasn't the last.

Whitney became a much more physical player this year, proving to skeptics that he could indeed run inside as well as outside.

As Gross pointed out, "People talk about him being soft. When you carry the ball 290 times, there ain't no parts of soft."

Getting tougher mentally

In football terms, Whitney grew up a lot this year.

Not only did he become a more physical runner, he learned to trust his offensive line.

Gross said he began seeing a difference in Whitney's mental approach last winter, following Jackson's disappointing loss to Poplar Bluff in the district championship game.

"The biggest thing he improved on was his mental toughness," Gross said. "Before this year, there would be no way he could run it 30 times a game. He learned how to run between the tackles and how to finish runs.

"He got into a comfort zone with his line. When he ran hard, his line fed off that. And when they blocked hard, he fed off that. You could see him developing last winter with the chemistry he developed with this senior class. You could just tell it was going to be a group that wouldn't let each other down."

The next level

Whitney gave a non-binding verbal commitment to the University of Missouri this summer.

But that stance has since softened as the University of Tennessee has shown considerable interest in the last few months.

Whitney plans to take an official visit to Missouri soon and will visit Tennessee in January. He cannot sign with a college until Feb. 6.

Wherever he winds up playing, Whitney has only the highest expectations of himself.

"It may be far-fetched," Whitney admitted. "But my ultimate goal is to win the Heisman Trophy and to go pro."