Dwyer quietly building toward big finish

By Doug Roberson

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Jonathan Dwyer thought this season would be easy.

Easy ... as in last year, the first in new coach Paul Johnson's spread-option offense at Georgia Tech, when he ran for 1,395 yards and was named the ACC's Player of the Year.

Easy ... as in this season's first play from scrimmage, a 74-yard streak for a touchdown.

There was talk of Dwyer being a Heisman Trophy candidate and the most NFL-ready running back in the nation. But it has gotten a little tougher to impress people. So much tougher that Dwyer, who is ahead of last year's pace (904 yards to 899), isn't even in the running to repeat as the ACC's player of the year.

An informal poll of a sample of ACC sportswriters shows that Dwyer wouldn't finish among the top three in voting for the award, though there are several weeks remaining in the season and he is a strong finisher.

The reasons are many, but in summary: a slow start, Dwyer trying to break every run for a touchdown, several conference quarterbacks posting unbelievable statistics each week, and lastly, Dwyer's own teammates for the No. 10 Yellow Jackets are playing really well.

"I think he started out the first three games, and he didn't start off with as big of a blast," Johnson said. "Against Miami he got hurt and had seven yards on national TV. So everyone just wrote him off."

For a time, as things got tougher, Dwyer said he became frustrated. He wanted more big plays. The second year was supposed to be all about showing the potential of the offense. That is what the players and coaches talked about in the offseason. While the offense was ahead of the previous year's pace through this season's first seven games, Dwyer wasn't. Instead of being better than last season, he had rushed for 91 fewer yards.

"I was running good, just not trusting everything," Dwyer said about the beginning of the season. "Things weren't going the way I thought they would go."

It took a talk from some of the leaders on the team to get Dwyer turned around.

The week before the game against Virginia, quarterback Josh Nesbitt, safety Morgan Burnett and A-back Roddy Jones told Dwyer basically to quit messing around, to stop trying to fake out defenders and take every carry for a touchdown, but put his head down and run over them. The big plays will follow, they said.

"We can all tell when Dwyer's not at his true form," Jones said. "He was having troubles at the beginning of the season with his shoulder. I don't think he was running like we all knew he could run. The way he's been running recently, we say it's the ‘08 Dwyer running again. He's running over people, and he's getting us excited.

"He took the constructive criticism and took the challenge and really responded."

Yes, he did. Dwyer went out and flattened Virginia cornerback Chris Cook a few days later as part of a 125-yard effort. He did the same to Vanderbilt's Casey Heyward last week as he posted a career-high 186 yards. And Johnson said that Dwyer left a lot of yards on the field, as well.

Johnson points out that Dwyer is a strong finisher. He had four consecutive 100-yard games and seven touchdowns at the end of the 2008 regular season.

If he can do that again this season, Johnson said there's no reason Dwyer shouldn't be considered for conference honors, no matter how well Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis (2,371 yards, 15 TDs) or Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder (2,619 yards, 13 TDs) are playing.

When asked to make a case for Dwyer, Johnson says he's one of the harder players in the league to defend and it wouldn't take much to defend Dwyer's selection, should he win the player of the year award again. But Johnson points out that he thinks he can make a case for two or three players on his team who could win that award, providing they beat Wake Forest, Duke and Georgia to finish the regular season.

That team success ultimately might prevent Dwyer from repeating as the ACC's player of the year, not that he says he would ever take individual goals over team goals.

While last season Nesbitt was in and out with injuries, this season he hasn't missed a snap because of injury and is putting up MVP numbers: 739 yards rushing, 1,172 yards passing and 19 touchdowns. In fact, there is some talk that he should be in the mix for the Heisman Trophy. Wide receiver Demaryius Thomas has benefited from Nesbitt's confidence and now leads the ACC in receiving with 823 yards. A-back Anthony Allen has stepped in to provide a touchdown threat from anywhere on the field with a 10.7-yards-per-carry average.

Dwyer said he would say he was "good" in the season's first seven games, and that he's "fearless" now. With Johnson continually telling him that he's doing well, and his backups Preston Lyons and Richard Watson reminding him to believe in his ability, Dwyer said he's ready to finish strong.

"I thought it would be easy," Dwyer said. "Everybody's gunning for me week in and week out. When you have those accolades, a target's going to be put on your back. It's something I took lightly. It wasn't easy at first. It's still not easy, but I've been working hard. Everything I do I'm putting out maximum effort. I know it's going to work out."