How do you run a Heisman Trophy campaign in the digital age?
For that we turned to USC veteran media relations guru Tim Tessalone. Tessalone was the lead blocker for Carson Palmer, Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, and this season he’s got three legit candidates — QB Matt Barkley and WRs Robert Woods and Marquise Lee.
Barkley entered the season as the No. 1 candidate, and it took all of one play — a 75-yard touchdown to Lee on the game’s first play — for him to take his campaign to the field. Lee, however, finished with 10 catches for 197 yards and two touchdowns and returned a kickoff 100 yards for another touchdown.
At one point in the third quarter, after Barkley took a hard hit, he got up screaming at Lee. No, they were not arguing who deserved the Heisman. Lee had broken his route and Barkley was doing what great quarterbacks do.
“When I’m out there, it’s nothing personal,’’ Barkley said after the game. “He knows what I’m expecting from him and I know what he’s expecting from me. If I don’t put a ball where it needs to be, I expect him to get on me because it should be perfect.”
Which happened earlier in the game when Lee gestured to Barkley after he felt the quarterback had missed him. Woods had six catches for 42 yards and two touchdowns but he earned our love when he apologized to a teammate for missing a block.
Can you imagine Santonio Holmes apologizing to Shonn Greene? But we digress. Tessalone knows he doesn’t need a lot of gimmicks. Barkley and Woods are well known and Lee opened eyes last season.
Tessalone, who called the process fluid, recently released an app, PROJECT TRO7AN. The No. 7 is worn by Barkley and safety T.J. McDonald, a candidate for the Thorpe. You can also find a video on Lee, Woods, and Penn State transfer Silas Redd, who ran for 56 yards on nine carries and a touchdown.
Barkley, a self-described “tech-nerd,’’ helped design the app. You can see his smiling face in Times Square, where USC has rented time on a digital billboard. — one minute every 15 minutes Barkley’s image is projected.
The days of mailing out leaves (Ryan Leaf) or miniature stock cars (D’Angelo Williams) are over. Social media rules the day. Besides, Tessalone knows his product.
“You don’t have to change a player’s last name,’’ Tessalone said in a brilliant dig at Notre Dame, which changed the pronunciation of a former quarterback so it rhymed with Heisman.
The Trojans play in the nation’s second-largest media market. They’ll play a team (Notre Dame) from the nation’s third largest market (Chicago) in November. And Saturday they come to the Big Apple for a game against Syracuse at MetLife Stadium.
“We have a great team,’’ safety Shamarko Thomas said after a gut-retching 42-41 loss to Northwestern on Saturday. “We have big time play-makers. We got speed and size.’’
So does USC. The Trojans also have an App and a digital billboard in Times Square. Cool school, for sure.