Heisman Candidate
Jim weighed 120 pou,nds in the 9th grade and his coach in California started him out on free weights, He got up to 120 pounds on the bench and did a lot of tricep work (dips, french presses and tricep pushdowns), This tricep work really helped his throwing, When asked what a young QB should start doing to become grea!.
Jim quickly responded, "He should start lifting weights in high schooL Vou can throw more passes more often, It helps your endurance for throwing and greatly helps in preventing InJunes, Jim moved to Utah for his junior year of high schooL He now benchcd 240 pounds al a body weight of 160, Jim kepI up his tricep work religiously and as a senior he weighed 165 pounds, Because of Rench Press Shouldcr (see page 26), Jim Slopped doing this lift but remained on his triccp rouline, Jim was an excellent basketball and baseball player in high schooL He lifted weighls all year round and admits to sneaking in the weight room at times during the basketball season, However, Jim feels he shot bctter the next day after lifting, Strangely, Jim was not heavily recruited at all but Brigham Voung University, with its awesome and prolific aerial attack, felt Jim McMahon could follow in the footsteps of othcr BYU QB greats Iikc Marc Wilson and Gifford Nielson, They wcre so very, very righ!.
Has set ortied 34 NC AA (Division Ilfootball records, , , wit h the 19XI season remaining, I.ed the NC AA in passing elTieieney last season (176,9),27 points ahcad of his neare,t competitor (149 rating), Lcd the NCAA in total offense in 1980 <JX5,6 yards per game). 108 yards per game ahead of his nearest competitor, Mark Herrmann (277), ("Being the most prolific and most efficient (passer) at the same time has bccn next to impossible-not only in passing but in other categories"-NC A A Statistics Service Bulletin.)
All-America first team, 1980, American Football Coaches Association (Kodak)
A II-A merica second tea m, 1980, U ni ted Press In terna tiona I All-America second team, 191W, Associated Press Western Athletic Conference Ollensive Player of the Year, 19XO, Placed fifth in Heisman Trophy voting, 1980 All-Western Athletic Conference, first team (unanimous choice)
Spurts !/Iustrated Player of the Week, October 18, 1980 Game First player in N C A A history (Division I) to pass for more than 4,000 yards in a season (4,571 in 12 games)
In seven games last season, including the Holiday Bowl. he had 400 or more yards passing, In Holiday Bowlill against Southern Methodist. he threw for 446 yards, including a 41-yard touchdown pass after time had run out. BYU won 46-45, As one looks at Jim McMahon's records, it is puzzling why he finishcd only fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1980 as a Junior. Maybe it was because he's small (6' 0", 177) or that he was a junior coming from a sparsely populated area, I believe if he produces similar slats this season he should be the leading candidate for the Heisman 22 Trophy in 1981.
McMahon's rise to greatness is even all the more remarkable when onc considers his ca rly life, Jim, a t age six, st uck a fork deep into his cye and two prongs severed t he retina, The doctors did n 't think he'd see, but as the ycars went by Jim's eye got st ronger.
SI ill t he doctors advised Jim not 10 play sports, Howcver, Jim never considered it a handicap and started organi7ed sports althe age 01'9, He need cd really strong glasses at Ihe time, but now his vision has improvcd to 20/60, He must wear da rk glasses because his eye does not contract and he can't wear contacts becausc his eye doesn't water properly, Now, on game days, Jim plays wit houl his glasses wit h 20/110 vision to the tune of nearly 400 yards per game, From his junior year of high school.
Jim had also had knee problems, He just couldn't extend his leg or hold it up, He finally got it operated on in 1979, There was no ligament or ca rtilege damage, but the doctors took out a 101 of dead tissue, McMahon likes the way his leg feels now and is very confident that the operation was a completc success, BYU's strength coach Chuck Stiggins has a special QB program which is 500/, free weights and 50% Nautilus in the off-season and reports thai Mc Mahon has JOO-pound bench press strength, During the in-season. McMahon has used a 100% Nautilus workout.
Howevcr, for I he 1981-82 year, Sliggins is ent husiastic about a greater percentage of the QB's workout being with free weights, During the season, Jim gets his arm rubbed down every day before and after practice, He is also stretched in the training room so that his arm is really ready for praclice, It has to be because McMahon throws 400 to 500 times per day in practice, He a Iso believes in keeping his arm warm during games when the defense is on the field, He'll wear ajacket and throw on the sideline even on a warm day, Jim believes you've got the "pay the price"
and "when your body starls achin', then is when you start pushin, ·..·Athletics helps teach you to be successful in life, "I nodded in agreement. and then I decided since our interview was about over to call a lineback blitz just to check his reaction, So I said, "Jim, obviously you're too small to play pro football. Are you going into coaching after graduation?" Jim's eyes narrowed for just an inslant. but I could see the hair bristle ever so slightly on the back of his neck, He quickly and matter-of,factly declared, "I'm playing Pro Ball. It's always been a dream of mine,"
He gave me five examples of smaller athletes who are currently playing in the NFL in quick succession, "1I's not how big you are, but what's inside, I k now a lot of people with a II the lools, but they just don't do it," replied McMahon as he looked me right in the eye, Well. McMahon scrambled away from my blitz and scored a TD in my book, That's why I believe Jim McMahon should be a top contender for the Heis~an Trophy,
From BFS Magazine — November/December 1981. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).
