NORMAN, Okla. - Heisman Trophy winner Jason White didn’t return to Oklahoma because he loves the spotlight.

White received clearance from the NCAA for a sixth year of eligibility due to medical hardship stemming from knee surgeries in 2001 and 2002.

In a post-practice huddle on Dec. 19, 2003, White informed teammates of his decision to return.

“That's how he is,” Sooners defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek said. “He's a team guy. He doesn't need all the press or the media. He doesn't care about all of that. He cares about us. He wanted us to be the first to know, and he told us first.”

White didn’t return for more adoration, because teammates still keep his ego in check.

“If you overthrow somebody in practice, you always get, ‘That wasn't a Heisman throw,’ ” White said. “You get around the guys, they'll put you in your place, no matter who you are.”

White didn’t return for vengeance. Remember, he decided to return for a sixth season before last year’s national title game loss in the Sugar Bowl.

Had the Sooners beaten LSU, they would be going for two straight national championships and White for two straight Heismans.

White didn’t stick around to fill a void.

He’s already won the most over-hyped statue in sport.

He’s already won a national championship as a member of the 2000 team, for which he made two appearances (Baylor and Nebraska) and had zero knee surgeries.

Why did White return?

“I just looked at my opportunities,” White said that day he informed his teammates. “Who can't use another year of college? It's the best time of your life, so I'm gonna come back another year.”

White definitely returned to improve his stock. He barely scratched the top 10 list of desired quarterbacks for last April’s NFL draft. Another college season to prove his knees have mended could only help.

“For them to invest the kind of money we feel a guy like Jason could be worth, they want to see more,” Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said of the NFL. “And he can only get better with more repetition and more continuity. All his receivers are back. You put all that together, he’s got a chance to improve as a player, and that can only help him.”

White wasn’t supposed to recover from two knee surgeries. Nor is he supposed to recover from the end of last season, when he burned Heisman voters his final two games. 

“Like any other time, it's a form of motivation for me,” White said.

Unbeknownst to many at the time, White played hurt in the national championship.

Two weeks later, he made his way around campus riding a golf cart with his right knee (loose cartilage), left foot (broken bone under the big toe) and right hand (severe sprain) each in a cast. White then voided all contact in spring ball as a precautionary measure.

“Jason’s coming back with an edge,” OU offensive coordinator Chuck Long, who finished a close second to Bo Jackson for the 1985 Heisman. “Even though he won the Heisman Trophy, it puts him in a position to come back with hunger and out to prove people wrong. That’s a good feeling for a quarterback to have who is as competitive as he is.”

Prior to last year’s Big 12 championship game, White had 40 touchdown passes and six measly interceptions in a 12-0 regular season.

Then came a 35-7 thrashing at the hands of Kansas State at Arrowhead Stadium, where White had two interceptions and failed to throw a touchdown pass for the first time all season.

Though humiliated, Oklahoma remained atop the final BCS standings and earned an automatic invitation to the Sugar Bowl.

Ezra Shaw / Getty Images Despite winning the Heisman Trophy last season, Jason White wasn’t the media’s pick for preseason Big 12 offensive player of the year, which went convincingly to Kansas State running back Darren Sproles.

Then came a 21-14 loss to the Tigers, a game in which the Sooners were dominated, but still had a chance to win. White completed just 13 of 37 passes for 102 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions.

He closed the contest with eight straight incompletions and was sacked on the final play.

That’s no way for a Heisman winner to go out.

“It definitely dampers (winning the Heisman) quite a bit,” White said that night in the Superdome. “You win 12 games. That's difficult to do nowadays in college football. Then you don't have anything to show for it. It's disappointing.”

The Heisman Trophy’s reputation had been seriously scarred, much like White’s knees.

Several hundred Heisman voters had submitted their ballots before the Sooners got speared at Arrowhead.

But it was too late to un-stuff the ballot box with first-place votes for Pittsburgh wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, or Mississippi quarterback Eli Manning, or Michigan running back Chris Perry.

White is the first Heisman winner to return with the trophy since Brigham Young’s Ty Detmer returned in 1991.

White also is trying to become the third player to win the Davey O’Brien Award twice, joining Detmer (1990-91) and Florida's Danny Wuerffel (1995-1996).

However, White isn’t exactly cuddling up to all his trophies these days.

He refused Sports Illustrated’s request that he pose with Southern California quarterback Matt Leinart in a re-creation of the magazine’s 1979 college football preview cover that had OU’s Billy Sims and USC’s Charles White playing tug-of-war with the Heisman.

Since White was handed the Heisman last Dec. 13 at the Yale Club in downtown Manhattan, reporters have found every way possible to ask him if he deserved to win it.

Not much of a scrambler, given his knee history, White hasn’t tried to elude the pressure.

“You're gonna get that,” White said of doubters. “That's fine with me. I'm not ashamed of anything.”

Oddly enough, White figures to be a little more elusive on the field.

White estimates he has lost 15 pounds since last season, when he was listed at a highly suspect 221.

“I've lost quite a bit of weight. I can run and do all the things I used to do,” said White, who was a far better scrambler than he was a thrower when he arrived in 1999 as a legend from nearby Tuttle High School, roughly 25 miles west of Norman. “That part of my body is getting back again.”

During rehabilitation, White became a pocket-passer. His accuracy, particularly with the long ball, improved immensely. His elusiveness did not.

But for the first time in nearly three years, White was able to participate in full conditioning drills during the off-season. As a result, he’s leaner and more mobile. He’s also two years removed from his second knee surgery.

“I'm in better condition, health-wise,” White said. “Compared to last year, I'm 10 times better.”

Stoops agreed and said, “We've got a guy coming into this year who's light years ahead of where he was coming into last year.”

But voter fallout continues.

White wasn’t the media’s pick for preseason Big 12 offensive player of the year, which went convincingly to Kansas State running back Darren Sproles.

White even shared preseason All-Big 12 quarterback honors with Missouri’s Brad Smith.

As a former Heisman winner, White gets to vote on this year’s award.

Would he vote for himself?

White paused and said, “No. I could never vote for myself. I would never vote for myself. I would vote for someone else -- well, I don't know if I could do that, either."