FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — THE PRESSURE on Darren McFadden is enormous.
Sure, the Arkansas running back enters the season as the leading Heisman Trophy candidate after finishing No. 2 as a sophomore.
Of course, every Hog in the state hopes McFadden will bring Arkansas its first Southeastern Conference title after winning the West Division last year.
Undoubtedly, many fans are counting on McFadden to lift the program out of a tumultuous offseason.
Still, these expectations don't compare to this weighty concern: What to wear this Halloween?
Last Halloween, the most recognizable 19-year-old in the state went to his classes in complete disguise. Wearing a clown suit, complete with rainbow wig, oversized glasses, a fake cigar, striped shirt, enormous yellow pants and wide suspenders, McFadden could have struck a Heisman pose and still remained anonymous.
However, those who know McFadden from his high school days in Little Rock might not have blinked twice at such antics.
"He wore dresses to school," says McFadden's favorite high school teacher, Leecie Henson.
Say again?
Yes, dresses. And not just on Halloween.
At times, McFadden would raid his grandmother's closet, and who knows where else, and wear the most hideous looking outfits he could find to school. "He has the ugliest legs ever," Henson says. "He would wear these dresses with tennis shoes, and after a while the teachers would get used to it. He just loves to make people laugh."
The prospect of D-Mac in drag would certainly separate McFadden from the other Heisman contenders this season. Suggested slogan: Strike a pose in panty hose.
McFadden's sense of humor runs along the lines of strategically placed "Kick Me" signs. One of his favorite pranks is to walk to the right of someone, reach behind them with his long arm and tap their left shoulder. When the puzzled target turns to the left, McFadden dissolves in laughter.
"Oh, he thinks that's hilarious," Henson says. "As long as he cracks himself up, he's happy."
The same concept of fun applies to football. "With Darren, the main thing is fun. If football isn't fun, he doesn't want to do it," Henson says.
NO WONDER McFADDEN loves Arkansas' "Wildcat" package so much. In the formation, McFadden gets to be the master of disguise. He lines up at quarterback in the shotgun and has the option to run, pass or hand off.
"I love being able to play quarterback," says McFadden, who also played quarterback at Pulaski Oak Grove High. Last season, McFadden completed seven of nine passes with three touchdowns and one interception.
In the past, the Razorbacks used special plays to keep the ball in the hands of their top playmaker, as they did with former quarterback Matt Jones. The coaches applied the same concept with McFadden and expanded it, based on the package that former offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn used in high school. After spending most of spring practice trying to improve the Hogs' passing game, Arkansas coach Houston Nutt says the team will work more on the Wildcat this August and perhaps add a new wrinkle.
"McFadden can hand it, he can run it, he can fake a hand it, he can boot leg it and he can throw it," Nutt says. "It takes a defense a little while to say, 'Where's the tight end? Where's Felix Jones? Where's the quarterback? Now where's Darren?' Though you usually find Darren first because he's directly behind center."
If quarterback Casey d*ck is in on the play, he'll split out wide and block for McFadden. Felix Jones, who ran for 1,168 yards, lines up in the slot or in the backfield. The Wildcat also allows Nutt to get his best players on the field at the same time with McFadden, who set school records for rushing yards (1,647) and all purpose yards (2,058) and led the conference with 117.6 yards a game rushing. It was only the third time in SEC history that a team had a pair of 1,000-yard rushers.
"With me and Felix and with a fullback coming across to block, it just lights your eyes up because you know a defense can't key on or overload one side or the other because we go in opposite directions," McFadden says.
Says Jones: "You will see three or four defenders run after you, but you don't have the ball. That'sexciting."
McFadden doesn't work on his passing outside the 10 minutes the team usually spends running the Wildcat during practice. "He's so accurate, his throwing motion is so fluid, natural, I told (new offensive coordinator) David Lee when you first see Darren McFadden, you'll be wanting to move him to quarterback, but that's not going to happen," Nutt says. "He can throw a deep ball, too — 50, 60, 70 yards."
Heisman voters love multi-dimensional players — see Southern California's Reggie Bush and Michigan's Charles Woodson — and if McFadden continues to thrive in the Wildcat expect the school's famous Hog call — "Woooooooooo! Pig! Sooie!" — to be heard throughout Times Square come December.
"Saying he's great doesn't do him justice," Arkansas athletics director Frank Broyles says. "He's not just a great runner, who has the best hands, who can throw it like a quarterback, block, run inside, run outside and can stiff arm. He can do most everything."
After two seasons, McFadden's resume is already full. A few notables:
He became the first sophomore to win the Doak Walker Award last season and only just the third Arkansas player to ever win a major national individual award.
As the Heisman runner-up behind Troy Smith, he became only the ninth underclassman to finish No. 2 in Heisman voting.
Only two running backs in SEC history have ever rushed for 1,000 yards their freshman and sophomore seasons. Georgia's Herschel Walker is one, McFadden is the other.
The most versatile player in the game scored touchdowns four different ways last season: 14 rushing, three passing, one receiving and one kick return. Consider his performance in the victory against Tennessee in which he racked up 216 all-purpose yards, including 181 yards rushing, and rushed for touchdowns. He lined up at QB for 13 plays, and the Hogs gained 126 yards and three TDs. At wide receiver, he also caught a pass for 6 yards.
At 6-2, 212 pounds, McFadden also has uncommon speed for his size. "Once he makes a cut and figures out where to go, there's not very many people able to catch him," d*ck says. As for his arm? "He can sling it around a little bit. He's just a natural athlete, basically."
THE NATURAL ATHLETE from the Natural State, as Arkansas is known, was the 10th of Mini Muhammad's 12 children, and as his mother likes to say, "He was born to be a Razorback." Though McFadden also considered Alabama, he canceled his official visit during the recruiting process. The kid with the tattoo that reads "501 Boy," the Little Rock area code, couldn't imagine playing for any other school but Arkansas.
In the state, McFadden has become as big as Wal-Mart, which is based in northwest Arkansas, and just as popular.
"He can't go to the mall anymore. He understands that he belongs to everyone else right now, especially in the state," Nutt says. "We don't have a Dallas Cowboys, we don't have a pro team, so there's a lot of people wearing No. 5 right now in the state."
Henson, his former high school teacher, now lives about five minutes away from Fayetteville and is McFadden's surrogate mom away from home, sees this all the time. "I've stopped taking him to Wal-Mart because it takes too long with everyone taking pictures of him with their phone cameras," she says. "It's crazy and fun, but if you're in a hurry, it's not going to work."
Is there any time McFadden is not recognized, outside of Halloween? "Very seldomly, if there is," he says. "We're like celebrities to all the Razorback fans around here."
Perhaps that's one reason why McFadden isn't likely to reveal too much to those meeting him for the first time; reticence is the perfect disguise. Those who know him best say, "He's a clown," the phrase most often used to describe his personality, appropriately enough.
Every day, several times a day, McFadden is undoubtedly asked by fans: "Are you going to win the Heisman?" This, along with the repetitive inquiries from reporters, is why McFadden typically retreats to his stock supply of answers.
On the Heisman: "I can't say it's not a goal because it is. It's just a secondary goal to me right now."
The primary goal: "Getting the team on the right track and getting back to the SEC championship."
On the turmoil of the offseason in which two top freshmen transferred, Malzahn left for Tulsa, Broyles announced his retirement, Nutt's cellphone records were scrutinized after a fan filed a Freedom of Information request, and another fan sued two university officials for the school's failure to properly investigate a scathing e-mail sent to former quarterback Mitch Mustain, now at Southern California: "I don't pay mind to it. It's not a problem for me at all. Once the season hits, all that stuff will be gone out the window."
Away from the spotlight, with his teammates or surrounded by his dozens of nieces and nephews in Little Rock or at Henson's house for dinner or in one of his favorite kinesiology classes, McFadden can be himself. During those moments, he doesn't have to be No. 5, Heisman Trophy candidate.
"He gets tickled real easy," says kinesiology professor Janet Forbess of McFadden teaching physical education at local schools as part of his class assignments. "He has to force himself not to laugh."
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