National recognition? Toss it Harline's way

HE-E-E-R-R-R-ES ... JONNY. On Friday, BYU tight end Jonny Harline received his fourth citation as a college all-American football player. ESPN put him on its top list, as did College Football News.

A few weeks ago, a lot of folks were disappointed that Harline did not get the John Mackey Award. That honor went to Matt Spaeth of Minnesota, despite Harline's superior statistics the past two seasons as the nation's top player at that position.

If you put a gun to my head and forced me to choose between being named an all-American or winner of the Mackey Award, I'd pick being known as an all-American, a childhood dream of every high school player.

After all, go ahead. Try and guess who won the Mackey Award last year. How about the year before that, in 2004?

Well, it was Marcedes Lewis of UCLA last year, and Virginia's Heath Miller in 2004.

You get the idea.

Harline, the 6-foot-4 speedster, is riding the crest of publicity from his last two regular-season games heading into the Las Vegas Bowl, where Oregon's pass defense, No. 1 in the Pac-10, will surely try to rough him up.

His highlight catches from this season may have boosted him into both awards and some money in the next few months.

Against New Mexico, it was his 71-yard sideline touchdown dash in which he outsprinted two Lobo defensive backs. Against the Utes, it was his touchdown grab on a jump ball and his "Answered Prayer" dramatics in the game-winning reception with no time left.

That kind of play out of Harline was long expected by those who watched him play basketball and football at nearby Orem High School, where people still wonder why his sophomore year at BYU was wasted playing a few times on special teams.

When you speak of Jonny Harline, one coach at Orem High immediately has two replays rewound in his mind forever.

"Jonny made one of the greatest athletic plays I've ever seen on a football field while at Orem High," said Greg Sheide, younger brother of former BYU quarterback Gary Sheide, a member of the Tiger faculty and assistant basketball coach on the road with Orem in Reno this weekend.