CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Woody Dantzler loathed his predicament and didn't care who knew it. Surrounded by sportswriters Sunday at a posh, ocean-side golf resort light years away from the safety of the first two-a-days of his senior season, Clemson's quarterback almost excreted disdain from his pores.

"I hated it," Dantzler said of the Heisman attention that he drew last season. "It's so much of answering the same questions over and over. I'm a pretty simple guy. I don't need a lot of attention. I'm not the only one out there playing football."

Woody Dantzler does as much damage with his feet as he does with his arm.(Allsport)

This from a player who is Clemson's first quarterback to be a semifinalist for a national award (Davey O'Brien, nation's best quarterback in 2000). This from a talent who set the ACC record for rushing yards for a quarterback and the school's single-season total offense record.

This from a player who is among the top three Heisman favorites headed into the season. But Dantzler dislikes not only the Heisman hype that began building for him last season but some of the circus promotion acts going on around the country.

Oregon has spent $250,000 posting a huge Heisman banner in downtown New York pumping its quarterback Joey Harrington.

"They need to give that money to the soccer team," Dantzler said. "They don't have that much money. Don't spend all that money on me. I don't need it."

Oregon State has set aside $90,000 to promote running back Ken Simonton. Beavers athletic director Mitch Barnhart plans to call all 900-plus Heisman voters personally to pump his player.

"Calling them isn't going to make any difference," Dantzler said. "If you call someone and tell them about your player and they're not what they thought they'd be, that's going to make you look bad."

And Clemson is happy to comply with Dantzler's low-key wishes. The athletic department sent out the obligatory mailers last season but there are no plans right now for a five-, much less, six-figure promotion budget this season.

It's obvious Dantzler is here at the 2001 ACC Football Kickoff because he has to be. If he wasn't, the senior from Orangeburg, S.C., said he would be back home, "with my mom, watching cartoons."

Yawn.

"The questions started, like, last month. It's crazy," Dantzler said almost disgustedly. "There's not much more to learn about me."

That last statement is where Dantzler's modesty veers off the righteous path. There is plenty to learn about Woodrow Dantzler. Clemson hasn't won a national championship since 1981. It hasn't won the ACC since 1991. It is coached by one of the brightest coaches in the country with one of the best pedigrees, Tommy Bowden.

This is the ACC where Florida State gobbles up titles, the league's self-esteem and Heismans with impunity. Whatever hype is left after Florida State gets done is usually reserved for Tobacco Road basketball. Whatever hope is left has been quashed by the Seminoles who are attempting to win their 10th consecutive ACC title.

Dantzler needs to understand that there is no one like him in the country. No one. With some luck and a better defense, he can help change the image of the league as a doormat for the 'Noles.

The 21-year-old looks like a tailback playing quarterback, breaking ankles like Allen Iverson does on the dribble. That's how he plays, all arms and legs and pitches and throws and dodges. The country needs to know that. Dantzler, though, continues to climb the hype hill like a stubborn mule.

"He doesn't change much," said teammate Chad Carson, a linebacker. "What ya'll see is what you get. The only reason it makes him uncomfortable is because he's not a selfish guy. He's a pretty humble person. Any humble person is not going to draw attention to himself. Guys see him as, 'That's the way I should be, too.' He's still saying the team is most important."

But college football has seen few like him, especially now that Michael Vick has turned pro. Think of the lineage being carried on. Dantzler plays in a spread offense that is a modern-day salute to the old single wing. It's an offense your grandfather would likely remember with its spinner back, deception and reliability on an elusive, deft quarterback.

"I ran that in little league," Dantzler said finally warming to a subject, "a long time ago with the Steelers, recreation league football. I was eight or nine. It wasn't that hard."

And now he runs it again. And, again, it isn't that hard for him. An offense buried in college football's oldies bin has been dusted off for a run at a national championship. Yes, Clemson needs a better defense than the one that gave up 164 points in the final five games last year. But it gets Florida State at home Nov. 3 in what could be a turning point in conference history.

Florida State is 70-2 in the ACC in its nine years in the league. If someone doesn't take down the Seminoles this year it might not ever get done. Tommy Bowden's best chance to finally beat Papa Bowden is with his prize quarterback.

"I think," Florida State safety Chris Hope said, "he's the hardest guy to tackle in the ACC."

Maybe the country. After January surgery to repair a left ankle injury, Dantzler is ready to resume his post as resident magician. Before the injury in Game 8 against North Carolina, he was on pace to become the first college player to pass for 2,000 yards and run for 1,000 last season. He still finished with 947 yards rushing (third in the ACC) and 1,691 yards passing.

Before that, he had become the first player in college history to rush for 100 and accumulate 300 yards in total offense in four consecutive games.

"I dread playing him again," said North Carolina State linebacker Levar Fisher, the ACC defensive player of the year in 2000. "The best running back in the ACC is Dantzler. I wrapped that dude up and I thought he was on the ground. He spun out. That dude ... he's one of the best."

The injury coincided directly with Clemson's season-ending slump. After the North Carolina game, the Tigers lost three of their last four. If Dantzler has a shred of boastfulness it showed in his pride over at least trying to play in those four games.

He might turn away from the limelight but he wouldn't let a turned ankle top him.

"It's like Allen Iverson getting hurt in the playoffs," Dantzler said. "He fought through it and played. Anybody else would have had an injury and they would have been sitting out. I see that as a way to give your team inspiration. Like, 'Woody is out here and he has a bad ankle and he's not 100 percent.'"

Still, the Heisman talk died as did Clemson's chances of winning the ACC. Maybe that's what soured Dantzler on the process. In the end, he couldn't be a part of it.

"I'd rather not have all the attention," he said. "I'm just a guy going out playing football with my teammates. I don't need to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated ... I just want to be a quarterback. That's all I need."

But his abilities will not hide in some dorm room. Dantzler has been outed by his own highlight reel. When Vick was drafted No. 1 overall by the Atlanta Falcons, he might have opened a door for Dantzler. The NFL seems to be moving to a place alongside Steve Young again where it values a player who can not only scramble but run.

"It just shows you how the league is changing with the old prototype quarterback, now they have the new more mobile guys," Dantzler said. "It shows you how the game changes and nothing stays the same."

Pro scouts have measured him at 5-feet, 10 1/4 inches and 204 pounds. Perhaps a little too short for the NFL. That is until, you strip away the posters and banners and mail and budgets of any Heisman candidate and get to the heart of the matter.

"You have to watch him play," Dantzler says of any Heisman candidate. "With an athlete you don't have to put up a big poster or put millions and millions of dollars into a campaign. If a guy has the potential to win the Heisman, he's going to sell himself. You go out and do the job on the field you get the attention."

What's to hate about that?