Kansas City, Mo. ? Jason White won the Heisman Trophy in 2003, but the University of Oklahoma senior might not be the most-hyped quarterback in his own conference in 2004.

Missouri dedicated eight pages to junior quarterback Brad Smith — most of the returning Tigers have two-page spreads — in its 614-page media guide.

Both players are on the watch list for the Davey O’Brien Award this fall. White won that award, which honor’s the nation’s best quarterback, last season, and both are being touted by their schools and national media outlets as Heisman candidates.

Neither seemed to care Tuesday at the first day of the three-day Big 12 Conference media days.

“I’m definitely honored with all those things like that,” Smith said. “But I’d rather not have all those things. I’d rather just go out and play the games and be out there with my teammates without having that on my mind.”

Smith made history in 2002 when he became just the second player in Division I-A history to throw for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 in a single season. He almost did it again as a sophomore last fall with 1,977 yards passing and 1,406 rushing.

The Tigers finished 8-5 and reached the postseason for the first time since 1998.

“He’s had a marvelous two years of college football,” Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel said. “His career’s only half over. I talked to him a little bit about (the Heisman). I told him, ‘It’s nice to have your name thrown in there, but there are two factors that you have to have to stay in the race. No. 1, your team better win. No. 2, you have to play at a high, high level every single week.'”

Smith’s detractors say he’s a dynamic runner, but that he doesn’t throw an accurate, deep ball. In two years, he has completed 407 of 716 passes (56.8 percent) for 4,310 yards and 26 touchdowns with 13 interceptions.

Missouri quarterback Brad Smith listens to questions during the first day of Big 12 Conference football media days. The three-day media event started Tuesday at the Fairmont Hotel in Kansas City, Mo.

Pinkel wasn’t worried about the attention — good or bad — distracting his offensive leader.

“Brad’s a mature guy,” Pinkel said. “He won’t get caught up in that. I don’t see that being a problem.”

It shouldn’t be a problem for White, who has been through it all before. The challenge for White will be proving himself to voters who saw him fizzle in OU’s final two games last season.

Not that he’s worried about popular opinion.

“All of the preseason polls are for the fans and the media,” he said. “Last year, we were preseason No. 1, and it didn’t end up that way. You have to wait until the end of the year to see what happens.”

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Oklahoma won its first 12 games last season en route to the Big 12 championship game, where the Sooners’ hopes for a second national title in five years under coach Bob Stoops were derailed in a stunning 35-7 loss to Kansas State.

OU, which had averaged 48.3 points in its first 12 games, fell again, 21-14, to LSU in the Sugar Bowl.

White, a consensus All-American and Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, finished the season with 3,846 yards and 40 TDs. He passed for 298 yards against K-State, but also threw two interceptions. He was just 13-of-37 for 102 yards and tossed two more interceptions against LSU.

He failed to throw a TD in either loss, leaving some Heisman voters wishing they had waited a little longer to cast their ballots.

Oklahoma quarterback Jason White addresses the Big 12 media.

White’s career, however, wasn’t over yet. The NCAA granted the fifth-year senior a rare sixth season because his 2001 and 2002 seasons and were cut short by knee injuries.

White could have gone pro after his breakthrough season, but he opted to return to Norman, Okla.

“It wasn’t that tough,” White said of his decision. “Coach Stoops did everything he could to give me information I needed. I got to thinking about it, and there aren’t many people that get to play six years of college football. It’s not a job, and you don’t get fined for things, and you can’t beat the camaraderie of a football team.”

Smith and White won’t be the only Big 12 standouts for voters to consider. Kansas State is touting All-American running back Darren Sproles as a Heisman candidate. The senior from Olathe North already ranks as KSU’s all-time leading rusher and is fifth in league history with 3,661 yards.

Sproles and coach Bill Snyder will meet the media this morning.