Jason Gesser's pursuit of the Heisman Trophy this season will depend, in part, on how well the Washington State quarterback eludes his pursuers.

The Cougars senior has to resist the urge to be a crash-test dummy and indulge his instincts to become a human eel. Spinning and sidestepping, Gesser buys time in the pocket by the bushel, as though he were storing it in the huge grain silo that bears his image in Dusty, Wash.

"He's eternally elusive," said Matt Leonard, Stanford's senior defensive tackle. "As much as I want to see Jason in the backfield, I don't want to chase him." When the pocket breaks down, the Pac-10's leading passer last season becomes Mr. Big Shot. His listed 6-foot-1, 200-pound dimensions seem generous, but Gesser gives as good a shot as he takes.

Said Arizona State defensive end Terrell Suggs: "He's like a tailback who's just taking the snap."

Coach Mike Price wants to make sure Gesser is around to take not only the opening snap of the season, Aug. 31 against Nevada in the spanking-new Seahawks Stadium in Seattle, but in the regular-season finale Dec. 7 at UCLA.

"It's about sustaining and finishing strong," said Price, entering his 14th season as head coach and the mentor to a long line of former Cougar star quarterbacks including Drew Bledsoe, Ryan Leaf, and Timm Rosenbach.

But Gesser is "so much fun to watch, he's so exciting. Everyone says that he's got to learn to slide," Price said. "We had the baseball coach in two years ago teaching him how to slide. We even brought in a Slip 'N Slide."

But Gesser, a Honolulu native, insists on diving in head first to get every possible yard.

"Joe Montana wasn't the fastest guy in the world, but he could move a lot in that pocket and make the first guy miss," Gesser said. "I've tried to learn a lot from him in that regard."

Gesser, who was 24-0 as a starter at St. Louis High in Honolulu, owns the look of a winner. There's no wonder the Cougars are discussing the possibility of matching or exceeding last season's school-record-tying 10-victory total and claiming a much bigger postseason prize than another Sun Bowl title.

"He's an outstanding player. He's their personality, personified: He finds a way to win," Washington head coach and former UCLA quarterback Rick Neuheisel said of Gesser.

Gesser enters his final season poised to become the WSU program's career passing (he needs 2,397 yards) and total offense leader (1,984 yards needed) leader. He threw 26 touchdown passes and recorded more than 3,000 yards through the air last season.

It's what Gesser does with the ball when he has to improvise that causes coaches and players on both sidelines to squirm.

"There are always going to be plays Jason makes and you catch your breath," Price said. "He's been driving coaches nuts since I don't know when."

Gesser learned early about sacrificing his body for the greater good, he says. "My dad was hard on me at certain times. He was all about never showing pain," Gesser said of his father Jim, who was a high school wide receiver. Gesser lives the give-it-your-all creed.

"The part about being a quarterback, you've got to have a short-term memory, and mine is real short-term," Gesser, a communications major, said chuckling.

But Gesser hopes to make his final collegiate season more than memorable.

Sheldon Spencer is an associate editor at ESPN.com.