Don’t call Todd Doxzon Todd Doxzon.

“Some people call me Dox and I hate that,” quipped the senior quarterback.

Naturally, the perfect alternative choice for Doxzon would be Kermit.

Kermit?

“The first day of class my freshman year, I was riding on my new mountain bike and all my friends said I looked like Kermit the Frog in “The Great Muppet Caper.” You know, when he’s on the bike with Miss Piggy … I guess the name just sort of stuck.”

From here on out, Doxzon wants everyone to recognize the nickname. He also seeks to explain himself and where he is coming from.

“I’m definitely a different breed,” said the freshly red-headed Kermit. “I don’t know why I act the way I do, it’s just the way I am.”

“I mean, I don’t want people to think that I do stuff just to get attention. That’s totally the opposite of what I’m doing,” he added, “but I’m a little weird. I mean, I, like, paint my toenails and shit.”

Typical quarterback?

No way, says Kermit.

“Sometimes people have preconceived notions about quarterbacks. [People] think that they know exactly what’s going on when they really have no idea,” he said.

Doxzon has had to bear the brunt of the season’s disappointing turnouts, receiving a lot of the criticism and blame for the team’s losses from the local community. This comes despite the fact that he has recently moved to eighth on the on the all-time ISU career list for completions as well as having set a lengthy list of personal bests in last week’s loss at Baylor.

“I don’t look at statistics and stuff like that,” he explained. “I just try to never give up.”

The criticism seems unfair to Doxzon, who says that a lot of people assume he is cocky when they don’t really know about what is going on with the program.

It’s not easy being green.

“After one game, some guy said to me, ‘Doxzon, quit trying to be the fucking hero,'” he recalled. “I was just like if Tommy Frazier said, ‘Sweet game, Kermit. You’re horseshit,’ that would be just fine. I would respect that opinion. But otherwise…”

Doxzon sighed. “I just wish people would get to know me and not just say things about me.”

Admittedly, he is frustrated.

“[The season] has been real disappointing, big time,” he commented. “It’s just that I know we have a really good team, but we’ve just let some little things here and there mess us up. I thought this year we could finally start winning some games.”

The disappointment, however, isn’t new to the quarterback.

“Football-wise, it’s been a real disappointing four years. I wasn’t used to losing before I came here, and it hurts really bad because I’m a competitor.”

Still, there are four, tough as they may be, games left for the team to prove itself.

“You’ll never see us give up,” said Doxzon, “There’s a lot of character on our team and we have a lot of heart. I’m gonna play 110 percent until the last snap of the year.

“There have been times that it’s been hard to go on, but I always worked my ass off.”

And that is the trait for which Doxzon would love to be remembered at Iowa State. When his name, whatever it may be, is recorded in the record books and the team has moved on to new goals, Todd Doxzon will still be watching.

“There’s a bright future for Iowa State football,” he said. “Todd Bandauer is a great player and it’ll be fun watching him.”

With the coming years, the games will likely become less and less disappointing for the team, and Doxzon recognizes the impending change. He only wished it could have changed earlier.

While football has been disappointing for him, Doxzon sees some great positives in his times here.

“I’ve met a lot of cool people here that I really love a lot.” The marketing major, who plans to spend some time studying in Mexico after the season, says he will look forward to becoming a “normal student for once.”

Normal, Kermit?

“Well, I’m not really all that normal.”