As the hours near to Saturday's Heisman Trophy announcement, Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III has been called on often to recount the road he has traveled to a spot in college football history.

It's a journey that might end against the Washington Huskies in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 29 as the fourth-year junior is expected to declare for the NFL .

It's a road that also included a roughly three-year stop in Olympia. His father was stationed at Fort Lewis from the time he was 3 to about 6, he said Tuesday during a national conference call with reporters.

As might be expected, Griffin's memory of that time of his life is a little hazy. He recalled a karate class he took, working his way up to brown-belt status. He lamented he could never find a similar class after moving to New Orleans, and then to Copperas Cove, Texas, where he attended high school.

"But I could still kick it around a little bit," he said. "Don't let me fool you."

He didn't remember following college football during those years, but he said he "was a Seattle Seahawks fan for a while there when they had Joey Galloway. I never played any Pee-Wee or Little League football, but me and him (his father) played catch a lot."

He actually thought of returning to the state to play college football. Under former coach Bill Doba, Washington State recruited Texas heavily, and Griffin was among the players they tried to entice to come to Pullman. Interestingly enough, the only other official visit he took was to Stanford, which instead ended up with Andrew Luck as its quarterback for the Class of 2008.

But Griffin said WSU was at least on his long list.

"When I was growing up, Washington State was a pretty good football program and there was a thought that maybe I could go back to Washington and see what happens," he said. "But it didn't work out that way."

Instead, he committed to Houston, then coached by Art Briles. When Briles left for Baylor following the 2007 season, Griffin followed.

Griffin said Briles' faith in Griffin's ability to play quarterback, when some schools hinted that they might have him change positions, and the immediate opportunity Baylor offered overrode any worries about the school's lack of football tradition. Until last season, Baylor hadn't been to a bowl since the 1994 Alamo Bowl (a 10-3 loss to Washington State).

"I wanted to go somewhere I could play early," said Griffin, who has earned a degree in political science. "Texas wasn't really an option for me. They had Colt McCoy, and not that I felt I was better than someone else, but I didn't want to sit behind someone for two years. I wanted to play early."

Briles handed Griffin the keys from day one, and Baylor has been on the rise since, despite a season-ending knee injury in the third game of the 2009 season.

He approached rehab in the same determined manner his father taught him.

Griffin said his father — now retired after serving a stint in Iraq when Griffin was around 11 — joined the military at the age of 17 after growing up in the projects of New Orleans without a lot of other options.

"He didn't really have an opportunity to go to college and play organized sports," Griffin said. "But he made sure I had everything I was ever going to need. ... He made a big difference for me, because I never wanted for anything in that respect. We never had a huge house or all the fancy cars, but if I needed a pair of basketball shoes, I had the best pair of Jordans out there."

Griffin was born in Japan, where his parents were stationed in the Army before the move to Olympia.

"I have not been back to Olympia since I left, but it would be nice to go back and see the area and just remember the years that I had there," he said.

When he does, it may well be as a Heisman Trophy winner. At least two websites that track votes have said he is the favorite. He is one of five finalists, joining Luck, Alabama running back Trent Richardson, LSU cornerback Tyrann Mathieu and Wisconsin running back Montee Ball, and is the first player from Baylor to finish in the top five for the award since 1963.

"Coach Briles did say (when Griffin signed with Baylor) that in 2-3 years I would be a Heisman Trophy finalist, and it's coming true," he said. "I'd say it's unbelievably believable because when you are in the moment it shocks you and you are like 'man, I can't believe all this is happening.' But when you work for something and don't wait for it to come around to you, a lot of times it can go your way."

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com.

On Twitter @bcondotta