Heisman Hopeless?

The Heisman award is perhaps the most coveted individual accolade in all of sports, surrounded by more allure and glory than any professional MVP award. Win a Heisman, and you are immortalized in history, even though you might just be a fast QB with a bad arm on a dominant team who will be asked to switch positions of you are even given a shot in the NFL (like Eric Crouch), or a 28-year old balding quarterback (Chris Weinke...hilarious). Only there's a problem of injustice arising in determining those players who are in the proverbial mix to be considered for the award. It seems that the list now consists, not of the most outstanding players like the award was designed for, but rather a list of the top NFL prospects for the 2008 NFL Draft. Now that's not to say that those guys aren't having great seasons, but there are other guys, especially Sophomores, being overlooked.

Look at head-to-head comparisons for example of Matt Ryan (my hometown guy who I am biased towards), widely to be considered the top quarterback prospect for this year's draft, and Todd Reesing of the Kansas Jayhawks. Ryan, although he has dropped a bit in the speculation polls with BC's last two losses, has thrown for an impressive 3200+ yards, but has thrown 13 picks with his 24 touchdowns. His other numbers are solid, but not Heisman-like: 59% completion percentage, 129.8 QB rating, and an 8-2 record vs. a relatively pathetic group of opponents that, on top of the surprisingly lowly ACC teams, included only UMass, Bowling Green, Notre Dame, and Army.) On the other hand, Reesing has led a Kansas team that was not slated to be in the top 5 in the Big 12, let alone the country, to a shockin 10-0 record. He has thrown for 2600+ yards, 26 TDs and amazingly only 4 Ints, has completed 62% of his passes, and boasts a QB rating of 151.8.

Tim Tebow's stats are even more impressive, and yes, Florida has lost 3 games, but you can hardly fault them for a 4-point loss at LSU, and even the tough losses vs. Georgia and Auburn are understandable. Tebow's stats: (2500+ yards passing, 23 TDs, 5 Ints, 69% completion rate, a nation-leading 177.1 QB rating, and oh yeah, 19 rushing TD's, which is more than anyone in Florida history. OK, you caught me, I have a terrible man crush on Tim Tebow, but with those stats, who wouldn't!?

Dennis Dixon is certainly worthy of the Heisman if he wins it, but other than that, guys receiving speculation include Darren McFadden (4 losses), Mike Hart (has missed 3 games), DeSean Jackson (a pathetic 650 yards on the season), and worst of all, Glenn Dorsey, the LSU defensive tackle. You can't even find defensive stats anywhere on the internet. Dorsey has been playing hurt for a large part of the season, and is hardly the main reason why LSU is in the mix for the national championship. The only defensive player who has ever won the Heisman was Charles Woodson in 1997, and he carried Michigan to win the title. Did I mention that he also played some wideout, returned punts, and had interceptions every time they needed one?

Dennis Dixon should probably win the Heisman, but Reesing and Tebow should be the runners-up. Matt Ryan, Darren McFadden, Desean Jackson, and Glenn Dorsey will all make great pros, but that doesn't make them Heisman candidates. We may as well give it to Jake Long, the Michigan offensive lineman. I mean, he's supposed to be a top 5 draft pick. That's all that matters, right?