A Heisman Vote for Nebraska's Suh

Every year, the Heisman Trophy is presented to “the most outstanding college football player in the United States.” Since 1990, however, the award has been almost entirely limited to quarterbacks and running backs. Of the past 19 winners, 12 have been quarterbacks, five have been running backs, and the other two were a wideout (Michigan’s Desmond Howard, 1991) and a cornerback (Charles Woodson, also of Michigan, in 1997).

Do I have any qualms about how the Heisman has been given out in recent years? Absolutely not. All of the past winners over the past two decades or so have put up amazing single-season numbers and clearly were worthy of such a distinguished award.

However, when looking over the potential nominees for this year’s trophy, I must confess that the “typical” skill-position players likely to be up for the award have so far failed to meet the traditional expectations. When looking back at the past five quarterbacks to win the Heisman, you can’t help but be impressed with the pure passing numbers each put up:

But when looking over the potential quarterback nominees this year, every one of their projected season-ending statistics falls short of the average of the past five quarterback winners:

Clearly, when looking over the possible quarterback nominees this season, none has the projected stats to match the past five winners. In fact, Notre Dame’s Jimmy Clausen and Texas’ Colt McCoy only meet the standard in one of the four categories, while Florida’s Tim Tebow meets none. Boise State’s Kellen Moore and Houston’s Case Keenum both are projected to post numbers surpassing the previous winners in three of the four areas, but neither Boise State nor Houston play the level of competition needed to give them a legitimate chance of wining.

Consequently, if we conclude that none of the nation’s top quarterbacks are good enough to win the Heisman from a statistical/competition standpoint alone, let’s take a look at the running backs.

Here’s a look at the past three Heisman-winning RBs, along with their single-season statistics from the year they won:

When analyzing the one running back who seems to have the only legitimate chance to win the Heisman, Alabama’s Mark Ingram, he—like the quarterbacks we’ve discussed—falls short of the numbers established by recent past winners:

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?