Denard Robinson Proves Again He's More Flair Than Legit 2012 Heisman Contender

Denard Robinson is one of the most exciting players in all of college football. He's flashy with the ball in his hands and is one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks of all time in college football.

Because of his explosiveness, we always make him an early candidate for the Heisman Trophy, but he always seems to take himself out of the conversation. Sure, he makes a ton of highlight-reel plays, but he also makes quite a few mistakes.

That's always been his problem were the amount of interceptions he's thrown. It's hard to be taking seriously when you throw 26 combined interceptions in the last two seasons. But last night against Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl, he showed us something else as well.

When Robinson's running game is held in control, his numbers suffer even more.

We all know Robinson isn't a true quarterback. He throws a weird football that seems to stay in the air for 30 minutes and it often gives the defenders more than enough time to make a play. It's like every pass he throws is a jump ball in double-coverage.

But when Robinson can't use his legs either, like he wasn't able to do against Virginia Tech last night, it makes things that much more difficult to throw the ball. Robinson tried to run 13 times and finished with 13 yards. His passing game was 9-21 for 117 yards and two touchdowns.

When the Michigan quarterback is able to make plays with his feet, it makes the defense have to cheat a bit. Which of course would make things a little easier to find open receivers.

Every game this season where Robinson rushed for at least 100 yards, he had at least two touchdown passes except for one. There have been four games this season where he rushed for under 50 yards and he has thrown for a combined three touchdown passes in those games.

Defenses are going to see these numbers and are going to find ways to force "Shoelace" to throw the football. He'll have to be able to do so.

Robinson is a very exciting player and the Michigan Wolverines are going to win quite a few football games next year. But Robinson has to find ways to play better against solid defenses. Those are the games that will make or break his Heisman hopes; he has to play a little bigger on those stages.

Robinson will enter next year as a favorite to win the Heisman once again. Only time will tell if he'll be able to makes defenses pay or not.

Randy Chambers is a B/R Featured Columnist that covers College Football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail]