1 Fun Fact About Each 2014 Heisman Trophy Finalist
The Heisman Trophy will be awarded to either Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper, Wisconsin running back Melvin Gordon or Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota at the Best Buy Theater in New York City on Saturday, Dec. 13.
By now you know the basics about each candidate.
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You know Cooper leads the country with 115 receptions and 1,656 yards. You know Gordon is within striking distance of Barry Sanders' single-season FBS rushing record. You know Mariota has scored 53 total touchdowns to just two interceptions this season.
But you may not know the random facts about each player, the fun details that will likely get mentioned on Saturday's broadcast.
Here's a primer to get you up to speed.
Amari Cooper, Alabama
Fun Fact: His high school quarterback was Teddy Bridgewater.
Teddy Bridgewater is a year-and-a-half older than Cooper, but the two played together at Northwestern High School in Miami, Florida.
Cooper combined with Eli Rogers, who followed Bridgewater to Louisville and himself has had a nice college career, to give Northwestern a dangerous receiving duo, although Cooper missed much of his junior season with an injury, per Corey Long of ESPN.com.
Here is a very short video from the 2011 season:
*Note: Cooper catches the first pass; Rogers catches the second.
Bridgewater declared early for the 2014 NFL draft and was selected in the first round by the Minnesota Vikings. He has had a positive first season in the pros, guiding his team to more wins than the rest of the rookie quarterback class combined. But he hasn't been too busy to keep an eye on an old friend.
"I was just telling everyone who was around me during the game that, 'Hey, that's my guy,'" Bridgewater said after watching Cooper torch Florida (10 catches, 201 yards, three touchdowns) in September, per Duane Rankin of the Montgomery Advertiser.
"That's what I expect of him. I knew that when those fade balls were thrown, he was going to come down with the catch because that's what he does."
Cooper has also found time to watch his former teammate and had flattering words to say on Thursday's Dan Patrick Show.
"He was great. He had all the qualities you would want in a quarterback," Cooper said of Bridgewater, per Dean Berhow-Goll of 247Sports. "But I think the biggest thing about him was he was really tough and he was really calm and poised no matter what the situation was."
Sounds about right.
Melvin Gordon, Wisconsin
Fun Fact: He spent last summer interning at Merrill Lynch.
Gordon announced this week that he will declare for the 2015 NFL draft. Injuries notwithstanding, there is no reason he won't have a long, successful, profitable career in football.
If something goes wrong, however, Gordon will be more prepared for the real world than most recent college graduates—[author nervously averts eyes]—thanks to an internship he served at Merrill Lynch.
According to Jeremy Fowler, then with CBSSports.com, Gordon has also enamored himself with architecture and sports broadcasting but started thinking about a career in entrepreneurship after the Merrill Lynch experience got his head into a financial headspace.
"I don't want it where they say he can't do this or can't do that," Gordon told Fowler. "That goes for anything, really.
"Football and life."
Gordon made the Academic All-Big Ten team in 2012 and 2013.
Marcus Mariota, Oregon
Fun Fact: He didn't start a game until his senior year of high school.
Mariota did not start a varsity game until his senior year at St. Louis School in Honolulu, Hawaii, but he made his final season count.
"Have you ever seen ‘The Matrix’?" former coach Darnell Arceneaux asked Tim Rohan of The New York Times this summer. "Remember the first time Neo gets in that chair, and they upload him with the kung fu, and he says, ‘More’? That’s the way Marcus was with our offense.
"Once we installed the base package, it was like he looked at us and said, ‘More.’ So every day, we kept giving him more."
Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich, then the offensive coordinator under Chip Kelly, came to a St. Louis practice before Mariota's senior season and convinced Kelly to offer Mariota a scholarship. This despite the fact that Mariota had still yet to start a varsity game.
"When (Kelly) was on the phone, I was like, ‘Coach, are you sure?’" Mariota recalled in 2012, per Don Chapman of MidWeek. "I didn’t believe it at first. But I’m respectful they gave me the opportunity, and I’m glad they did."
Oregon is pretty glad, too.
After cleaning up the Maxwell, Walter Camp, Davey O'Brien and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Awards, Mariota is the heavy favorite to win the Heisman Trophy and still has the Ducks competing for a national title.
His only college offers came from Oregon and Memphis.
Follow Brian Leigh on Twitter: @BLeigh35
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