No Need For Bears To Back Best For Heisman

Despite having a college football program so cash-strapped it has to take a six-hour bus ride – instead of a charter flight – to face UCLA, the Cal athletic department has launched a promotional campaign to publicize Heisman hopeful Jahvid Best.

Why?

In the last five years, four Heisman hopefuls have worn the blue and gold – Aaron Rodgers, J.J. Arrington, Marshawn Lynch and DeSean Jackson. None of them finished higher than eighth in the Heisman voting and two of the four didn’t receive a single vote.

In 2004, Cal officials were hesitant to pick Rodgers or Arrington as their Heisman horse. Heisman voters were left with an obvious dilemma – if the Cal athletic department couldn’t decide who its best player was, could they?

Arrington and Rodgers finished eighth and ninth in the Heisman voting, respectively.

In 2006, Lynch’s bid was derailed before voters had even clicked on his flashy Heisman Web site. Lynch had marginally better numbers in 2006 (1,356 rushing yards, 11 touchdowns) than he did in 2005 (1,246, 10) but failed to crack 100 yards rushing in two of Bears’ three losses – including the embarrassing season-opening loss to Tennessee (74 rushing yards) and a 23-9 rout at USC (88).

Lynch wasn’t invited to the trophy presentation.

In 2007, Jackson received the Cal PR machine’s best effort but never produced the Heisman credentials necessary to contend. The talented wideout had less than 800 yards receiving and just six TDs on the year.

Like Lynch, the future Philadelphia Eagle exited the Strawberry Canyon over-hyped and without a Heisman vote on his football resume.

Enter Jahvid Andre Best.

Best is the country's top returning rusher and as electrifying in the open field as any player in the country. He finished with 1,580 yards rushing in 2008 despite a dislocated elbow that kept him out of Cal’s 24-14 win against Arizona State. Best managed to set a school record with 8.1 yards per carry and tied another with 15 rushing TDs.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a 2009 Heisman watch list Best isn’t on.

And yet the Bears, as they did with Lynch and Jackson, feel the need to feed the hype machine – bent on combating the lack of exposure for a program that is still working on its national profile.

Reality check: the Bears are ranked No. 12 in the preseason USA Today Coaches’ Poll, and already have three nationally-televised games on the schedule (Maryland, Oregon and USC).

And as for the perceived East Coast bias: of the nine Heisman winners this decade, six played West of the Mississippi, including three in California.

In all, the Trojans have produced seven of the conference’s 10 Heisman winners, including three since 2000. Oregon State’s Terry Baker (1962), UCLA’s Gary Beban (1967) and Stanford’s Jim Plunkett (1970) are the only non-Trojan players to earn the honor, and all three were quarterbacks.

But with the popularity of YouTube, bi-coastal presence of ESPN, and firestorm of social media, it has become increasingly easier to be seen regardless of which coast you play on.

So why invest the money?

Why pile on the pressure?

Why invite the media circus, the constant questions, the relentless call of Heisman?

If Best is at his best, healthy and electrifying, there will be enough attention as is.
No need for another The1ToWatch.com.

Spend the money on a charter flight to LAX, not marketing and micro-sites for Best.