Heisman Trophy Winner 2019: Twitter Reacts to Joe Burrow's Presentation
December 15, 2019
Joe Burrow became the second LSU player to win the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night and the first since Billy Cannon took home the honor in 1959.
The senior quarterback's position atop the Heisman balloting was expected for quite some time, as he turned in plenty of dominant performances for the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff.
Burrow finished well ahead of Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts and the Ohio State pair of Justin Fields and Chase Young.
USA Today's Paul Myerberg posted the wide gap in votes between Burrow and the other three finalists:
According to ESPN Stats & Info, Burrow had the largest margin of victory in the award's history and broke the record for first-place votes:
Burrow added to his Heisman legacy by delivering a memorable speech that began with him thanking his offensive linemen and teammates at LSU, as The Athletic's Bruce Feldman observed:
Before he even started his remarks, the Ohio native was choked up, and it made for an emotional few minutes on stage that impressed many, including Yahoo's Pete Thamel:
Near the end of his time at the dais, Burrow handed out praise to head coach Ed Orgeron by saying he "deserves" a lifetime contract at the program, per The Athletic's Brody Miller:
Burrow's performance in the pocket was a welcome sight for LSU fans, who waited a long time for a star at the position.
Just a year ago, the Heisman winner produced 2,894 passing yards, 16 touchdowns and five interceptions.
In 2019, he blew away those totals by recording SEC single-season records for passing yards and touchdowns, per ESPN Stats & Info:
ESPN Stats & Info @ESPNStatsInfoJoe Burrow set the SEC single-season record for most pass TD (48) and pass yards (4,715). He is the 1st player in SEC history to throw at least 4,000 yards and 40 TD in a season. Now Burrow joins Billy Cannon (1959) as the only players in LSU history to win the Heisman Trophy. https://t.co/taxJSSBCl2
Burrow was fantastic in the games that mattered most, and after his first Top 10 win over the Texas Longhorns, Orgeron knew he had something special going for his team, per WAFB's Jacques Doucet.
He thrived in all aspects of the passing game by besting the FBS average in short, intermediate and deep throws by at least 20 percent, according to Sports Info Solutions:
To put into context Burrow's meteoric rise to stardom, Feldman noted he was a 200-1 Heisman pick before the campaign started.
According to CBSSports.com's Dennis Dodd, Burrow is the fifth SEC player to win the Heisman this century:
He joins Florida's Tim Tebow (2007), Auburn's Cam Newton (2010), Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel (2012) and Alabama's Derrick Henry (2015) in that club.
Burrow was also the third consecutive transfer to take home the award following in the footsteps of Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray.