Robert Griffin III: Finally, Heisman Trophy Goes to NCAA Football's Best Player

The Heisman Trophy is supposed to be given to college football's most outstanding player, and this year it did just that.  

There is no doubting that Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III was the most outstanding player in all of college football over the past 14 weeks.  I mean, after three games he had more passing touchdowns than he did incompletions (and he still threw for five scores in that fourth game)—that's pretty darn outstanding, isn't it?

I know it's not fair to compare the Heisman finalists, especially regarding offensive production because some play different positions and each player means something different to their teams, but I'm going to compare them.

Comparing them basically removes LSU cornerback Tyrann Mathieu from the equation, but that's OK because he didn't deserve the Heisman Trophy anyway.  Sure he was the best player on a defensively minded LSU team, but aside from a big play here or there he wasn't the most outstanding player in all of college football.  Sorry LSU fans, but it's true. 

Robert Griffin III accounted for more touchdowns than any other Heisman finalist this year.  Griffin accounted for 45 total touchdowns (36 passing, nine rushing), which is seven more than the next closest finalist, Montee Ball who had 38 total touchdowns.

When we keep the statistical comparison to the Heisman finalist quarterbacks, Griffin leads in every statistical area.  Luck's stats look like this: 3,170 yards, 35 touchdowns, 70.0 completion percentage, longest pass of 62 yards and nine interceptions.  Griffin's passing stats look like this: 3,998 yards, 36 touchdowns, 72.4 completion percentage, long pass of 87 yards and only six interceptions.  Yep, Griffin is the more outstanding quarterback.

When we keep the statistical comparison the Heisman finalist running backs, Robert Griffin doesn't lead by any means but he does hold his own.  On the ground Robert Griffin accumulated 644 yards and nine touchdowns on 161 attempts, earning him an average of 4.0 yards per carry—not bad for a quarterback, right?

Just for the sake of this argument let's project what Griffin's rushing stats would have looked like if he had the average amount of carries that Trent Richardson and Montee Ball had, which is 269 carries.  With Griffin's average of 4.0 yards per carry and a touchdown every 18.7 carries, Griffin's rushing stats would look like this: 1,076 yards and 14 touchdowns.  With those projections, Griffin's rushing yards total would only be 507 less than Trent Richardson and 683 yards less than Montee Ball.  

I know it's pretty silly and somewhat pointless to compare a quarterback's projected rushing statistics with actual stats of running backs.  I do think, however, it at least somewhat proves the point that Griffin's rushing production is pretty impressive, especially for a quarterback.

Putting statistics aside, Griffin is still the most outstanding player in college football for one major reason.  He produced like am absolute superstar on a team that otherwise is terribly average.  The other teams in the Heisman presentation—LSU, Alabama, Wisconsin and Stanford—all have multiple players that will be drafted in the 2012 NFL draft.  The Baylor Bears, on the other hand, don't have the same type of NFL-caliber talent on the roster, but Griffin sure helped Baylor look like it did.

The truest sign of an outstanding player is not being able to make himself look outstanding, but to also make those around him look outstanding as well, and no player did that more this year than Robert Griffin III.

Robert Griffin III isn't the only one to thank, and even he knows that.  No matter how incredible a player is, the coaching staff around him must still teach, lead and develop him into an elite player and the Baylor coaching staff did just that with Griffin.  Kudos to Baylor's coaches and trainers for keeping Griffin healthy and creating a system that truly showcased his remarkable talents.

Even though the Heisman Trophy is given to a single player, it really reflects the success of the program that player plays for, and that holds true this year for Griffin and the Baylor Bears.

Congratulations to Robert Griffin III and the Baylor Bears for a remarkable season and for a truly memorable night.

Just a quick word of advice for NFL teams in need of a franchise quarterback—if you like what you see in rookie quarterback Cam Newton, you should do whatever it takes to draft RG3, because he is a more complete version.