Robert Griffin III Deserves To Be the No. 1 Pick of the 2012 NFL Draft

“Unbelievably believable.”

Last night, it only took two words for Baylor QB Robert Griffin III to perfectly sum up his remarkable storybook 2011 season while standing on the stage at the New York Marriott Marquis, as he began his reign as college football’s king of 2011.

This season, Griffin had the type of campaign that was truly worthy of college football’s highest honor, and because of his tremendous exploits, voters around the country felt compelled to reward him with the sport’s most prestigious award, the Heisman Trophy.

The breakout star signal-caller took the college football world by storm in 2011, as he totaled a whopping 4,642 yards of total offense, scored 45 touchdowns, completed 72 percent of his passes and led the Bears to a 9-3 season and a No. 12 national ranking.

Griffin has turned out to be the much-needed savior of a Baylor team, which was an annual conference cellar dweller before his arrival.

You could tell that there was a special energy in the room as Griffin gave his Heisman acceptance speech on Saturday night. I was at my company’s Christmas party and I had to sneak out of the festivities in the ballroom for a few minutes to catch the tail end of the Heisman ceremony at the hotel bar. And even as I watched Griffin give the speech without sound, I could still feel his aura pouring through the screen.

As I sat in the bar watching Griffin stand up and smile as his name was announced, I thought to myself, this is truly a special young athlete, and I couldn’t help but quickly wonder to myself, where will he go from here?

With the type of momentum that Griffin has built up for himself with his sensational season this year, there’s no doubt that he’s solidified his status as an elite NFL prospect, and the junior quarterback will almost certainly bid farewell to the Bears after they conclude their season in the Alamo Bowl against Washington on Dec. 29.

The question is, has Griffin done enough to overtake the consensus No. 1 pick favorite, Stanford QB Andrew Luck, who finished as the Heisman runner-up for the second year in a row?

If Griffin and Luck both decide to test the NFL waters and enter the 2012 draft, I have a feeling the four-month-long debate about who is truly worthy of being the No. 1 pick could turn out to be one of the most epic and entertaining sports arguments we’ve had in years.

Back in November, when I put together my preliminary Top 100 Prospects for the 2012 NFL Draft list, I said Robert Griffin III was the top pro prospect in all of college football, and that’s a statement I’m going to firmly stand behind.

It’s also a sentiment that I think more people will share in the coming months.

Yes, Andrew Luck is still universally recognized as the favorite to be the No. 1 pick in the 2012 NFL draft, but when it comes to the draft, consensus opinions tend to change as the process unfolds. The great thing about the scouting process is, there’s always room for a player to make a name for himself and open up eyes.

Don’t get me wrong, Luck is certainly an elite NFL prospect in his own right, and he's definitely worthy of the national exposure he received this past summer and during this season. However, when he announced his plans to return to Stanford and bypass being the No. 1 pick in the 2011 draft, he opened the door for someone else to steal the spotlight, and that’s just what Robert Griffin has done this season.

If I were the GM of an NFL franchise that had the choice of picking either Griffin or Luck, I would have to lean towards the Heisman winner.

RG3 is excitement personified.

He’s absolutely the most explosive player in all of college football, and the NFL is quickly trending towards the type of league where you want to stockpile as many explosive players as you possibly can.

Methodical West Coast offenses may have worked in the '80s and '90s, but these days, it’s about spreading everybody out, and getting the ball in the hands of difference-making playmakers. And you won’t find a playmaker in the college ranks right now that can compare to Robert Griffin.

His incredible, nearly world-class athleticism is what sets him apart from the crowd, and it’s what makes him so hard to defend, but Griffin isn’t just your typical “dual-threat” quarterback.

Don’t you even dare try to lump him in with the Denard Robinson's of the world, because you’d be making a fool of yourself if you did.

Griffin isn’t one of these built-for-the-spread running quarterbacks who happen to be able to throw the ball decently. He’s an elite quarterback who just so happens to possess phenomenal speed and athleticism.

Saying Robert Griffin has the strongest arm in the nation may be an ambitious statement, but it also very well may be a true one.

Griffin toasted opposing secondaries with his incredible arm strength and accuracy throughout the season, and he made the type of deep throws that would drop the jaws of even the most jaded of onlookers.

He made 45-yard go-routes look like child’s play on a consistent basis.

Griffin showed the type of accuracy and arm strength that you look for in a top-notch NFL quarterback, and his ability to scramble and make plays with his legs just so happens to be a very valuable added bonus.

In that Top 100 prospects article I wrote, I said that Griffin was the track star version of Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers, and I think that’s a pretty fair assessment.

Rodgers and Griffin share similar traits, similar strengths and similar physical builds, and like Rodgers, Griffin knows how to create plays with his feet, but the difference is that he’s about two full steps faster than Rodgers when he scrambles.

The great thing about Griffin, though, is that he doesn’t have to rely on his legs for success.

He has proven that he can survive as a true pocket passer, and he has shown the type of awareness inside the tackle box that you’re looking for in a No. 1 pick caliber NFL quarterback prospect.

In the end, it will be very interesting to see how the sports media covers the Luck vs. Griffin battle for the No. 1 pick in the months leading up to the 2012 NFL draft, if both quarterbacks do in fact end up coming out as expected.

In recent years, we’ve certainly seen that the media has a tendency to downgrade successful supposed “dual-threat” college quarterbacks, who don’t exactly fit the mold of the ideal prototypical tall drop-back pro pocket passer.

And not to make race an issue, but as we found out with Cam Newton during the lead up to the 2011 NFL draft, and with Vince Young during the months before the 2006 draft, being a highly rated black quarterback won’t exactly help to win you a ton of supporters in the media.

I’m sure a few fabricated weaknesses and imaginary negatives will emerge just as they did with Newton back in the spring.

The evolution of the quarterback position still isn’t being embraced by everyone, and that’s fine, but hopefully players like RG3 will change that perception in the coming years.

Yes, he's got the type of talent and ability to be one of those groundbreaking, transcendent, once-in-a-generation type of athletes.

The truth is, Griffin’s one of those sensational highlight-reel players that you would pay top dollar to see, and he’s one of those athletes who has that rare “wow factor” that only the few great ones possess.

If I had to build my franchise around any available prospect in college football, my attention would immediately go toward Robert Griffin first.

He’s simply electric and the way that he can create big plays is exactly what you’re looking for out of a quarterback in today’s NFL.

It also really helps that he comes from a solid background and has a strong family support system that has helped to mold him into the well-spoken and mature young man that we see today.

Griffin has an infectious personality and he comes off as a humble kid, who truly “gets it” as the scouts would like to say.

The bottom line is, Robert Griffin is the total package, and he has all the skills and tools that you’re looking for in a No. 1 overall pick type of pro prospect.

He’s shown time and time again this season that he’s NFL ready right now, and judging by his play in 2011, it’s hard to say that there’s a player out there who is more deserving of being the No. 1 pick in the 2012 draft than Robert Griffin.

Griffin is a special talent, and he has been an absolute pleasure to watch this season.

We’ll have months to debate about who the Colts should take with the No. 1 pick, Griffin or Luck, but after what we've witnessed in 2011, there's definitely an argument to be made that Robert Griffin III deserves some serious consideration to be the top pick of the 2012 NFL draft.