2009 will be a fascinating year for the Heisman voters to attempt to dissect. Many of the early favorites were injured or played below expectations (Tebow, McCoy, Bradford), leaving the door open for a variety of other candidates. Mark Ingram represents the "best player on the best team," but I think that's a load of trash. The award is for the best player, period, and an argument should be made that having the best team around you makes you look that much better. For a quarterback, the winning percentage is more important because your leadership and ability is tied more directly to that win total. But not the running back. So my top three are:
#3: C. J. Spiller - Gutting it out all year through injuries, Spiller put up excellent numbers and carried his freshman QB and rookie head coach to the ACC title game. Certainly the best triple threat player in college football this year (rushing, receiving, returning).
#2: Ndamukong Suh - Anyone who watched Nebraska this year knows that their offense was truly offensive to watch, peaking in an 8 turnover game against the mighty Iowa St defense. Yet somehow the Huskers won 9 games this year, and were a fraction of a second away from beating Texas. Suh gets most of the credit for the defense giving up 3, 9, 16, 0, 12, 31, 9, 10, 3, 17, 3, 20, and 13 points this year. (The 31 was against Texas Tech, whose offense avoids the defensive tackles altogether.) 12 sacks and an INT from a defensive tackle, leading a defense of that quality, is definitely worthy.
#1: Toby Gerhart - Leads the nation in rushing yards, rushing TDs, and carries. In the best conference in the nation top to bottom this year (except Wash St of course), Gerhart led a young, undertalented team to a victory over Oregon and a pounding of USC. His stats are not the function of bad competition, a specific offensive system (Texas Tech, e.g.), or incredible talent around him. With a combination of power, agility, and stamina, Toby Gerhart was the best player in the nation this year.
Compiled picks from bloggers around the country will be available at blueworkhorse.com once all the votes are in.
December 7, 2009
Heisman Picks
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3 Responses:
I think all 3 of you picks are the most deserving this year.. I may be bias'd as a Husker fan but Suh was special all year long... as well as Spiller and Gerhart. It's pretty sad that Suh and Spiller don't get more love because they are truely special players.
You guys may be ACC biased. Spiller is great but you are dismissing Ingram for some reason.
Rushing:
Ingram: 1542 (118.62/game), 15 TDs
Spiller: 1145 (88.08/game), 11 TDs
Receiving:
Ingram: 322 (24.8/game), 3 TDs
Spiller: 445 (34.2/game), 4 TDs
Spiller is an awesome kick returner and added 5 TDs returning, but I don't think it is enough to outweigh Ingram's better rushing numbers and the fact that Ingram has taken his team farther.
Gerhart, on the other hand, has the numbers to outweigh his team's inferior record.
I might plug in Ingram over Spiller but I'm not going to the mattresses over it.
Suh's performance was the most dominating I've seen from a defensive player since Chris Spielman had 29 tackles against Michigan in '86 or '87.
Points regarding Gerhart are well-taken. Got a chance to see a lot of the guy out here on the Coast. Dude is just a flat-out stud.
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