We just put up another poll on our Web site: Who should win the Heisman Trophy?
My vote is for Stanford running back Toby Gerhart. And my reasoning is fairly basic. The award is supposed to go to the best college football player of 2009. Looking only at the finalist, I think that’s Gerhart. Never mind the first time I saw him for any extended period, I decided then and there he seemed to be a man among boys. And this was in Pac-10 football, not Pop Warner.
Gerhart leads the country in rushing attempts, yards and rushing touchdowns. He’s second in rushing yards per game to Fresno State’s Ryan Mathews. He led Stanford to No. 19 ranking after the Cardinal didn’t get a single vote in the preseason.
Ingram plays the same position, so he’s out. He’s 12th nationally in yards per game rushing, behind, among others, Oregon freshman LaMichael James, who’s No. 8. Ingram plays on the No. 1 team, but it began the season in the top five, and I’d venture to say the Tide didn’t lean on him quite like Stanford leaned on Gerhart.
I’m throwing out quarterbacks Tim Tebow of Florida and Colt McCoy of Texas. Votes for them, I think, would be lifetime achievement votes. That’s what the College Football Hall of Fame is for. Case Keenum of Houston and Kellen Moore of Boise State both had much bigger seasons statistically. But a quarterback is a leader, and there is no better leader than Tebow. Had he led Florida past Alabama in the season’s biggest game, that might have swayed me away from Gerhart.
Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska’s impressive defensive lineman, took advantage of the big stage against Texas Saturday, registering 4.5 sacks. But that’s more than a third of his season total of 12. Throw out that game, and he averaged .625 per game, which would rank 46th nationally. He undoubtedly saw double teams galore, but every one of the other finalists had defense gearing up specifically to stop them.
So, my vote, in order, would be Gerhart, Tebow, Suh, Ingram, McCoy.
