My Heisman Trophy Ballot

"The Heisman Memorial Trophy annually recognizes the outstanding college football player whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity."

That is taken directly from the Heisman Trust Mission Statement. The question is, "Who was the most outstanding college football player in 2009?" I will disagree with a lot people here, but no where in the statement does it say "Who is the best player on the best team". Unfortunately over the last decade the voting has been slanted towards players who are on the best teams. This award is an individual award, not a team award. This line of thinking is what leaves us with such past greats like Jason White, Eric Crouch, Gino Torreta and Chris Weinke winning the award. I want names like Bo Jackson, Barry Sanders, Herschel Walker, etc. Guys who when we look back at the award in 10 years are thought of as all-time greats. That is what the award is supposed to symbolize. So without further ado, here is my top 3.

1. Toby Gerhart, RB, Stanford
1,736 rushing yards, 26 rushing tds, 144.7 ypg
Game Totals: 121, 82, 113, 200, 134, 96, 123, 125, 223, 178, 136, 205
Gerhart led the nation in rushing yards, rushing tds, and was 2nd in yards per game. He finished with 10 of his 12 games over 100 yards, including his last 6 over 120 yards. That is called consistency. He saved his best for his biggest games (223 yards vs Oregon, 178 vs USC, and 205 vs Notre Dame). He did all this while taking 21 units at one of the finest academic institutions in the country. He also led Stanford to a second-place finish in the PAC-10 their first Bowl Game since 2001. That my friends is excellence.

2. Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska
82 tackles, 23 tackles for loss, 12 sacks, 10 pass breakups, 1 int
Those statistics are almost unheard of for a defensive tackle. There-in lies the problem. He was a monster all season but some people will have a hard time voting for a defensive player to win the Heisman. The statements says "most outstanding player" and doesn't make the distinction between offense and defense. In my opinion, it is just being lazy that voters ignore defensive players because the stats aren't as obvious. Anyone who has watched Suh this year, knows he was outstanding. He is also in line to be the top draft pick in next year's NFL Draft.

3. Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama
1,542 rushing yards, 15 rushing's tds, 118.6 ypg
Game Totals: 150, 56, 91, 50, 140, 172, 246, 99, 144, 149, 102, 30, 113
Ingram did have 113 yards to beat Florida in the SEC Championship Game, but the previous week he had only 30 vs arch rival Auburn. He finished with 8 of his 13 games over 100 yards. While Ingram had a great year, are we even sure he is the best player on his own team? The Crimson Tide had 3 other first team All-Americans. Imagine what Gerhart's statistics would look like if he had that kind of help. Ingram also would have by far the worst ypg than any of the previous 10 RBs to win the Heisman Trophy. In fact, he would have finish with the lowest rushing yardage and rushing td totals of any of the previous winners at his position despite playing in 2 more games. That doesn't sound like a Heisman season to me.

I left Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow out of my top 3 and here is why. McCoy threw 8 tds and 8 int in games versus teams that finished .500 or better. Simply put, he didn't play well against good competition. Also, anyone who knows my family history (Hatfield) knows I can't vote for a McCoy. Tebow threw 8 tds and 5 ints in his 9 SEC games. That just isn't going to get it done at the QB position. Just the fact that he made it to NY for the ceremony boggles my mind.