Five Heisman snubs who should be in New York this weekend
The Heisman Trophy ballots have been collected, and the finalists have booked their flights to New York City. The Heisman Trust earlier this week announced the three players who will take their talents to Manhattan for the announcement ceremony at 8 p.m. ET Saturday.
Alabama running back Derrick Henry, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson and Stanford all-purpose talent Christian McCaffrey will be front and center and in contention for the game's most prestigious individual award.
Henry has been deemed the favorite by Las Vegas, as he broke Herschel Walker's SEC rushing record this year, finishing with 1,986 yards and a nation-leading 23 rushing touchdowns. Watson, the best dual-threat QB in the country, passed for 3,512 yards and 41 total touchdowns (30 passing, 11 rushing), all while finishing third in pass-completion percentage. McCaffrey got to NYC by breaking Barry Sanders’ 26-year-old record for all-purpose yards in a season with 3,496.
With all due respect to these outstanding Heisman finalists, are we sure they are the three who are most deserving? Here are five players whose résumés stand up favorably against them.
Who has more total touchdowns, fewer interceptions and better dance moves (allegedly) than Clemson’s Deshaun Watson? Baker “Swag” Mayfield, that’s who. Snubbed for the Heisman ceremony, Oklahoma’s signal caller led the Sooners to the playoff with 42 total touchdowns (35 passing, 7 rushing) while throwing just five interceptions. While Watson’s team may be undefeated, it seems pretty clear that Mayfield’s résumé is better, and many consider him the most electrifying QB in America this season.
With a 7.9 yards-per-carry average (second in the nation), Cook was arguably the most dynamic, big-play running back in the country. The Florida State tailback was hampered by injuries in the middle of the season. He was a scratch vs. Syracuse and left another game with just two carries (one of which was a 94-yard game-breaker) vs. Wake Forest. Perhaps having two additional games of full production on his game log would have been enough to carry Cook to New York.
Few receivers have had to play with more quarterbacks this season than the Baylor Bears' wideouts. Despite all the injuries to their signal callers, Coleman found a way to rack up 20 touchdowns in the high-flying Art Briles offense. Coleman’s blazing speed and soft hands wrecked secondaries all year, as the wideout went on a seven-game streak of scoring multiple touchdowns.
There was a time when the best player from a service academy meant a nearly automatic trip to the Heisman Trophy ceremony, but that time has come and gone. Reynolds’ case for New York might be better served as a lifetime achievement award versus a single-season performance, as he now owns the FBS’ all-time rushing touchdowns record, and he helped lead the Midshipmen offense with 1,093 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns this season with one game remaining versus Army. Oh, and he quietly threw for 964 yards and six touchdowns to boot.
If the college football season had ended in October, LSU would’ve been a lock for the college football playoff, and Fournette’s name likely would’ve already been engraved on the Heisman Trophy. Three consecutive losses later, and Fournette’s 2015 campaign became an afterthought -- thanks in large part to opponents putting nearly everyone in the box to stop the Tigers’ tailback. Consider this: Fournette (1,950 total yards) was outgained by Derrick Henry (2,083) by just 133 yards from scrimmage while playing in one fewer game and with fewer overall touches. Fournette still has at least one more season in him for LSU, and he could be a front-runner to win the Heisman in 2016.
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