The finalists for the 75th annual Heisman Trophy award were announced this evening, and a total of five players will be making the trek to New York City for the Downtown Athletic Club ceremony.
All five players hail from BcS conferences; four of the five are seniors; and the same number come from the offensive side of the ball. So, as announced by former Heisman winner Tim Brown, here are the five finalists:
Mark Ingram, running back, AlabamaToby Gerhart, running back, StanfordTim Tebow, quarterback, FloridaColt McCoy, quarterback, TexasNdamukong Suh, defensive tackle, Nebraska
First of all, kudos to the Heisman voters for recognizing the trench brilliance of Suh. While it’s unlikely the lineman will take home the hardware -- although he should -- it’s a solid recognition of just how dominant the Cornhusker has been all season long.
Secondly, there’s only one player who I really have a gripe about and yes, Gator Fan, it’s Tebow. Make no mistake, the UF legend is an outstanding football player, one of the greatest of all-time at the Div. 1-A level. However, he has not been one of the top five players in college football this season. At all. The Heisman is not a lifetime achievement award -- at least it shouldn’t be -- and the voters are allowing his first three seasons in Gainesville to cloud what’s been, by most accounts, a mediocre season.
Thirdly, now seems like as good a time as any to put out for your mocking ridicule consideration my top three Heisman contenders. Just pretend I have an official vote and it actually carries some weight:
1.) Suh2.) Gerhart3.) Ingram
Just for the record, I was really torn between Gerhart and Ingram, and leaving out McCoy for that matter. I was not torn in the least about putting Suh at the top of the list, though.
[For a further breakdown of the Heisman finalists, head over to our friends at NBC Sports.com and check out Mike Woods’ latest on the race for the stiff-armed statue.]
