Heisman Race: Star Receivers Challenge QB Tradition

I wanted to talk Heisman because the Heisman Trophy is pretty interesting right now. If you look at, these are three wide receivers, the kid out of Oregon State, Jeremiah Smith, Malachi Toney. I mean, the numbers are wild. Only four wide receivers have ever won the Heisman. In the 91-year history of the award, only four wideouts have ever won it. Right now, one, two, three, in terms of ranked nationally in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. Jesse, Jeremiah, Malachi, these three kids are doing an incredible, incredible thing. If these guys maintain their pace, three of the 10 most prolific receiving seasons of the last 30 years will all happen in the same college football season. That's nuts. Among the top 10 wide out single season power conference receiving yards since 1995, only four, Michael Crabtree, Terrence Williams, Brandon Cooks, and Justin Blackmon had more yards through seven games than this year's trio okay these guys are doing an incredible job but here's the problem the Heisman trophy is not a wide receiver award and we're talking about freshman sophomore junior right this is what's interesting about this Jeremiah Smith might win the Heisman just based upon his current age because he's going pro after this year and Jesse and Malachi are coming back i mean that would be wild if that were to happen that jeremiah smith wins it because his numbers aren't as good as many yards as many touchdowns more than tony but jeremiah smith is considered like this like unbelievable surefire top five pick in the draft well that's because the other two guys aren't going to be available in the nfl draft till next year it's a award that doesn't go to wideouts it's a quarterback award since it's a quarterback award what do we do well if you're betting i think you have to take a long hard look at Darian Mensa from Miami okay it's gonna be Mensah, that's a misspelling, it's been Mensah not Mercer, it's Darian Mensah the quarterback from Duke transferred over to Miami and now is lighting up everything because all you do is throw to Malachi Tony and he goes and scores touchdowns, CJ Carr is also in this conversation because he's a quarterback, he's 19 to 1, you got these three players: two Miami, one Ohio State and one quarterback from Notre Dame if you're talking about the three finalists at the moment we got two Canes and one Buckeye showing up in New York from a Heisman Trophy finalist and maybe CJ Carr comes in and then the question is going to be what do the voters do because again voting for a wide receiver is not something that normally happens for the voters this is a quarterback award, the Biletnikoff Award, that's for the wide outs okay those are the guys that come in so it is really interesting and that's a good point yes, Miami plays Notre Dame very soon so we could kind of determine that on the field, that's a good point that's what in two weeks Miami plays Notre Dame i don't know what to do with that i don't like betting it anyway okay i'm not a fan of betting the Heisman or MVPs or coaches of the year i don't like those markets because you're asking human beings to do the right thing but there are trends you can look at in terms of how the voters are going to vote, Butch says Trinidad Chambliss he just lost at Texas he may have lost the award by that that might have cost Chambliss because i would have agreed with you i would have said oh Heisman's going to Trinidad Chambliss he's 30 to 1 after the loss 30 to 1 to win the Heisman he's not even getting an invite to New York at the moment now maybe that's a good price to take him at 30 to 1 at the moment and say all right take him currently this is a quarterback award this is not a wide receiver award but the top three options right now you could make a strong case or wide receivers and then maybe Mensa from from Miami the quarterback from the Canes if i were to bet i would say that Darren Mensa wins it so like that's just because it's a quarterback award Jeremiah Smith is a little bit of a different angle because the public loves the kid every time you hear a broadcaster talk about Jeremiah Smith it's surefire number one overall pick best wide receiver talent we've seen in the last 20 years you know setting all these records with the Buckeyes and the Big 10 and doing all of these big things so maybe the betting public says okay jeremiah Jeremiah Smith has done such an incredible job. He's going to win it. But the problem with Ohio State is what the quarterback's going to look like going forward. I have seen people that I really respect say the Buckeyes are not going to make the playoff. And I don't think that's crazy. The Buckeyes have got to figure out whether they've got an option, a true freshman option to come in because Julian Sain is done for the year. That kid wants to play in the pros. he's not coming back with a throwing shoulder injury they're not going to risk a long-term problem and that kid missing out on playing in the NFL no way so there is a big problem for Ohio State and thus a big problem for Jeremiah Smith now if he goes out there and balls with a backup quarterback and puts up anywhere close to the numbers he had with Julian saying that's how you come in and say oh right okay he's the best player in college football he's going to win the Heisman Trophy.