Update: If you want to see how other media voted, click here.
I voted for Tim Tebow. The Florida quarterback was No. 1 on my Heisman Trophy ballot. Arkansas running back Darren McFadden made a late surge to claim my No. 2 spot. I put Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel third.
Here’s my reasoning behind Tebow:
The Florida sophomore rushed for 22 touchdowns. The skeptics point out that many were short-yardage bursts near the end zone. But those are the toughest yards, especially when the defense knew that Tebow was the likely ball-carrier. Besides, it wasn’t as if Tebow had nothing to do with marching the Gators close to the goal line in the first place.
- Tebow was the nation’s second-leading passer, throwing for 3,132 yards and 29 touchdowns compared to six interceptions. The pre-season question was whether Tebow could throw the football. He not only proved he can throw it, he throws it well. Short ball. Deep ball. Didn’t matter. He made all the throws.
- Tebow’s numbers came in the nation’s toughest conference. Florida played LSU, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Auburn, South Carolina and Florida State, to name a few. To me, that elevated him far above Hawaii’s Colt Brennan.
- Tebow is only a sophomore. While this may discourage some voters from placing Tebow first, I think is the perfect time to give the sophomore the award. It goes to the best player, not the best senior player. For those who say he can win it another year, tell that to Herschel Walker and Peyton Manning, two SEC players who deserved the award but
never received it. ((Herschel won it in ‘82 after his junior year.) Tebow is the best player right now. His academic class shouldn’t matter.
John Clay is a sports columnist for the Lexington Herald-Leader. A native of Central Kentucky and graduate of UK, he covered UK football for 13 seasons before being promoted to columnist in 2000. He lives in Lexington with his wife and two sons. You can e-mail him at jclay@herald-leader.com.
As Hawaii’s coach said, Tebow is a system QB whose numbers are distorted by the special nature of the offense he runs. Plenty of QB’s could have also scored 20 rushing TD’s this year, but their offenses didn’t call for it. Meanwhile, Tebow doesn’t have the arm to match Colt Brennan (or Andre Woodson for that matter).
John Tim Tebow is certainly a worthy candidate and I won’t be upset if he wins.
The one thing that I see is while he did break the rushing record in the SEC and threw even more TD’s with just 6 picks, he lost 3 games.
Yes I know that McFadden’s team lost 4 but the big difference is that Tebow touched the ball every time in Florida’s offensive. Same can’t be said with Darren.
Had they used McFadden the way they did against LSU who knows the Razorbacks may not have lost 4 games.
Certainly I think right now that Darren is going to be a heck of a running back in the NFL.
I see this year’s race similar to last year’s. The winner won’t play his first year and the best player in college football will be a force on what ever team he goes to. (Peterson of course)
By the way great artcile on IU today. For all the good that Sampson did at OU it is some waht overshadowed by his phone calls. Once is a mistake, twice is a clear message that he is going to do what he wants. The rules be darned.
” As Hawaii’s coach said, Tebow is a system QB whose numbers are distorted by the special nature of the offense he runs. ”
Hello kettle calling is pot there?
Same is said about Brennan. Not that I disagree with your statement.
Yet I have to say Tebow is not like Vick yet he gets a lot of rushing TD’s.
Vick has and if he comes back will always be a run first type of player. As soon as the pocket starts to collapse he is gone.
Same can’t be said about Tebow. He will stay in there and look to pass even if he thinks he is about to get hit.
He runs very well and may end up being a back at the next level.
I do think he has a good arm but we will have to wait and see what Colt has in the Bowl game this year against good competition.
I am glad they got a BCS bowl I think they deserve it. They still beat a Boise State team and Washington this year, so they haven’t had a complete cake walk.
They shouldn’t be penalized because they can’t change their conference schedule nor should they be because bigger schools wont’ play them.
If I remember right Michigan turned them down this year to play Appy State. If the bigger teams won’t play yeah the only thing left to do is join the Pac-10, yeah that will never happen.
To me, the best player in the country, that I saw, is McFadden. It’s hard to go wrong either way though.
As far as Hawaii is concerned, I think they should have been in the championship game. The way I see it is that every other team had a shot at it(some even had two or three shots at it), and they all blew it. Hawaii was the only team that didn’t get a fair chance.
People want to fawn over parity when an Appy beats UM, but don’t want to believe that a Hawaii could beat an OSU or LSU. Of course they can win…..and that’s why they’re not invited. Seems backwards to me.
Isn’t every quarterback part of a system? Each offensive coordinator revolves his offense usually around the quarterback. You don’t see Peyton Manning running the option because that’s not his style of play. I think every quarterback is in a system that makes him better. You work to their strengths and if their strength is passing throw it. If it happens to be running and speed use the option offense. Every quarterback has different strengths and coaches just put them in a system that showcases those talents. In my opinion the best player in college football right now is Darren McFadden. But Tebow comes in a very, very close second. Hopefully that speaks volumes to the few who believe the SEC is not the toughest conference in the nation (I’m not one of those few). Hey John! I’m a big fan of the blog.
Hi John,
One correction - Herschel won it in 1982, after his junior season. He was expected to win it again the following year but he left instead for the USFL. (As a Wildcat fan growing up in GA I couldn’t help but know this).
I think McFadden was by far the best running back I saw this season. I can’t say the same for Tebow and the quarterback spot. I think a lot of players could have had similar stats at the QB spot if similar plays were called. He was good, but not clearly head and shoulders above the rest good. McFadden seemed tougher and faster…except against UK. That’s my 2 cents worth.
hey mojo, what in the world are you talking about? every qb is a system qb, its called playing your team’s offense. every time i hear that phrase it bugs the heck out of me. an off. coordinator has to work with their qb’s strengths and weaknesses in calling plays.
tebow is a great college qb plain and simple.
and by the way, are you seriously bringing up andre woodson’s arm strength as better than tebow’s? who the heck cares. woodson may have a bigger arm and be able to air it out, but he has more mental breakdowns in games than the psych ward at the VA. i would much rather have a smart player who gets the job done than a mediocre qb with a big arm. tebow is about as smart as they come.