Since the Heisman Trophy has started being awarded in 1935, the long line of players who were flops at the professional football level has begun. It took 14 Heisman winners before one had a professional career worthy of induction into the Pro Football Hall Of Fame. There are only eight Heisman Trophy winners to have been inducted into Canton in the 74 years the award has been given out. The decades of the 1970's and 1980's are the best the award has seen. Of the 19 men who won the award, 13 of them had careers in the NFL that saw them get at least one Pro Bowl nod. Just five players have been to the Pro Bowl from the list of Heisman winners since the 1990 season. The 2009 Heisman Watch has not been the most exciting competition in recent memory, but there are several candidates to consider. Here is a list of the top candidates for 2009. There will be a brief synapse of some players NFL prospects as well. That list will be followed by a anthology of some of the biggest flops in Heisman history. Tim Tebow Tebow has had a college football career that can only best be described as legendary, yet he still has a few games to go before it is over. He owns several school and NCAA records, most that have come from his ability to run the ball. The one issue that critics have pointed out is his inability to throw a ball consistently or with much accuracy. He reminds many of a bigger and stronger Eric Crouch, the 2001 Heisman winner. Draft experts have him being selected anywhere from the first to third round in 2010. Whomever picks him will have to hope they can develop him into a professional quarterback. He works hard, is a team leader, is charitable, and does things the right way without shortcuts. Betting against him seems a bad idea, because he has overcome many obstacles before. He is not an NFL quarterback in my opinion. His game best fits the CFL, but he will be on a roster. There is a very good chance he is out of the league like Crouch was, yet he could surprise all. Again. Toby Gerhart What Gerhart has done the last seven games is nothing short of amazing. It isn't just because he has run for over 100 yards in each of those games, it is how he has done it. He cemented his candidacy last week with another extraordinary performance, and even threw a touchdown pass that helped seal the win against Notre Dame. Factor in his 1,736 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns, and one can see why Gerhart is my pick for the Heisman this year. He is not blazing fast, but he is exceptionally intelligent. He has an innate feel for finding the right hole to hit and get positive yardage. He also always falls forward. Gerhart has a very good chance of being a first round draft choice, as well as one of the first running backs selected. He also happens to excel at baseball, so he has that option as well. Teams needing a plugger should get him (Philadelphia Eagles are you listening?), and he appears to have good hands in the passing game on the very few chances he was given. He has the ability to be a 1,000 yard rusher in the NFL. At the very least, he will be a versatile player who adds quality depth. Colt McCoy All McCoy has done is break virtually every school passing record there is in his four years at Texas University. He is also a four year starter who has had everything, including the kitchen sink, thrown at him while leading the Longhorns to win after win. He won the 2008 Walter Camp Award and Associated Press 2008 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year Award, and almost won the Heisman last year as well. He is more than a winner on the field, he is a hard worker who is a true student of the game. McCoy is expected to be a first round draft pick by many in 2010, but the knock of lacking a strong throwing arm will drop him under a few other quarterbacks. He is the type of player who needs to be drafted into the right system. The West Coast offense seems to fit his game best. If he finds himself on the right team, he could have a very good career in a league that caters to quarterbacks. Ndamukong Suh I know. He has NO CHANCE at winning the Heisman. Right? No defensive players do unless they return kicks and play a little offense, like 1997 winner Charles Woodson did. Woodson is the only player to have won the award from primarily playing defense. The Heisman Trophy states the award goes to the "most outstanding college football player ". If this is true, then Suh should win the award running away. Yet, we have come to realize the Heisman goes to the most outstanding OFFENSIVE college football player instead. It is easier for the casual fan to love the guy with the ball over the guy in the trenches trying to stop him. Suh has been a force all year, and is a front runner to win the 2009 Outland Trophy. He led the Nebraska Cornhuskers in tackles in 2008, becoming the first lineman to lead the team in tackles since the 1973 season. He is leading the team in tackles again this season. The best honor bestowed on him, in my opinion, was being compared to the legendary Alan Page. Page is in both the college and pro football Hall Of Fame's, and is considered one of the best to have ever played defensive tackle. Suh fits best in a 4-3 system, where he can use his incredible strength and quickness to penetrate immediately. He is also capable of being a great defensive end in a 3-4 scheme. Though he is more than able to play nose tackle, his career would most likely get shortened playing the hardest position in football. He will be a top ten draft pick, and very likely a top five selection. If he has a healthy career, he could be the best player of the 2009 draft when all is said and done. Case Keenum Keenum is just a junior at the University of Houston, so expect him to be back in the thick for the 2010 Heisman Award. If last year wasn't an indicator of his abilities, when he became the second Cougar quarterback ever to throw for over 5,000 yards, all he has done this year is toss the ball for over 4,900 yards so far. He will soon become the only Cougar quarterback so exceed 5,000 yards two years, and he has a good chance of doing it again in 2010. Since Andre Ware won the Heisman in 1989, Houston has had David Klingler and Kevin Kolb have record setting careers that led them to the NFL as well. None stood out in the pros, though Kolb still appears to have a bright future. Keenum appears to be the best out of all these legends in arm strength, intelligence, and pocket awareness. Though he might not win the Heisman this year, he has a very good chance at winning the Davey O'Brien Award. Mark Ingram Ingram is a favorite of many to win the award, even if he has over 300 yards less rushing yards, as well as 11 less touchdowns, than Gerhart. Ingram averages almost one yard better per carry than Gerhart. Ingram has helped keep the University of Alabama undefeated all year, and very much in the race for a National Championship. A huge game by him in the SEC Championship Game against Florida University could put him near the head of the pack for the Heisman. He is the son of former NFL wide receiver Mark Ingram Sr., and his 28 receptions are second on the team. Ingram is a complete player who can do a little bit of everything well. He does not have amazing speed, but he is able to hit the big play often due to excellent vision and intelligence. I expect Gerhart to win the Heisman and Doak Walker Awards this year, but I am not saying Ingram isn't worthy of either honor. He is just a sophomore, so many Crimson Tide fans expect him to be back the next few years to get the award. Ingram is not a big back, so fans best hope Nick Saban doesn't wear him or those knees out. The Heisman Flops Gary Beban Beban, who won the award in 1967, received the most voters points in 12 years when he won. The UCLA product was then drafted in the second round by the local Los Angeles Rams, which was the Rams first pick in the draft that year. Roman Gabriel was the starter at quarterback then, and was in his prime. He would make the Pro Bowl that year. The Rams needed a backup, and hoped Beban could be that. They were so unimpressed, they decided to keep fading veteran Milt Plum as the reserve. Plum was out of football after 1969. The Rams traded Beban to the Washington Redskins before he suited up for the Rams, and he sat on the bench for two years behind Hall Of Famer Sonny Jurgensen. He was cut after the 1969 season, having appeared in five games. He caught one pass for 12 yards, and threw one incompletion in that time. Though there are many flops in Heisman lore as big as Beban, he can hold claim to being the only player in UCLA history to have won the award. Danny Wuerffel Only three players since 1990, Matt Leinart, Carson Palmer, and Eric Crouch, received less voter points than Wuerffel. He was drafted in the fourth round in 1997 by the New Orleans Saints. He started six games over three years with them, winning twice, before he was cut. He joined the Rhein Fire in NFL Europe in 2000, where he had his most success at the professional level. His team won the championship that year, and he was named MVP of the game. He appeared in one game each over the next two years for the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears before being reunited with his with his college coach Steve Spurrier in 2002. Spurrier, who was a Heisman winner himself in 1966, had just left the University of Florida to coach the Washington Redskins. Wuerffel started four games, which he won two of them, before he was cut. Still, many Heisman winners had pro careers even worse than him. Jason White White will always head most lists when it comes to Heisman flops. He won the award in 2003, after hurting his knee the two seasons before. Many observers felt Pittsburgh University wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald should have won the award instead. His NFL prospects were so low that he applied for an extra senior year, which he was granted, at Oklahoma University. He had another good year and finished third in the Heisman voting. He found that no NFL team was interested in him still, and he went undrafted. The Tennessee Titans put him on their practice squad a few weeks before cutting him, thus ending his football career. He is the only Heisman winner to never be drafted by the NFL. Billy Vessels Vessels was the first player from Oklahoma University to win the Heisman, which he did in 1952, and no other winner has received less voters points than he did since. He was the second player drafted in 1953, by the Baltimore Colts, but he decided to play for the Edmonton Eskimos of the Western Interprovincial Football Union. He led that league in rushing that year, and became the first player ever to win the Schenley Award. He left the team after that year. He resurfaced with the Colts in 1956 and scored three touchdowns. He then retired from football because of a leg injury. Chris Weinke Weinke won the Heisman in 2000, and was drafted in the fourth round by the Carolina Panthers in 2001. He started in 15 games as a rookie, and won just once. He lost 14 straight, which is an NFL record by a quarterback. He was benched after that for the next three years with the team. He did start four more times, and won once. He was then cut after the 2006 season, so he joined the San Francisco 49ers for the next year. His career was over after that. Most fans will remember him being the oldest Heisman winner ever at 28 years old. Eric Crouch When Crouch won the Heisman in 2001, he had the lowest voter points total in 39 years. Terry Baker, who easily could have made this list, had fewer than him in 1962. He was drafted in the third round by the Saint Louis Rams, but the Rams wanted the athletic Crouch to play wide receiver because he did not have the height nor arm strength to play quarterback in the NFL. Crouch tried it for a short time, but quit after a hard tackle during training camp. He went to NFL Europe in 2005 and played safety, but he still wanted to play quarterback. He decided to join the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL as a fourth string quarterback in 2006. He got to play half of one game, and threw a 94 yard completion as his lone highlight as a quarterback at the professional level. He was then cut from the team in 2007. Crouch signed with the fledgling All-American Football League in 2008, but the league has postponed their debut and hopes to open in 2010. Gino Torretta Torretta won the 1992 Heisman after leading the Miami Hurricanes to a National Championship. He was drafted in the seventh round by the Minnesota Vikings, but accumulated no statistics in the lone season he played there. After sitting on the bench for the Detroit Lions the next year, he signed with the San Francisco 49ers in 1995. He then joined the Seattle Seahawks in 1996. He got his only NFL action in one game that year. He threw a touchdown pass off of five completions for 41 yards on 16 attempts. He also threw an interception, ran for 12 yards on two attempts, and took three sacks. The Seahawks won the game with him at the helm. He was cut early into the 1997 season, and then joined the Indianapolis Colts for a few games before retiring. Though Gino Torretta heads a lot of peoples lists of Heisman flops, he did get to at least taste victory in the only game he ever played in the NFL.
As far as making it in the Pros, I like McCoy and would love to have Gerhart on the Pats. Gerhart is fast enough, and is a snitch to tackle. He is very athletic, and does everything well. I really like this guy.
Good read, I pray to jeebus that McCoy does well in the NFL. Weinke & Crouch now those are soem names.
