| 29 November 2011
LaMichael James is an outstanding football player with exceptional talent He has more yards per carry than either Trent Richardson or Montee Ball, but he isn't going to New York this season for the Heisman Trophy Awards ceremony. He won't be a Heisman finalist, barring a gigantic game in the last weekend versus UCLA.
Missing two and a half games, and being held in check by LSU and USC in big TV games ensured that.
Each week I turn in a mock ballot for the website, College Football Zealots. My ballot this week:
Andrew Luck, Montee Ball, Trent Richardson
photo right: None of the other major candidates has a 90-yard run to his credit, and no one has more runs of 30 yards or more than James (abxnews.com photo).
The Heisman Trophy is supposed to go to "The outstanding college football player whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity."
And what that means is open to interpretation.
The phrase "excellence with integrity" implies that the award is about, or ought to be about, more than just stats or the reputation of the players conference or school.
Which is why the winner ought to be Andrew Luck, who passed up NFL millions to play another year of college football, and has done so with class, poise, and tremendous consistency and effectiveness over a 3-year college career.
It's a season award, but a player's body of work ought to be at least a tie breaker. Luck's thrown for over 9,000 yards at Stanford, with 80 touchdowns and 21 picks. In the last two seasons he's led The Cardinal to a 23-2 record and a pair of #4 rankings in the polls.
Luck is a great quarterback and a terrific representative of college football. He started the season as the Heisman frontrunner, and has done nothing to surrender that position.
Among many likely voters, Trent Richardson is the favorite, getting a huge boost from the success, reputation and profile of Alabama football, and his status as the successor to former winner Mark Ingram.
Richardson's a good player, and many cite the tough competition he faces in the SEC as a big reason to support him. Trouble is, three of his best games came against North Texas, Ole Miss and Georgia Southern. LSU held him to 89 yards on 23 carries. The body of work? Last season Richardson rushed for just 730 yards.
Montee Ball has 9 more rushing touchdowns, 2 more receiving touchdowns, more yards and a better average. And unlike Luck or Richardson, Ball has one more chance to impress voters before ballots are due, in Saturday's Big 10 Championship Game against Michigan State.
With a great performance there, Ball could sway voters on a weekend that features just a handful of games.
