It is never to early to start looking ahead to the upcoming college football season. Lets start by taking a look at some of the frontrunners for next seasons race to claim the Heisman Trophy. As we saw this year, early favorites don't always win.
The
Heisman Trophy is a very prestigious award that an amateur athlete will covet
for a lifetime (unless you're Reggie Bush or O.J. Simpson). It's a brotherhood
as each former winner is part of the festivities each season.
The
5 leading candidates appear in New York for the ceremonies as there are usually
a couple of frontrunners and a few individuals that know that they won't win
but are happy to be taken into consideration.
Frontrunner
= Heisman Winner?
That's
not always the case as we've just seen this past season when the votes leaked
out and Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck went from a major favorite to a
guaranteed runner up. In a situation like this, bettors could've picked Robert Griffin III at very long betting odds until the voting leak slipped. In other words,
there's major opportunity to make a lot of money if things don't fall just
right. Other things taken into consideration is how a player finishes the
season, the scheduling towards the end of the season (Griffin III benefited
from the schedule where Luck didn't), and injuries.
Possible
Candidates for 2012
I
don't have current updates of the sports betting lines as it's only January, but let's zero in
on who we think will be some of the top candidates and who can possibly slip in
and win the award at a good price.
Matt
Barkley- quarterback- USC
The
second that Matt Barkley announced that he would be coming back to USC for
another season, he instantly became the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy.
Barkley finished off his junior year on fire but couldn't showcase his talents
in a bowl game because the Trojans were "bowl ineligible". Towards
the end of the season, USC might very well have been the best team in the
nation. Matt Barkley was certainly the hottest quarterback in the country at
season's end.
Laying
down the exclamation point!
It
was comical to USC and most people that their rivals, the UCLA Bruins would be
participating in the Pac 12 Championship game with a .500 record. What's the
best remedy to let out your frustration if you're Matt Barkley? They responded
with 50-0 defeat of the Bruins in the last game of the regular season at UCLA, as he threw for 423 yards on 35 of 42 passes with 6 TD. To clearly put it,
Matt Barkley was a beast at the end of the season and he's the top dog to take
home this trophy.
Returning
Heisman visitors
Montee
Ball- running back- Wisconsin
This
is a player that very well could've won the Heisman Trophy in 2011 and finished in fourth place. Montee Ball is coming off of a monster season in where he tied Barry
Sanders NCAA record for touchdowns in a season with 39! Ball also rushed for
1923 yards and 33 TD's. Wisconsin lost to Oregon in the Rose Bowl but Ball also
had a big game in a huge spot, rushing for 164 yards and 1
TD while catching 4 balls for 51 yards. The Heisman loves quarterbacks, but
Wisconsin is always a powerhouse and Montee Ball has a much better chance of
taking home the hardware in 2012. Can he duplicate his numbers from this past
year? Maybe he can even improve upon them.
Tyrann
Mathieu- cornerback- LSU
LSU
came close to winning the national championship but wasn't able to seal the
deal, and cornerback Tyrann Mathieu also wasn’t able to "seal the
deal" with the voters as he came in 5th place in last year's Heisman
Trophy voting. This past year, Mathieu had 77 tackles, 2 interceptions, 1 sack,
and 9 pass defenses. This is a big time defensive player that can be classified
as a game changer. However, I don't see Mathieu as having a legitimate shot at
winning the Heisman in 2012. The odds might be nice but it's not a worthy of adding to your college football picks.
Other
hopefuls
Landry
Jones- quarterback- Oklahoma
Landry
Jones is more than a "hopeful", as he can put up massive numbers and
he plays for a bigtime school in the Sooners of Oklahoma. Jones might very well
be the best dropback passer in college football and most likely to succeed in
the NFL. Things came to a halt for Jones last year when his favorite target
Ryan Broyles got injured. Nonetheless, Jones threw for 4463 yards with 29 TD
and 15 INT. In the last 3 games of the regular season, Landry Jones threw no
touchdowns and 5 interceptions. He was like a front running horse that had
nothing left to finish the race.
I
look for a big season out of Jones. The lack of late season success was attributed
to the Broyles injury. This is a player that has a legitimate chance to win
this award and a very good price. You must take him into consideration.
Marcus
Lattimore- running back- South Carolina
Lattimore
is a player that will be taken into consideration strictly out of potential, as
his season in 2011 was cut short due to a knee injury. In 7 games (6 complete
games), he rushed for 818 yards and 10 TD. In his freshman campaign, Lattimore
rushed for almost 1200 yards and 17 TD. He's a question mark due to injury, but
is a definite candidate. We'll keep an eye out for Lattimore in his first
couple of games to make sure that the injury hasn't affected his game.
Honorable
mention
Kenjon
Barner - running back- Oregon
Barner
will have big shoes to fill as he takes over for LaMichael James. I've never
seen a runner with such quickness as I saw in Kenjon Barner when the Ducks
played against Stanford. He could be a lucky longshot; a lottery pick to toss a
couple of dollars on, if you will.
I
can't make a write-up of every single athlete that I think has a potential or
this would turn into a magazine. There are at least a few
quarterback candidates that have to be taken into consideration. Denard Robinson
of Michigan is a passing and running threat, while Aaron Murray led the Georgia
Bulldogs out of an 0-2 hole to a spectacular season and is primed for a repeat
performance.
2012
will host an even more exciting race for the Heisman Trophy than this past season.
This should be a more competitive race with more names tossed into the mix with no clear-cut favorites. Stay tuned as SBR keeps you
updated. This could be the year of a surprising long shot, therefore keep your
eyes peeled on the betting odds.