For the fourth straight year, I had the privilege of voting for the Heisman Trophy. It’s an honor I take very seriously and am always excited to do.
This year was particularly difficult, though, because no clear frontrunner asserted himself until the very end of the season. There’s no surprise who got my first-place vote, but here’s what my ballot looked like this year…
1. Alabama quarterback Bryce Young
I wasn’t quite sold on Young until I watched him torch Arkansas’ defense last month. Sure, opposing quarterbacks have had quite a bit of success against the Razorbacks in recent years, but this was a much-improved defense and he made it seem like John Chavis was still the defensive coordinator.
He challenged the SEC single-game passing record and finished with a school-record 559 yards - also the most Arkansas has ever allowed - and five touchdowns on 31 of 40 passing. Those stats are eye-popping enough, but actually watching the plays he made in that game made the performance even more impressive.
Sure, Young followed it up with a clunker of a performance against Auburn, but he got the job done when it was needed, leading the Crimson Tide on a 12-play, 97-yard game-tying drive with just 1:35 remaining - all without his top target. He also threw the game-winning pass in the fourth overtime.
To cap it all off, Young lit up Georgia’s historic defense in the SEC Championship Game. Needing a win to make the College Football Playoffs, he threw for 421 yards and 3 touchdowns and ran for another 40 yards and a score in a dominant 41-24 victory. The Georgia defense had given up just seven total touchdowns in the previous 12 games, and Young accounted for four.
Speaking of his top target, that would be Jameson Williams. He was a transfer from Ohio State, where he likely would have been the No. 4 wide receiver behind bonafide first-rounders Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. That further solidified my first-place vote going to Young over…
2. Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud
I wrote this three years ago when I gave Dwayne Haskins the third-place vote on my first ever ballot and I’ll write it again: The younger version of myself - who was angry at Darren McFadden’s snub in favor of Troy Smith for the 2006 Heisman Trophy and Terrelle Pryor being allowed to play in the 2011 Sugar Bowl - would have been mortified at even considering an Ohio State quarterback for the Heisman Trophy.
However, as a sports writer and Heisman voter, I can’t let those early biases impact my coverage - and vote - today. And to me, Stroud is certainly deserving of Heisman consideration.
Just a few weeks ago, Stroud was praised by national media for his performance against Michigan State, when he had twice as many touchdown passes (6) as incomplete passes (3) and threw for 432 yards in the first half. Although that was against a top-10 Michigan State team, the Spartans were dreadful against the pass this year - in fact, they ranked dead last in passing defense (337.7 passing yards allowed per game).
While that made me hesitant to put him at the top of my ballot at the time, despite many declaring him the new frontrunner, it was still impressive enough for me to keep him on my ballot when the Buckeyes lost to Michigan the next week, especially considering Stroud didn’t play bad in the game. He completed 34 of 49 passes (69.4 percent) for 394 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions against what was actually a good defense.
I was shocked when he wasn’t included in The Athletic’s final “Heisman straw poll” it does amongst its Heisman voters, because he still belonged on the ballot, in my opinion. I just couldn’t put him any higher than No. 2, though, because of how well Young played this season and how he elevated his play in big moments.
3. Michigan defensive end Aidan Hutchinson
No, I am not related to the Michigan standout and no, I did not only vote for him so I could see an “A. Hutchinson” up for the Heisman Trophy - although it was pretty neat seeing the #Hutch4Heisman hashtag from the Wolverines’ official Twitter accounts.
What separated Hutchinson from the other defensive guys I considered for my third-place vote was his production in the biggest games of the season.
For the longest time, I was dead-set on including Georgia’s Jordan Davis on my ballot. He may not have all the stats, but the massive defensive tackle was critical to the success of the best defense we’ve seen in college football in at least a decade. However, Alabama putting up 41 points against that defense made me rethink that.
It eventually came down to Alabama linebacker Will Anderson or Hutchinson. Anderson led the nation in tackles for loss by a wide margin (31.5 vs. 22 by the next closest player) and had an FBS-high 15.5 sacks, which was only slightly more than Hutchinson’s 14 sacks.
According to Pro Football Focus, Anderson and Hutchinson actually finished the season tied with 73 total pressures on almost identical snap counts. However, Anderson’s season high was 11 against New Mexico State, while Hutchinson’s best game was against Ohio State, when he had 15 pressures (including three sacks). Hutchinson also had three sacks in a defensive battle against Penn State, while Anderson had four sacks in a blowout win over Mississippi State.
