Heisman Hopefuls

This week the Heisman trophy finalists were announced and the finalists were…drum roll please… Florida’s Tim Tebow, Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford, and Texas’ Colt McCoy. Surprisingly, Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell did not receive an invite to New York despite his monster season, but that’s another story. However, the three candidates that were selected were all more than worthy.


Let’s start with Tebow. Tebow is a junior quarterback from the University of Florida and is your defending Heisman trophy winner. As a sophomore, Tebow broke NCAA records by becoming the first player to rush for 20 touchdowns and throw for 20 touchdowns in the same season. Tebow was rewarded by being named the Heisman trophy winner and looks to become only the second player ever to win two Heisman trophies (Ohio State’s Archie Griffin was the first). This season Tebow has once again put up big numbers by throwing 28 touchdowns to only 2 interceptions. Tebow has also rushed for 12 touchdowns while leading Florida to the national championship and a 2nd ranking overall. Tebow’s coach, Urban Meyer, had this to say about his quarterback, “Tim is a winner. He wants to win. He’s motivated like all of us are. But he’s a team-first guy. That’s why statistically he might not have the Star Wars stats like he had a year ago. However, he won 12 games. And if he could have either-or, he’s going to take 12 wins and the chance to hold that crystal ball.”


Sam Bradford is a sophomore quarterback from Oklahoma who plays with more of a traditional drop-back style of play. Bradford has thrown for over 4,000 yards and leads the country with 48 touchdowns and a quarterback rating of 186.29. Bradford is the leader of the country’s highest scoring offense and has led the Sooners to the national championship where they will meet Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators. Bradford was ecstatic about being selected as a finalist and had this to say about being selected, “It’s a good thing I don’t have a vote. I couldn’t decide. It’s just an honor to be one of the guys going up to New York.”


The final candidate that was selected was Colt McCoy. McCoy is a junior quarterback from Texas who was selected as the first team All-American quarterback. The Longhorn signal caller led Texas in both rushing and passing and set an NCAA record with a 77.6 completion percentage. Earlier this season Tebow, who has a Heisman vote because he is a former winner, called McCoy the frontrunner to win the 2008 Heisman saying, “"Being smart and just looking at guys who are having a good year, he obviously is someone to look at and would probably be my top guy I'd vote for right now. He's playing extremely well and doing a great job leading his team and handles it with a lot of class, too." We’ll see if Tebow holds true to his mid-season prediction.


The Heisman winner will be selected Saturday, December 13, at 8 P.M. on ESPN and if I had to choose a winner I’d probably go with Sam Bradford. Bradford has put up ridiculous numbers and leads the most efficient offense in the country. The Sooner offense is just unstoppable and has scored over 60 points in each of their last five games, an NCAA record. Bradford is the face of this amazing offensive unit and for that he would get my vote.