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| Kim Klement |
The college football season kicks off tonight as South Carolina plays North Carolina. Like every sport there are preseason predictions that everyone likes to make and perhaps the toughest preseason prediction to make when it comes to college football is the Heisman trophy winner. Mike Kern of the Philadelphia Daily News has a Heisman vote and wrote about the Heisman race in today’s paper and the headline was “Never too early to start Heisman talk.” He’s right, and with the season starting up today I got in touch with Kern and got his thoughts on the competition for the 2013 Heisman trophy.
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| Sam Greenwood |
If you’re a college football fan, or even if you aren’t, you probably know who Jadevon Clowney is. He’ll lead his South Carolina Gamecocks tonight in the first game of the 2013 college football season against North Carolina. Clowney’s vicious hit on Michigan running back Vincent Smith in the Outback Bowl last season has been all over Sportscenter ever since New Year’s Day this year. While Kern believes Clowney will get a fair share of recognition ultimately it may not be enough. “I think Clowney will get a lot of support because he’s Clowney. But it’s hard to judge what a defensive player does compared to what a quarterback or running back does.” Kern said.
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| sikids.com/photos |
Assuming conventional wisdom prevails and 2013 is another year where a defensive player fails to break through and win the Heisman for the first time, the field is wide open this year ranging from quarterbacks such as Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater, Clemson’s Tajh Boyd, Ohio State’s Braxton Miller, Georgia's Aaron Murray, and of course Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel who survived the off season and should play the whole season minus the first half of Texas A&M’s opening game against Rice which was the length of his suspension from the NCAA.
Then there are guys like USC wide receiver Marquise Lee, Arizona running back Ka’Deem Carey, and Miami running back Duke Johnson. All three could figure into the race but as Kern pointed out 11 of the last 13 Heisman trophy winners have been quarterbacks.
But over the span of a college football season a lot can change when it comes to forecasting the Heisman winner. “It can start whatever way it wants to start, what happens with the Heisman trophy is in week two someone’s in it and in week four he isn’t.” Kern said using Geno Smith last season as an example of this trend. West Virginia’s offense came out firing on all cylinders after a month of the season last year and Smith was the early favorite and by December he was nowhere to be seen when it came to the Heisman announcement.
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| Andy Lyons |
Going into more detail about Manziel’s situation, now he’s at the point where he can be as much of a factor as anyone else in this race. Manziel’s coming out party was last year as he led the Aggies into Tuscaloosa and stormed out with a victory as this proved to be the defining moment in his Heisman season.
We now know that on September 14th Johnny Manziel will be on the field as Texas A&M plays Alabama this time on home turf in College Station. “If they beat Alabama in week three Johnny Manziel is the favorite to win the Heisman again.” Kern said, but being the Heisman favorite in week three is almost pointless because things are guaranteed to change week to week.
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| wallpis.com |
This is why it’s so hard to gauge where the Heisman race is going. Before last year no one knew who Johnny Manziel was, before Robert Griffin III’s Heisman season no one really knew who he was, and before Cam Newton won his Heisman he was just another college football player. So there’s a chance the winner of this year’s Heisman winds up being a name not even referenced in this piece.
“The Heisman trophy winds up going in a lot of cases to the guy who is the most visible on the highest profile team. It’s hard to define what makes the best player in the country. It almost becomes a popularity contest.” Kern said when providing insight on what he believes ultimately leads up some special player flashing the pose.
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| Jay LaPrete |
Kern used this rationale to lean towards Braxton Miller as his early pick for the Heisman trophy sighting Ohio State being in the Big 10 and making the most of their schedule to remain afloat and in the top ten for most of the season.
We’ll see if there’s a Geno Smith of this year, and if there’s yet another breakout performer that takes the college football world by surprise. Whatever happens, don’t be surprised by anything.
Photos:
http://www.rantsports.com/clubhouse/2013/08/23/jadeveon-clowney-portrayed-as-freak-in-hilarious-college-football-commercial/
http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/7cvtiSUQHzy/Georgia+v+Florida/hOauuwEoVVO/Aaron+Murray
http://www.sikids.com/photos/34301/heisman-watch-week-9/2
http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Missouri+State+v+Louisville+xKsqH5NrRekl.jpg
http://desktopbackgrounds1.com/johnny-manziel-wallpapers/
http://espn.go.com/colleges/osu/football/story/_/id/8597552/braxton-miller-working-passing-consistency-ohio-state-buckeyes
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