For Alabama football fans, there’s no explanation for why they’re convinced. DeVonta Smith did so on the field, and although there may have been divided loyalties due to the viable candidacies of Quarterback Mac Jones and the half-offensive Najee Harris, Smith was the focal point of the football’s maximum and prolific offense.
The only questions were whether an open receiver, even as dynamic as Smith, had a chance against the overwhelming strength of statistics. Alabama doesn’t have the only explosive offense in school football. Offenses have exploded. While this increases the number of receivers, this results in a possible exponential expansion in the production of a passenger quarterback.
Even ten years ago, a 4,000-yard pass season in one of school football’s strength systems would have allowed only one Heisman, but also a parade of tickers to the New York campus.
This year, Smith was able to win the Heisman Trophy, beating prodigies like his teammate Jones and Florida’s Kyle Trask. Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence didn’t have the mind-blowing numbers – he had the double boost of his career good fortune (school football playoff championship as a rookie) and the approval of NFL draft analysts as the most productive professional prospect available. the Sugar Bowl would have inspired the electorate if the ballots had not been submitted a week earlier.
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Next year’s top seeds are likely to be quarterbacks like Spencer Rattler in Oklahoma, although being the first favorite hasn’t paid off recently. The bouncing crop is stronger.
Complete Revelation: My heisman vote went to Smith, as we can now reveal the electorate. He seemed by far the most deserved, and would have seemed to have played in Tuscaloosa or Tucson. The biggest argument, for me, is not statistical. took his game to another point after Jaylen Waddle’s injury, to the point where the entire Alabama offensive didn’t lose pace, even more surprisingly.
While Smith is not a novelty winner, there is also a whole new air in a break from the field marshals’ hegemony. There will be many quarterbacks to come, and even Smith’s victory, the first for an open receiver in this century, does not replace the fact. offensive players are incredibly more likely to win. We’re not yet at the point where a dominant defender like Chase Young (Ohio State) or Jonathan Allen (Alabama) let an offensive lineman like former Notre Dame goalkeeper Quenton Nelson win.
But as Heisman’s electorate gets younger and social media becomes more influential, such nominations can flourish even without the ESPN HIGHLIGHTS that are so important to today’s winners.
“To all the young people who are neither the greatest nor the strongest: keep pushing. “DeVonta Smith delivers a heartfelt acceptance speech after winning the Heisman ❤ pic. twitter. com/tljrFemRbe
We’re not yet about to see Khalil Mack or Aaron Donald or Derrick Thomas on Heisman’s podium, but maybe it’s a little more today than it was a few years ago.
Contact Cecil Hurt on cecil@tidesports. com or Twitter s cecilhurt