Troy Smith will enter the pantheon of elite people to win the Heisman Trophy. The Heisman is just another notch in the pointlessness of college football. Those college football honks are right....the games are great. And thank God, because if they weren't, we'd be done with it. Smith will win the Heisman because he's the quarterback of the best team in the country. Oh, he's had a really good year too....plus TV time and all the trappings.
Anyways, this award is the pinnacle of some footballers lives. After this, the road ends...especially for quarterbacks. Here is a look at past Heisman winning QBs over the past 15 years and my rankings about how their careers after the fact went.
8-CHARLIE WARD, 1993: Charlie Ward wasn't drafted in the NFL....but was drafted in the NBA and MLB. He's at the bottom of the list because he has had no football ties after winning the Heisman. But he did have a long NBA career that just recently ended.
7-JASON WHITE, 2003: This is how dumb the Heisman is. Jason White almost became the 2nd player in history to win the award twice. He was a finalist again in 2004...but came up short. White never played in the NFL....and wasn't even drafted. The Titans signed him as a free agent, but White "retired" before getting a shot.
6-ERIC CROUCH, 2001: This guy has been a journeyman in more ways than one. He was drafted by the Rams, who wanted to try him out as a WR [the Packers tried that too]. The Chiefs eventually took a look at him and sent him to NFL-Europe to learn to play safety. Now he is a QB....for the Toronto Argonauts. By the way, Crouch has yet to play a down in the NFL.
5-GINO TORRETTA, 1992: Torretta bounced around the NFL as a insurance QB...but nothing more. His only chance to play was in garbage time for the Seahawks in the final game of the 1996 season.
4-DANNY WUERFFEL, 1996: "Waffle House" was a drifter in the NFL and had a momentary comeback when Steve Spurrier decided to make his Washington Redskins into a U of F All Star team. He's been retired for four years and is currently doing a lot of religious work in the community.
3-CHRIS WEINKE, 2000: Weinke was about, oh, 45 when he played at Florida State. He is 34 now, just 6 years removed from winning the Heisman. He's spent his career as a backup for the Carolina Panthers.
2-MATT LEINART, 2004: Leinart's just a rookie and starting for the hapless Cardinals. Still, he's had really fine moments and could be a better than average QB in the league.
1-CARSON PALMER, 2002: Palmer is legit. He's an All Pro that is the cornerstone to the resurgence of the Cincinnati Bengals. Most likely one of the top five quarterbacks in the NFL right now.
1 comment:
I'm not sure I would say that White's selection is an indictment of the Heisman. His game did not translate to the NFL, especially after he shredded two knees, but he was an excellent player for Oklahoma.
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