DeVonta Smith would be a Heisman Trophy winner, unlike any other.
The Alabama star receiver is considered the favorite to win the award Tuesday night over three backs: Crimson Tide teammate Mac Jones, Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence and Kyle Trask of Florida.
Smith would be the fourth wide receiver to take the Heisman home, but none of the previous winners had his resume. Unlike Desmond Howard of Michigan, Tim Brown of Notre Dame and Johnny Rodgers of Nebraska, who bolstered their business by being a dynamic kickstormer and more than occasional backfield runners, Smith barely got him into things.
The explosive evolution of the passing game has made recipients more important than ever before. To be the best passer, only Smith is needed to make the best player in college football.
‘I think the rise of 7-on-7 has increased the skill level of many receivers and quarterbacks, and they get the ball much faster on the perimeter than they did 10 or 20 years ago, and the field spreads horizontally and vertically , ” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. ” And we’re always looking for ways to create explosives, and the easiest way to create an explosive is to throw the football. ‘
Day and the Buckeyes (7-0) will find out how to slow down Smith and the Crimson Tide (12-0) in the national championship game on January 11 in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Not one to brag about, Smith does not consider himself so much as the banner for his position group, just like introducing the grinders.
“I think you can say that,” Smith said Monday. ” The person who goes out and just puts in the work, they’re going to get the things they deserve. So if you work for things, you will get the things you deserve. ‘
The senior has 105 catches for 1,641 yards and 20 touchdowns this season.
When Rodgers won the Heisman in 1972, he had 58 catches for 1,013 yards and nine touchdowns, but he also ran the ball 73 times for 348 yards and 10 touchdowns and scored two points for points.
After Rodgers’ victory, the Heisman was 11 times in a row.
Brown matched Rodgers’ form as he won the award with relatively modest stats: 990 yards from the scrum and seven total touchdowns, including three via points ladder.
Howard was closer to the modern receiver, but again, versatility was part of the package. In addition to his 19 catches, Howard ran for two counts and had a kick and a point-return for a touchdown. His famous Heisman attitude came after he scored a point for a score against Ohio State.
Howard said there were just not as many passes in his time that would win even the best receivers.
“We had to use other ways to show our talents,” Howard told AP. ” I play for Gary Moeller (Michigan coach) in Bo Schembechler (former coach). We do not air the ball completely. You have to shine in other ways. ”
After Howard won, receivers were rarely more than an edge from Heisman.
Marshall’s Randy Moss finished fourth in the 1997 Heisman poll and Pittsburgh’s Larry Fitzgerald was second behind Oklahoma’s Jason White in 2003. None of the future NFL majors needed more than their receiving stats to get Heisman consideration.
While the backs piled up the Heisman victories in the 2000s, the recognition for the guys who caught all the passes began to pick up.
Texas Tech’s Michael Crabtree finished fifth in the Heisman poll in 2008 and Justin Blackmon of Oklahoma State did the same in 2010. Marquise Lee of Southern California finished fourth in 2012.
The next recipient to be a finalist was Amari Cooper of Alabama in 2014, 11 years after Fitzgerald did so. Cooper finishes third. Oklahoma’s Dede Westbrook was fourth as a finalist in 2016.
The gradual increase in the dependence on the pass has helped recipients to gain recognition, but it is, so to speak, accompanied.
“What could possibly work against them is that the man who throws the ball gets more credit than the man who catches the ball,” Howard said.
There was little to no Heisman buzz about Smith until the end of October, when Alabama’s other star receiver, Jaylen Waddle, was lost due to a leg injury.
While Jones was a big pass in the Crimson Tide’s powerful offense, Smith was the player who stood out the most. And he did not need gadget games and special teams highlights to do so.
Smith scored a point for an offense late in the season against Arkansas, and he had a 14-yard TD series on one of his four rushes. But he is Heisman’s favorite because he excels in his primary role, and he might just start a trend considering the direction in which the game is moving.
“I think such points-scoring skills are something you definitely want to use,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. ” And I see more and more teams trying to do that. ”
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Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen to https://westwoodonepodcasts.com/pods/ap-top-25-college-football-podcast/
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