Welcome back all! The four Heisman Finalists were announced yesterday, and there really weren't any surprises as Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts, Justin Fields, and Chase Young will be headed to New York to the Downtown Athletic Club for the ceremony. While the award appears to be in the bag for Burrow, all four are more than deserving finalists. While I slightly disagree with the placement of Young, I don't disagree that he's been one of the most dominant, if not THE most dominant defensive player in the country this season. I've compiled my own list of 5 Finalists, with one 'Honorable Mention' choice. Burrow is my Heisman Winner with relative ease, but each of the players on this list have turned in remarkable seasons and deserve to be acknowledged for their outstanding play. Without further ado, here is the @sportsguychris Heisman Trophy Finalists:
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1) QB JOE BURROW SR 🏆
LSU
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342-439, 4,715 pass yds, 48TDs, 6INTs, 77.9%, 201.5 rating
96 - 289 rush yds, 3 rush TDs, 3.0ypc
1 - 16 rec yds
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Burrow's turned in one of the truly greatest seasons in NCAA history. He set new SEC marks in passing yards & passing TDs, breaking Tim Couch's yardage mark from 1997, and the 44 TDs Lock threw last year. His insane 77.9% completion % is on-pace to shatter Colt McCoy's current mark of 76.67%. Furthermore, he's actually elevated his play against the better teams he's faced. That completion % actually goes up to 78.6% in games against the AP Top 25. Throw-in his current passer-rating of 201.5 - which would also be a single-season NCAA record (Tua Tagovailoa set the record last year with a 199.45 mark), and it all adds up to one of the greatest seasons for a QB in college football history. Burrow's thorough dismantling of a very stout Geogia defense (349 yards 4TDs 0INTs) in the SEC Title game cemented his Heisman Trophy coronation.
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2) QB JALEN HURTS SR
OKLAHOMA
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222-309, 3,634 pass yds, 32TDs, 7INTs, 71.8%, 200.3 rating
219 - 1,255 rush yds, 18 rush TDs, 5.7ypc
2 - 25 rec yds, 1 rec TD
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Hurts took over in Norman after transferring over from Alabama, and he took Lincoln Riley's high-powered offense and never looked back. If not for Burrow, Hurts would have a very strong case to take home this year's trophy. He's rushed for 1,255 yards and his 18 rushing TDs are good for 7th in the country. The running game was a huge part of OU's offense, but Hurts was a phenomenal passer as well. His 200.3 passer rating would also be good enough to break Tagovailoa's mark from last season. He accounted for a whopping 51 total TDs, while accumulating 3,634 yards through the air, averaging 11.8 yards per attempt in the process. He captained Oklahoma's high-powered O to #2 in the country, finishing just 2 yards shy of LSU's offense. With Hurts at the helm, however, the Sooners averaged an impressive 8.15 yards per play for the season - easily the top mark in the country.
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3) QB JUSTIN FIELDS SO
OHIO STATE
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208-308, 2,953 pass yds, 40TDs, 1INT, 67.5%, 190.3 rating
123 - 471 rush yds, 10 rush TDs, 3.8ypc
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Fields transferred over from Georgia into a lot of uncertainty at Columbus. Head Coach Urban Meyer had retired, the Buckeyes lost a plethora of elite talent to the NFL Draft, and nobody was completely sure about how the post-Urban Meyer offense would look. Fields stepped in and the Buckeyes have looked absolutely incredible all season long. All Fields did was post the most insane TD/INT ratio we've probably ever seen. The Sophomore stepped in and threw 40 TDs to just 1 INT all season long. That alone merits being a Heisman Finalist, but throw-in his 471 yards and another 10 scores on the ground, and if not for Burrow's record-shedding season, Fields very well might be hearing his named called in downtown New York. He also posted 50 total TDs, while completing 67.5% of his passes.
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4) HB JONATHAN TAYLOR JR
WISCONSIN
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299 - 1,909 rush yards, 21 rush TDs, 6.4ypc
24 - 209 rec yards, 5 rec TDs, 8.7ypc
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All Taylor has done through his first three seasons, is rush for more yards than any other player in the history of college football through their Junior year. He started the season hot, had a two-game cooling period, and then finished the season red-hot once again. He hit the 200-yard mark in three straight games, then was held to 77 in a rout of Minnesota, but still posted 3 total TDs, and then added 148 yards and a score against Ohio State in the Big TEN Title game. His 1,909 yards and 21 TDs are both good for 2nd best in the nation. He's on-pace for back-to-back 2,000 yard seasons, and has rushed for at least 1,900 yards in each of his first threw seasons. Wisconsin has a long lineage of talented HBs, and Taylor may be the best of them all which is really saying something. While the Badgers fell short of a CFP, they are headed to the Rose Bowl, and while it's not enough to win the Award, he's certainly a deserving finalist. In fact, it surprised many that Taylor wasn't named a Finalist, and is a shame really, because he belongs in NYC with the four others Friday night.
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5) DE CHASE YOUNG JR
OHIO STATE
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44 total tkls (31 solo/13 ast), 21.0FL, 16.5sks, 3PD, 7FF
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Young was a disruptive force up front all season long, breaking through with a dominant performance against Wisconsin the first time the two teams met back in October in Columbus. He had 4 sacks in that game and single-handedly disrupted the Badgers vaunted attack all game long. He piled up over 20 tackles for loss, despite missing two games mid-season for a questionable suspension. There is no denying that Young's presence on the defensive side of the ball helped lead OSU to the nation's #1 defense, but for a primarily defensive player to win the Heisman, they need to turn in a season for the ages. He was close, but not quit enough to win the Heisman. Ndamukong Suh's final year at Nebraska still stands out as the most dominant in recent memory, but Young's 2019 campaign was close. He did lead the country in sacks by 2.5 despite missing the two games, and averaged a whopping 1.5 sacks per game for the season. His 7 forced fumbles were among the nation's leaders as well.
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🏆- @sportsguychris Heisman Winner
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HONORABLE MENTION
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QB TREVOR LAWRENCE SO
CLEMSON
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232-337, 3,172 pass yds, 34TDs, 8INTs, 68.8%, 176.5 rating
77 - 407 rush yds, 7 rush TDs, 5.3ypc
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Lawrence started the season painfully slow, but really broke out as the season went along. His closing stretch was particularly impressive, as he threw for at least 3 TDs with 0 INTs in each of the Tigers' last 6 games, totaling 21 TDs to 0 picks during that closing stretch. While the slow start to the season ultimately hindered Lawrence from becoming a Finalist, his red-hot close to the season gets him an 'Honorable Mention' nod.
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