Well, it wasn’t a complete surprise that Robert Griffin III won the Heisman this season. After all his career has been littered with football glory. Since stepping through the doors at Baylor he has battled through a serious knee injury (just like every real football player), tallied 46 school records (like every winner) and nabbed the Heisman Trophy (like every elite NFL quarterback).
Okay, scratch that last aside. But, fact is, he has made it to the summit of the mountain that is college footballs greatest award. For most players, after they put that notch in their belt, they are off to the NFL. But, here is an interesting twist in the story of Griffin. He has one more season of eligibility left and could return to play one more season.
Then again, according to Griffin, winning the award was never the end-all-be-all.
“Whether I won the award or not, it wasn’t going to sway me on coming back or not,” Griffin said Saturday night.
While Griffin hasn’t announced he is leaving, I have to think he’s not. Or I should say, I hope he’s not.
Here’s the short list of Heisman quarterbacks – and the year they won the award – that were drafted the year they won.
• 2010 – Cam Newton
• 2006 – Troy Smith
• 2002 – Carson Palmer
• 2001 – Eric Crouch
• 2000 – Chris Weinke
• 1996 – Danny Wuerffel
Not great company.
Here is the short list of players – and the year they won the award – drafted AFTER they won the award.
• 2008 – Sam Bradford
• 2007 – Tim Tebow
• 2004 – Matt Leinhart
Okay, so maybe too soon to tell with those three, but I still think that the list far above outweighs (negatively) the list directly above.
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