Heisman ballot: Why Alabama’s DeVonta Smith had the edge in this voter’s mind
The Heisman Trophy’s voting criteria is simple: Select college football’s most outstanding player.
For the 2020 season, according to yours truly, that player was Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith. If you watched college football this fall and weren’t impressed on a weekly basis by Smith, you weren’t paying attention.
Smith won the award on Tuesday night, receiving 447 first-place votes. Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence was second with 222 first-place votes followed by Alabama QB Mac Jones and Florida QB Kyle Trask.
Voting Smith as the No. 1 player was the easiest decision in filling out the ballot. The bigger question was voting for Nos. 2 and 3. Ultimately, I went with Jones at No. 2 and Iowa State running back Breece Hall at No. 3. Hall finished sixth in the final vote.
Yes, my Heisman ballot didn’t have Lawrence on it. He’s projected as the No. 1 overall pick and a future NFL star.
So why was he left off? I felt Jones had the better overall season as far as the quarterback position is concerned. And I felt Hall deserved to be on the ballot as the nation’s leading rusher.
That’s not a knock on Lawrence by any stretch. Trust me, I went back and forth on the decision but the Heisman goes to the most outstanding player for that given season. I felt Smith, Jones and Hall deserved that recognition this season.
It’s not a career award as a Washington Post writer argued that Lawrence should win it “for lifetime achievement.”
That’s silly. No, he shouldn’t.
You know what “lifetime achievement” awards are called? The Hall of Fame. Derek Jeter never won the MVP award during his baseball career, but nobody argues against his greatness as a player. That’s why he was a near-unanimous selection into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is in the same boat. He’s never earned NFL MVP honors but holds many of the NFL’s passing records and will retire as one of the greatest in history. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson never even has gotten a vote for MVP.
None of that makes them any less great.
The list of college football’s greatest players who haven’t won the Heisman Trophy is long. That’s the way it goes with a yearly award and, unfortunately, Lawrence will likely end his college career without joining the Heisman club.
Who knows? Maybe it would’ve been different if Lawrence doesn’t miss two regular-season games after testing positive for COVID-19 and, say, has a big game against Notre Dame in the regular season. A similar “what-if” scenario rings true for Ohio State’s Justin Fields — what if he played more than six regular-season games?
At the end of the day, Lawrence and the others who didn’t win it will be OK.
Smith deserved it. He dominated this year, particularly after Alabama lost its other star receiver Jaylen Waddle. Smith has caught 105 passes for 1,641 yards and 20 touchdowns so far this season. He’s had 20 pass plays of at least 20 yards.
Heisman ballots were due Dec. 24, so voters weren’t even able to factor in Smith’s three-TD performance against Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff semifinal. Good thing he had another three-TD performance — as part of a 231-yard receiving day — at LSU just a month before. Smith had a one-handed TD catch in that LSU game that has generated more than one million views on Twitter.
Smith’s 84-yard punt return for a touchdown against Arkansas on Dec. 12 has also gotten close to one million views.
Call those “Heisman moments” if you want.
Smith put together the type of season by a wide receiver worthy of football’s greatest individual honor. He’s the first wide receiver to win the award since Michigan’s Desmond Howard in 1991. Notre Dame’s Tim Brown (1987) and Nebraska’s Johnny Rodgers (1972) are the only other receivers to win it in the modern era.
The Heisman has essentially become a quarterback award with a few running backs sprinkled in this century. But everybody understands the importance of wide receivers in today’s game. Nobody is more valuable — or outstanding — than Smith.
Editor’s note: The Star-Telegram’s Drew Davison has voted for the Heisman Trophy since 2018.
This story was originally published January 5, 2021 at 7:05 PM.
