That’s the question asked by Angelique S. Chengelis of the Detroit News regarding a potential Michael Hart Heisman candidacy.
Here’s why.
He leads the nation’s second-best team in rushing with 1,032 yards on 214 carries, the most carries by any back.
He has scored eight touchdowns.
He has gained 100 yards or more in seven of eight games and is ranked seventh nationally among running backs.
And lest we forget, Hart, who lacks great breakaway speed but is a tough-nosed grinder, has had 639 straight carries without losing a fumble.
So why not Hart?
After all, he’s been one of the best players in the country for going on three years. While the trend these days is for backs to become specialists on offense, he is a throwback to an era when ball carriers lugged it 25 times a game or more. He is the engine that makes this surprising Michigan team go. I don’t doubt that he has a good chance to finish as high as third in the Heisman voting.
But the time for a Hart Heisman run may not come until next year. After a great freshman season, he was dinged up quite a bit as a sophomore and he came into 2006 as a little bit of a forgotten man among running backs.
To win the Heisman, you must have either superior name recognition and buzz heading into a season, or you must produce a season that itself is good enough to overcome that lack of recognition or buzz.
Playing for a traditional power like Michigan tends to provide a good jumping off point for either instance. But Hart might be hurt some by Michigan’s reluctance to push him as a candidate.
The other factor is that, as good as Hart is, he is not yet on track to produce Heisman-worthy numbers for a running back.
In a time when backs routinely rush for over six yards per carry–due in part to wide-open offenses where running the ball is a ‘surprise’–Hart has a 1970s-like 4.82 average. Currently, he is on pace for 1,548 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns by the time of the Heisman vote. Good numbers, yes, but probably not good enough to win a Heisman in 2006. However, his accomplishments this year could serve as the perfect set-up to a 2007 Heisman run.
It’s probably not going to happen, but what if Hart goes for 200 a game to close out the season and leads Michigan to a win over Ohio State, while Notre Dame loses to USC?
Then, I suppose we just might see a Heisman upset of epic proportions.
Hart has a long way to go to have a shot at the Heisman
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