Three of the past four Heisman winners have been spread quarterbacks. Here is the combined touchdown production for each of those players at the time of the Heisman vote:
Tim Tebow — 51 touchdowns
Sam Bradford — 53 touchdowns
Cameron Newton — 48 touchdowns
That’s an average of almost 51 total touchdowns per season. Unprecedented stuff. Based on these numbers, Mark Ingram’s narrow and rather humble Heisman win in 2009 could go down as a curiosity of history.
Questions emerge:
How long before the shock of this type of monster season wears off?
Will Heisman voters begin to ‘bake in’ the effects of the spread on a player’s stats when taking him into consideration?
Or will the exploits of Tebow, Bradford and Newton raise the standards for future Heisman worthiness?
We’ll get some clarity this season when Andrew Luck attempts to become the first pro-style quarterback to win the Heisman since 2004.
But even Luck is unique in that he’s seen as the consensus No. 1 NFL pick whenever he comes out. The accolades for his talent tend to balance out any deficiencies he may have statistically (at least when compared to his peers who run the spread). And let’s not forget that his top highlight consists of him trucking a defender in the open field. I think everyone realizes that he’d flourish in the spread, too.
But could any other random pro-style quarterback not also considered an elite talent put up the kind of numbers needed to win the Heisman? I’m skeptical.
For the time being, spread quarterbacks are the kings of the college football jungle.
I don’t want to sound like some homer here, but Bradford wasn’t a true spread QB compared to Tebow and Newton especially. First, Bradford rarely ran the ball. Second, Bradford took tons of snaps under center. A lot more than people realize.
I agree. I don’t think of Bradford as being a spread quarterback.
Bradford wasn’t a spread option quarterback, but he was a spread quarterback. There are different variations on the spread and the OU variation was a passing spread.