The little flashy indicator pops up in the bottom corner of the screen every time SportsCenter shows highlights from a college football game. Somebody makes a big play, and zing!,"" we are instantly notified that the kid is a ""Heisman hopeful."" Every team has one. USC has John David Booty, Arkansas has Darren McFadden, Florida has Tim Tebow, Oklahoma has Sam Bradford ... and they are all vying for the most coveted individual award in college football.
But if they knew what was good for them, they would be better off vying for runner-up.
Take a look at the Heisman Trophy winners from the past decade or so and tell me where they are now. Reggie Bush, winner in 2005, is doing okay down in New Orleans. Not great, but not bad. Charles Woodson, winner in 1997, and Carson Palmer, winner in 2002, are signed to some pretty nice contracts and playing at Pro Bowl levels with the Packers and Bengals, respectively. Admirable.
Then there's last year's winner, Troy Smith, who is barely clinging to a roster spot as a reserve quarterback with the Ravens; Matt Leinert from 2004, who just got plunked back onto the bench in favor of old-man Warner last week with Arizona; and Ron Dayne from 1999, who, with all do respect to one of the greatest men to ever don a Badger uniform, has yet to truly establish himself as a dominant starter in an NFL backfield since breaking the NCAA record for most career rushing yards.
As for Jason White (2003), Eric Crouch (2001), Chris Weinke (2000), Ricky Williams (1998) and Danny Wuerffel (1996), not a single one of them is currently making a living from playing professional football. Well, ok, last time I checked Ricky Williams was running around with a Canadian football team, but rumor has it he would much rather be wasting his days away with the Doobie Brothers - and I'm not talking about the band.
Fact of the matter is, all but three players who have won the Heisman Trophy since 1996 have never made it big in the pros. The award seems to be a curse, just as jinxed as the cover of Sports Illustrated or the Madden Football video game boxes.
And perhaps the NFL has taken notice of this trend. In the 2007 NFL draft, Troy Smith fell all the way to the fifth round. Eight other quarterbacks were selected ahead of him, including Drew Stanton, who could not even steer Michigan State to a bowl game last year. Perhaps an even more peculiar statistic is that no team has taken the Heisman trophy winner with the No. 1 overall pick since the Buccaneers took Bo Jackson out of Auburn in 1986.
Looking at this year's field of candidates, it would be hard to make a case for a change this upcoming year. Given the names currently being thrown out as the best ""Heisman hopefuls,"" it is quite likely that the trophy will end up in the hands of a quarterback like Booty, Tebow, Bradford, or even Kentucky's Andre Woodson.
Unless teams like the Falcons, Bills or Chiefs, who suffer from a severe identity crisis behind center, end up dead last in the NFL standings this year, there is no way any of those guys would get taken.
More importantly, all of those guys - maybe with the exception of Andre' Woodson - are surrounded by stellar programs this year, three of the best five programs in the nation at the moment. They can't haul their collegiate teams and coaches with them to the pros. They have to make do with the surroundings they are thrown into, and they will all have something to prove once they are there.
Guys like Tom Brady and Matt Hasselbeck, who were drafted in the sixth round with nothing to lose, were supposed to end up where Troy Smith is now, backing up some big-shot gunslinger, wearing the headset and keeping the bench warm. Instead, those guys are leading teams to Super Bowls and re-writing record books while the Heisman winner holds the clipboard. Ironic, to say the least.
No one can say for certain whether or not this year's Heisman winner will be the next Jason White: here today, gone tomorrow. But if history is any indication, the ""Heisman hopefuls"" should take their future award nominations with a heavy dose of caution.
If you want to remind Andy that mentioning Ron Dayne's failures is pure blashphemy, email him at avansistine@wisc.edu.
