Surprising no one except maybe the two players sitting next to him, Oregon junior quarterback Marcus Mariota was awarded the Heisman Trophy Saturday night in New York.
Mariota was one of three finalists along with Wisconsin junior running back Melvin Gordon and Alabama junior wide receiver Amari Cooper. The signal-caller received 788 first place votes, which towered over the next highest vote-getter, Cooper, who received 49.
Mariota will need to buy a new trophy case after already picking up the Walter Camp Award, the Davey O’Brien Award, the Maxwell Award and the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award. Mariota has passed for 3,783 yards and 38 touchdowns this season while rushing for 669 yards and 14 touchdowns and his season isn’t over yet. The Ducks QB could have two more games to go, the first the Rose Bowl on New Years Day in the first semifinal of the new College Football Playoff. There Mariota will face off against last season’s Heisman winner Jameis Winston and the No. 3 ranked Florida State Seminoles.
Hawaii in #Ducks QB Marcus Mariota’s heart as he wins #Heisman Trophy / http://t.co/wHi9GNWxnx / @BruceFeldmanCFB pic.twitter.com/MruSQPEywx
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) diciembre 14, 2014
Mariota and Winston are widely perceived to be the top two quarterbacks entering the 2015 NFL Draft. Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks have been a mixed bag in the NFL. Only two, Roger Staubach (Navy) and Jim Plunkett (Stanford) have won Super Bowls. Over the last decade, six of the seven eligible trophy-winning quarterbacks were taken in the first round, with Sam Bradford (Oklahoma) and Cam Newton (Auburn) taken as the No. 1 pick. Bradford, Newton and Robert Griffin III (Baylor) were all awarded Offensive Rookie of the Year in their first seasons, but Bradford’s career has been hampered by injuries over two of the last three seasons. And RGIII’s troubles have been mentioned here before.
Of those seven QBs, three – Matt Leinart (USC), Tim Tebow (Florida) and Troy Smith (Ohio State) are out of the NFL. Tebow, ironically, is the only quarterback of the seven to have won a playoff game.
Gordon has been outstanding this season for the Badgers, recording only the 10th 2,000-yard rushing season in NCAA FBS history. Gordon has rushed for 2,336 yards and scored 29 touchdowns.
Cooper currently leads the FBS with 115 catches and 1,656 receiving yards to go with his 14 touchdowns. Like Mariota, Cooper has the chance to pad those stats with two more games as Bama faces off against No. 4 Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal. Gordon will only get one when No. 17 Wisconsin plays No. 19 Auburn in the Outback Bowl. Both games are on New Year’s Day.
