It has happened just once. Without question it should happen twice. LSU’s defensive back Tyrann Mathieu is the only deserving candidate for the Heisman Trophy. He lives in the moment of the game and his Forever Young tattoo seems to tailor fit his personality and play.
Miss me with all that traditional quarterback or running back for Heisman hype. When talking traditional college football, Mathieu is far from.
Honey Badger, as he is called, is not Charles Woodson reincarnated. He seems to be more natural at what he does and in a football sense, is a complete anomaly. Coaches teach the fundamentals, but they can’t teach what this kid feels for the game naturally.
Mathieu is the absolute definition of a game changer and far from a traditional player. He is smaller than a typical cornerback but really, what is typical about Honey Badger?
He doesn’t have blazing speed, but he is fast, quick and smooth in his cuts.
I’ve seen college football greats over the years. All of them, save Woodson, played offense. Charlie Ward, Ike Hilliard, Ricky Williams, Peter Warrick, Michael Vick and Reggie Bush to name a few.
Woodson’s scarce play as a receiver is what propelled him to win the Heisman in 1997.
This crop of Heisman candidates include Stanford’s Andrew Luck, Alabama’s Trent Richardson and Baylor’s Robert Griffin III who is magical.
No disrespect, but Montee Ball is the last guy standing.
These four are unique, but they share the same traditional element. They play on the offensive side of the football and in 2011 going into 2012 the voters need open their minds a tad and see what’s going down on the other side of the football. All the respective contenders have worked hard for their teams this year but, traditionally speaking, they are rather boring when compared to a kid like Mathieu.
Mathieu is a defensive prowess and the LSU football team seems to be at a stalemate in games until he does something miraculous. Mathieu’s timing for these moments is superb and he seems to have a natural knack for these types of moments in the big games.
Two weeks ago against Arkansas the Tigers were down 14-0 until a momentum shifting punt return by Mathieu for a touchdown.
Saturday against the Georgia Bulldogs wasn’t any different for the diminutive cornerback. The Bulldogs drew first blood with the scoring and also recovered an onside kick to start the game. It was 10-0 before another Mathieu moment on a 62 yard punt return for a touchdown.
It was 35-10 LSU before you could blink and he’s on the sidelines grinning yelling “number one baby, number one!”
Not to mention he was hurt on a play in the third quarter where he almost stripped the ball from an opponent. He also had another punt return that was more deadly than the first but didn’t have the same result.
Luck is on a suspect team that would probably be 4-7 without him at best which is a good thing but, whatever.
RGIII is amazing but at the same time, Baylor is a three loss team.
Richardson has a debate.
Bamas only loss is to LSU and Richardson played great in the game. But, ironically, due to Mathieu and the defense, LSU won a field goal game 9-6.
The Heisman is supposed to be for the best player on the best team. Mathieu wears #7 but LSU is ranked #1 at 13-0. There’s no argument here, the BCS got this game right and set up for a storybook ending.