THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 30, 1996 TAG: 9610300602
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB MOLINARO
LENGTH: 123 lines
My sources tell me that the most impressive player in big-time college football is Orlando Pace.
He's sure to be the NFL's No. 1 draft pick, say my sources, a couple of guys in the office.
Orlando Pace?
Built like a Coke machine. Offensive tackle for Ohio State. Touted as the finest, most fearsome battering ram in many years. Clearly more dominant at his position than anyone else in the country is at theirs.
One other note about the player who has the pros drooling: Richard Jewell will be publisher of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution before Pace wins the Heisman Trophy.
What America needs is an award emblematic of the country's best college football player. But like the stiff-arming ballcarrier depicted on the 25 pounds of bronze immortality, the Heisman offers only a pose.
This might be worth hollering about if America still recognized the Heisman as a serious award. But it doesn't. Hasn't for several years now.
The changing attitude of football fans, reflected in the importance placed on the annual No. 1 draft pick, has helped discredit the Heisman.
Otherwise, I doubt if I would be permitted to participate in the selection process.
With six weeks to go before my Heisman ballot is due at New York's Downtown Athletic Club, Danny Wuerffel, Florida's robotic passer, is leading in the polls. He came in third in last year's voting and the two players who finished in front of him, Eddie George and Tommie Frazier, have left college.
A year ago, Wuerffel broke the NCAA record for passing efficiency. This season, his rating is even higher. Still, I can't shake the feeling that he's a cog in Steve Spurrier's superior machine.
Wuerffel quarterbacks the nation's No. 1-ranked team, and Florida is on television a lot, a winning combination.
But if your taste in Heisman candidates runs to quarterbacks, a more intriguing player may be Jake Plummer of undefeated Arizona State.
Great name, Jake Plummer.
Thanks to its Plummer, Arizona State is flush with victory.
But without Plummer, Arizona State's national title aspirations would go down the drain.
Speaking of down the drain, a player not taken seriously anymore for the award is Peyton Manning of Tennessee. One bad half against Florida and Archie's kid becomes the Ross Perot of the Heisman race.
Among running backs, candidates include Troy Davis of Iowa State, Texas Tech's Byron Hanspard, Northwestern's Darnell Autry, Florida State's Warrick Dunn and Virginia's Tiki Barber.
Davis plays for a loser in a midwestern state, a dubious double that could outweigh the fact that he leads the nation in rushing.
Hanspard might as well be playing on the dark side of the moon for all the publicity he gets at Texas Tech. Autry is injured. Dunn is just shy of being a great college runner, and Barber suffers from the absence of a reliable U.Va. quarterback.
At this point, you honestly know as much about the Heisman race as I do, and are as qualified to cast a ballot.
For the time being, I'm tempted to make the Big O, Orlando Pace, my first pick, a protest vote of sorts. My sources would approve.
Jake Plummer could be my second-place selection. A vote for Plummer would throw a monkey wrench into the process.
My third-place vote likely will go to Barber, because of all the serious contenders he's the one I've seen play most often.
Watching a candidate in action, live or on TV, has never been a requirement for the Heisman electorate. Some day, though, it could catch on.
My sources tell me that the most impressive player in big-time college football is Orlando Pace.
He's sure to be the NFL's No. 1 draft pick, say my sources, a couple of guys in the office.
Orlando Pace?
Built like a Coke machine. Offensive tackle for Ohio State. Touted as the finest, most fearsome battering ram in many years. Clearly more dominant at his position than anyone else in the country is at theirs.
One other note about the player who has the pros drooling: Richard Jewell will be publisher of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution before Pace wins the Heisman Trophy.
What America needs is an award emblematic of the country's best college football player. But like the stiff-arming ballcarrier depicted on the 25 pounds of bronze immortality, the Heisman offers only a pose.
This might be worth hollering about if America still recognized the Heisman as a serious award. But it doesn't. Hasn't for several years now.
The changing attitude of football fans, reflected in the importance placed on the annual No. 1 draft pick, has helped discredit the Heisman.
Otherwise, I doubt if I would be permitted to participate in the selection process.
With six weeks to go before my Heisman ballot is due at New York's Downtown Athletic Club, Danny Wuerffel, Florida's robotic passer, is leading in the polls. He came in third in last year's voting and the two players who finished in front of him, Eddie George and Tommie Frazier, have left college.
A year ago, Wuerffel broke the NCAA record for passing efficiency. This season, his rating is even higher. Still, I can't shake the feeling that he's a cog in Steve Spurrier's superior machine.
Wuerffel quarterbacks the nation's No. 1-ranked team, and Florida is on television a lot, a winning combination.
But if your taste in Heisman candidates runs to quarterbacks, a more intriguing player may be Jake Plummer of undefeated Arizona State.
Great name, Jake Plummer.
Thanks to its Plummer, Arizona State is flush with victory.
But without Plummer, Arizona
State's national title aspirations would go down the drain.
Speaking of down the drain, a player not taken seriously anymore for the award is Peyton Manning of Tennessee. One bad half against Florida and Archie's kid becomes the Ross Perot of the Heisman race.
Among running backs, candidates include Troy Davis of Iowa State, Texas Tech's Byron Hanspard, Northwestern's Darnell Autry, Florida State's Warrick Dunn and Virginia's Tiki Barber.
Davis plays for a loser in a midwestern state, a dubious double that could outweigh the fact that he leads the nation in rushing.
Hanspard might as well be playing on the dark side of the moon for all the publicity he gets at Texas Tech. Autry is injured. Dunn is just shy of being a great college runner, and Barber suffers from the absence of a reliable U.Va. quarterback.
At this point, you honestly know as much about the Heisman race as I do, and are as qualified to cast a ballot.
For the time being, I'm tempted to make the Big O, Orlando Pace, my first pick, a protest vote of sorts. My sources would approve.
Jake Plummer could be my second-place selection. A vote for Plummer would throw a monkey wrench into the process.
My third-place vote likely will go to Barber, because of all the serious contenders he's the one I've seen play most often.
Watching a candidate in action, live or on TV, has never been a requirement for the Heisman electorate. Some day, though, it could catch on. by CNB