How to fix the Heisman... and yes it needs fixing

[Fricke-on-Fox]

How to fix the Heisman... and yes it needs fixing.

There are certain individual awards in athletics that are elevated above others.

They include an olympic gold medal, the green jacket at the Masters, even - as bad as the sport has been - a world boxing title belt. This prestigious list also includes the single top individual award among all of college athletics.

The Heisman.

Sadly the Heisman doesn't mean to me what it used to mean. Given to the top college football player in the land it was an honor that put the winner into a special category of athlete.

Not anymore.

This award has become about offensive production from one of two positions - quarterback or running back - on one of the top teams in the country.

It is not given to the best player in the nation, but instead to the most productive offensive back on a top-rated team.

It is simply an offensive MVP award. That's all it is. And it deserves much more than that.

For a long time Wendy's (the hamburger giant) has been giving out the Wendy's High School Heisman. 34,000 players were up for that award across the nation in 2008. That award is based on performance on the field, in the classroom and in the community.

Sadly, Wendy's has it right and the Downtown Athletic Club has it wrong.

Here is how to make the Heisman truly mean something again.

Allow every one of the 120 division 1-A (FBS) college football programs to choose a "Heisman candidate" from their own team.

Those 120 players will be considered by the Heisman board to be among the final 10 who go to New York for the award ceremony.

The 120 are all awarded a plaque representing the Heisman candidate from their school.

The 9 who do not win the Heisman in New York all receive a smaller and different colored Heisman trophy as a Heisman finalist.

The winner gets the Heisman.

Here is the criteria for that system.

Since the Heisman is supposed to go to the best collegiate football player in the nation then I suggest we find him. And I further suggest we honor and award what the top player is supposed to be... a true representative of the game that stands out among all others.

What you have accomplished on the field, in the classroom and in the community.

Using those standards we could well have finalists who are all-conference players in every position. Student-athletes with solid classroom performance and a resume' outside their own personal gain and interests.

These are the role models of the game. Not a QB who simply throws it 60 times every Saturday and is blessed to be on a team that happens to be extreemly good.

The criteria can be weighted so that football excellence is 60-70 percent of the equation and that classroom and community are less - I am not suggesting that a 4.0 in pre-med who helped build a local food bank but only ran for 405 yards and 3 tds for the season in a 2nd string role on a 6-6 team should be the winner, but he might well be that's teams candidate. And for that he should be honored as the Heisman choice of that school.

For all we know Tim Tebow, Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy are all great students and great leaders. Odds are they are - but since we put zero stock in that aspect of their contribution to the game, we simply don't know do we.

Give me the star player who takes school seriously.

Not the guy who is taking the minimum load in general studies or communications.

Give me 3.8 GPA and 5.3 YPC over 2.2 GPA and 8.2 YPC.

Give me the star player who has used his standing in the local community to use it for some good.

Not the guy who celebrates his star status for himself.

Give me the best player that best represents the game I love and let's honor him.

Give me a Heisman winner that isn't just the most prolific back on the best team. Because we aren't arguing about just prolific backs are we.

Which QB leads the nation in passing yards this season? Tebow? Nope. Bradford? Nope. McCoy? Nope. Not even Graham Harrel who isn't going to NYC despite the anger from his coach over what he thinks was a snub.

Heck Harrel and McCoy aren't even the top passing yard QB's in their own state! That would be, the nation's leading passer, Casey Keenum of the Houston Cougars.

But you didn't know that. Because Houston, while a very good team, isn't ranked in the top-25.

It's time to fix the Heisman so that this award represnts the best college football player in the country.

If he never plays in the NFL or has no impact at the next level it doesn't mean anything, since, well most current Heisman winners don't seem to anyway.

It's time to fix the Heisman... and yes it needs fixing.