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Heisman Voters Made Proper, Obvious Choice

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 9, 2007

Updated: 12/09/2007 12:22 am

Special Report: Tebow Wins Heisman
Podcast: Staples, Henderson From New York
Photo Gallery: Tebow's Record-Setting Season
Slide Show: Tebow's Reaction

NEW YORK - It took just 10 words to sum up what everyone already should have known.

"The winner of this year's Heisman Trophy is Tim Tebow."

So spoke Heisman trustee Brian Obergfell, who made the formal announcement at 8:54 p.m. Saturday. So spoke the 925 voters, who made him the first sophomore to win college football's most coveted individual award.

They got it right.

Could anyone have been really surprised? Seriously, anyone? OK, anyone not within the state borders of Arkansas, whose marvelous running back, Darren McFadden, finished second.

Or maybe in an abandoned, cobweb-covered corner of Tim Brown's brain, Saturday night might have been a revelation of sorts. But everyone else basically got it.

"Everyone knew it was going to him," said Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel, who finished fourth.

The award goes to the best college football player in the country, so it had to go to Tebow. There was no other way to judge it, and those who said otherwise were simply wrong. There has never been anyone play the game quite like him. You will search in vain to find another combination of that arm, those legs, that swagger, and his inner drive to excel.

"He says he is blessed," UF athletic director Jeremy Foley said. "We at the University of Florida are the ones who are blessed, because he chose us."

No one in college football ever had such a season.

No one. Ever.

That's the argument right there.

That's why Tim Tebow won the Heisman.

A Phenomenon

We live in an era of unrelenting hype, and certainly there has been way too much of that about this young man - good and bad. Too much media, too many words, too many people saying things they know too little about.

There was the absurd argument made by Brown, a Notre Dame receiver and current TV blabbermouth who won the Heisman in 1987. He didn't put Tebow on his ballot because the Gators lost three games. He said a quarterback has to be playing for the national championship to deserve the Heisman.

Ridiculous.

By the way, Notre Dame finished 8-4 in 1987.

But perhaps nothing stung more or created more of a debate than the assertion by Hawaii coach June Jones. He said Tebow is "not a natural passer." He dismissed him as a "system quarterback" - whatever that is.

Equally ridiculous.

"We're all system quarterbacks," Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan said with a shrug after finishing third in the voting.

Tebow was part of 51 touchdowns out of the Florida "system" - 29 of them by passing from the unnatural passer.

He ran for 22 touchdowns. No one in the SEC - the league of Bo Jackson, Herschel Walker and Emmitt Smith - has ever run for more.

Suffocating Hype

We would need much more space to list those Tebow thanked in his unscripted remarks on the podium moments after he was announced as the winner. Let's just say it was darned near everybody. Mom. Dad. His brothers and sisters. His coaches, both college and high school. And, of course, his God.

He meant it all.

He also meant it when he said, "I'm accepting this trophy on behalf of the team. We consider this a team award."

Off the field, he is a caring, Christian young man, committed to service, providing charity, hope and gifted with all the fine qualities people should aspire to possess.

On the field, he'll knock your head into another time zone. Then he'll get up and do it again, and again, and finally when you think you've seen it all, he will do it again.

It's hard to imagine what the next two seasons will be like, should Tebow choose to complete his full term as a Gator. His numbers next year may actually not be as good because Florida will return a more balanced and explosive offense. Tebow won't have to carry 27 times in a game, as he did this year against Ole Miss.

What we do know is that he will have a chance to set standards that may never be touched for as long as college football is played. And we know he will be even more of a target, if that's possible, because his name just got longer. From now on, he'll be known as "Heisman Trophy Winner Tim Tebow."

Of course, what we call a "target" he will call an "opportunity."

"I don't know what that means right now," he said with a broad smile, "but I'm looking forward to finding out."

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