10 biggest snubs in Heisman Trophy history

2. 2000: Drew Brees

Here is another Heisman Trophy tally that makes little sense in hindsight.

Yes, Florida State Seminoles quarterback Chris Weinke helped his team win the 2000 National Championship over Michael Vick’s Virginia Tech Hokies. However, Weinke was old enough to rent a car and go broke at a Las Vegas craps table when he won the 2000 Heisman. He was a failed Minor League Baseball player in the Toronto Blue Jays organization. Weinke would commit to Bobby Bowden’s national powerhouse in Tallahassee to cement a great college football legacy in his mid-20s. He would then proceed to be one of the worst NFL starting quarterbacks in history, busting catastrophically with the Carolina Panthers.

It would have been like the 2011 Heisman voters giving the trophy to 28-year-old senior quarterback Brandon Weeden of the Oklahoma State Cowboys over Robert Griffin III and Andrew Luck.

Here are three guys that were not given the 2000 Heisman because Weinke went to school. Vick at Virginia Tech, LaDainian Tomlinson at TCU and Drew Brees at Purdue. Brees and Tomlinson did unreal things at unbelievable places. Who looks good playing at TCU and at Purdue? Vick was amazing, too, but Virginia Tech was a near-national power under head coach Frank Beamer.

TCU would shine under head coach Gary Patterson in the years to come after Tomlinson went No. 5 to the San Diego Chargers. The Purdue Boilermakers have been essentially a grease fire since Brees left town. Kyle Orton was pretty good in college, too.

The star quarterback on a national title contender is understandable in that moment. Looking back on it, Brees was every bit as good as a 22-year-old at Purdue as Weinke was in his late 20s at Florida State. Brees did more with less and this should have been his Heisman Trophy.