What we learned from the 2016 Heisman Trophy race
By John Buhler
Louisville Cardinals quarterback Lamar Jackson won the 2016 Heisman Trophy. What were the biggest takeaways from the 2016 Heisman race?
The 2016 Heisman Trophy went to Louisville Cardinals sophomore quarterback Lamar Jackson. Jackson garnered 2,144 votes for the sixth-largest margin of victory of the Heisman Trophy.
With the kind of sophomore season he had for Louisville, this was an easy choice for most Heisman voters. Jackson completed 57.6 percent of his passes for 3,390 yards, 30 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. His yards per attempt was 8.9 and his quarterback rating was 153.3.
Jackson was one of the most magnificent dual-threat quarterbacks the college game has ever seen. He had 234 carries for 1,538 yards and 21 rushing touchdowns. Jackson became the first Heisman Trophy winner in school history at the University of Louisville.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the 2016 Heisman Trophy race.
Deshaun Watson was close, but no cigar.
If there was going to be a serious challenger for Jackson in the 2016 Heisman Trophy race, it was going to be Clemson Tigers junior quarterback Deshaun Watson. This was Watson’s second trip to New York for the Heisman ceremony.
He came home empty handed both times, but he’s in good company. Watson and the Tigers will be playing in the 2017 College Football Playoff. Clemson is the No. 3 seed and will meet the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes in the Playstation Fiesta Bowl.
With Watson set to graduate from Clemson in three years on Thursday, he will almost certainly declare for the 2017 NFL Draft. He will be a sure-fire Top 10 pick, as he has all the skills of a franchise quarterback.
Watson may have beaten Jackson’s Cardinals head-to-head this season, but even a great November wasn’t enough for Watson to overtake Jackson for the 2016 Heisman. He only garnered 1,524 votes. Jackson’s sophomore season was just that special.
The Oklahoma duo split votes and hurt each other’s chances
It was pretty cool to see both Oklahoma Sooners redshirt junior quarterback Baker Mayfield and senior wide receiver Dede Westbrook make it to the same 2016 Heisman Trophy ceremony.
While there was a theory that Westbrook could have gotten more support in his voting constituency than Mayfield since the Sooners signal-caller will have another shot to win it next year while Westbrook is going pro, they split the Big 12 vote and it cost both of them.
Mayfield would finish third with 361 votes and Westbrook would finish fourth with 209, just edging out Michigan Wolverines linebacker Jabrill Peppers in fifth with 208 votes. The allure of the quarterback position dominated the Heisman Trophy, with Jackson, Watson, and Mayfield finishing one, two and three respectively.
Would Jonathan Allen have done better than Westbrook and Peppers?
While there were five finalists for the 2016 Heisman Trophy, two of the Power 5 conferences didn’t have a finalist in New York and no running back was in attendance. The Pac-12 and the SEC have two of the four teams in the 2017 College Football Playoff, but couldn’t get a finalist to New York this year.
Washington Huskies quarterback Jake Browning sputtered at times in November to hurt his Heisman candidacy down the stretch. He could make it to New York next year in his true junior season in 2017.
Alabama has the best defensive unit in the country, yet its best player, defensive end Jonathan Allen, didn’t get the invitation to attend the 2016 Heisman Trophy ceremony. Allen would finish in the Top 10 in voting, but one has to wonder how he would have fared had he been given a serious shot at getting to New York?
The Heisman voters pick a wide receiver in Westbrook and a linebacker/safety hybrid in Peppers to appease the folks who want to see the award become less quarterback/wide receiver dominated. Allen could have done better than 210 votes had he been in attendance for the ceremony. He was that dominant this season for the vaunted Alabama pass rush.
Jackson was the easy and right choice for the 2016 Heisman
It was very early in the 2016 college football season, but we all kind of knew that Jackson was going to be a Heisman winner by mid-September. He had so many Heisman moments throughout the season.
Jackson went toe-to-toe with Watson in the Clemson game. He carried Louisville on his back in both the Duke and Virginia games, and Louisville at times looked particularly disinterested in football versus Duke. The Cardinals were about to completely choke in Charlottesville but Jackson answered the call in both games.
There were other games where Jackson eviscerated lesser opponents like Marshall, North Carolina State and Marshall. However, Jackson had two games that really stood out for his obvious Heisman candidacy: at Syracuse and versus Florida State.
He ran, threw and leapt all over the Syracuse Orange on a Friday night game in Week 2, winning 62-28 at the Carrier Dome. Jackson blew the doors off the Florida State Seminoles a week later, 63-20.
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He had built such an insurmountable lead so early in the season that his September Heisman ended up becoming his 2016 Heisman Trophy. Action Jackson was an absolute delight to watch this season. Can’t wait to see what he does for the 2017 Cardinals next year!