Heisman snubs: 10 best players who got the stiff-arm from Heisman voters

Rex Grossman‘s inclusion on this list of Heisman snubs might be a tad controversial, as he’s not an NFL legend, nor the best signal-caller his alma mater had to offer. But for that 2001 NCAA season, Grossman was every bit as good as Danny Wuerffel was in Steve Spurrier‘s Fun ‘n’ Gun offense at the University of Florida.

Grossman finished second to Nebraska Cornhuskers running quarterback Eric Crouch. Sure, Nebraska was still a national power even after Frank Solich took over for the legendary Tom Osborne in Lincoln. This was still a run-first offensive program and Crouch certainly had some big-time plays in that antiquated Nebraska offensive system. However, Grossman was a sophomore.

No, it wasn’t like Nebraska or Florida were national champions or anything that year. Both blue-bloods lost twice that year, including to archrivals Colorado and Tennessee, respectively, to hold them out of their conference champions. Nebraska would lose to the eventual national champion Miami Hurricanes in their bowl, while Florida would defeat the Maryland Terrapins in theirs.

But the biggest reason for Grossman’s inclusion on this list is that he was potentially transcendent in that Florida offense. We hadn’t seen a sophomore quarterback do what he did up to that point. Unfortunately for him, Spurrier would leave for the NFL’s Washington Redskins after the season. Grossman left Gainesville after his junior year and was never more than a so-so NFL quarterback.