DeVonta Smith’s biggest feat would be stealing Mac Jones’ Heisman (and he may)

Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith is without question the best at his position, but can he outshine his quarterback Mac Jones to win the Heisman Trophy?

The Heisman Trophy has always been the plaything of running backs and quarterbacks. Those power positions have combined to claim it 89 times, with the passers dominating since 2000 with 17 wins, and they’re well on their way to another, with Florida’s Kyle Trask and Alabama’s Mac Jones leading the way with less than two weeks before ballots are due.

Receivers face an uphill battle to get some love, and in an era where the guy getting them the ball has been the center of attention, it takes something Herculean to change that narrative.

DeVonta Smith has entered the chat.

The Alabama football senior wide receiver has been nothing short of spectacular, or in Heisman vernacular “outstanding.” He leads the nation in receiving yards with 1,305, is tied for the most touchdowns at 15 and is second in receptions (80) and yards per game (145.0). He made a mockery out of LSU in the Crimson Tide’s 55-17 rout last weekend, setting a Tiger Stadium record for an opponent with 231 yards and reached the end zone three times on eight catches.

Does DeVonta Smith have a shot at making Heisman history?

The debate over the nation’s top pass-catcher begins and ends with Smith and he’ll likely end up with the hardware to prove it with the Biletnikoff Award. But the “best receiver in the country” has rarely been enough when it comes to the Heisman and it is only heightened in the case of Smith, whose quarterback may wind up winning it.

Only three wide receivers have won the trophy, Nebraska’s Johnny Rodgers in 1972, Notre Dame’s Tim Brown in 1987, and most recently, Michigan’s Desmond Howard in 1991. That’s it.

Add Yale’s Larry Kelley (1935) and Michigan’s Leon Hart (1949), both of whom won as tight ends, if you’d like to expand the circle of pass-catchers, but they were awarding the Heisman for 21 years before the first wide receiver (Oklahoma’s Tommy McDonald in 1956) cracked the top three and 37 years of the trophy’s existence before Rodgers won it in ’72.

As much as there’s been a golden age for wideouts and this trophy, it began with Brown’s win, then three years later Notre Dame’s Raghib “Rocket” Ismail finished second behind BYU quarterback Ty Detmer, and the next season, Howard claimed the award.

Since Howard’s victory, 20 wide receivers have finished in the top 10, but they’ve rarely been factors. Only two had more than 19 first-place votes: Pittsburgh’s Larry Fitzgerald with 253 in 2003 as runner-up and Alabama’s Amari Cooper with 49 when he came in fourth in 2014.

In the age of finalists (1982-on), just six have been invited, with Oklahoma’s Dede Westbrook in 2016 the most recent, and his situation is the closest we’ve seen to what likely lies ahead for Smith, who should challenge for a spot in this year’s virtual ceremony,

Twice a school has had both a quarterback and a wide receiver finish in the top 10 in voting, with Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree finishing fourth and fifth, respectively in 2008, but neither of them reached New York, with only three players earning invites that year. That has been Westbrook alone, as he was joined by Baker Mayfield, with the passer coming in third, while Westbrook earned just seven first-place votes in taking fourth.

But what Westbrook experienced is only amplified with Smith, as his quarterback is more than a legitimate threat to win the Heisman. FanDuel’s latest odds have Jones in the lead at -135, with Trask second at +110. Smith, meanwhile, is fourth at +3000, putting him behind those SEC passers, Ohio State’s Justin Fields (+2000) and Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence (+2000).

No matter how eye-opening the stat lines and no matter how jaw-dropping the highlights – that one-handed catch in Baton Rouge was an all-time kind of grab – there’s no defying those odds. Smith is not going to win the Heisman, but he could well make a run at coming in third.

If the SEC Championship Game stands as a duel for the trophy between Jones and Trask, then surely it could serve as reinforcement for any voter to give the third spot on their ballot to Smith. This doesn’t have to be followed by the assumption that a teammate is stealing votes from another, either, because we’re amid a vote that is running low on real challengers.

Lawrence has No. 2 Notre Dame looming and remains a threat, but he’s missed two games due to his positive COVD-19 test and Fields is playing an even further truncated schedule than the Big Ten was already affording him. Those preseason favorites lost their luster, largely to factors outside of their control. Meanwhile, among the other nine players earning Heisman odds, the Fighting Irish’s Ian Book (+6000) doesn’t have the numbers – he’s 30th in total offense – Iowa State’s Breece Hall (+20000) leads the nation in rushing but has done most of his damage against unranked teams (146 yards per game compared to 111 vs. Top-25 opponents) and Miami’s D’Eriq King and BYU’s Zach Wilson (both at +20000) have all faded.

That leaves Smith among those very few players still in the mix. Full disclosure: in 12 years of voting, this writer has never had a receiver in his top three, but with so many flawed contenders, Smith makes a compelling case to change that.

There’s an argument to be made, and it’s a valid one, that if Jones isn’t even the best player on his own team, how is he the Crimson Tide’s clear Heisman contender?

Let’s not make this a diatribe about how we watch football or how the credit for an offense’s production is given, but the reality is the focus and the accolades have largely gone in the quarterback’s direction. In those rare times when passers and pass-catcher have shared the limelight, it’s not the receiver who wins out (see Crabtree and Westbrook), no matter how undeniable the talent.

Smith isn’t going to change that line of thinking, but his continued dominance could still help Alabama make history. No team has ever had both its quarterback and a wide receiver finish in the top three in voting. Doing that ina season when his quarterback has become the front runner would become among the most impressive feats for a position that has long fought for the Heisman spotlight.

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