Brice Cherry: Putting my (Heisman) voting record to the test

Johnny Manziel won the Heisman Trophy for Texas A&M as a freshman in the 2012 season, and was the author’s choice that year in his first season as a Heisman voter.

Former Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence never won a Heisman, but he was the author’s choice in the 2021 season.

Sports Editor

Another presidential election year is fast-approaching, which means the political debates, mud-slinging commercials and oversized mailers are on the way. (Yee-hah.)

In the spirit of democracy in action, I decided to look back at my own voting record over the past decade. Heisman voting, of course.

Since 2012, I’ve had the privilege of serving as a registered voter for the Heisman Trophy, generally regarded as the most prestigious award in sports. It’s a duty I take seriously as one of a select group of 870 media voters across the country, but it’s also plenty of fun. Heisman.com states that the journalists voting for the award should be “informed, competent and impartial.” I figure I’m batting at least 1-for-3.

Here’s a deeper peek into how the Heisman sausage is made. Each voter is given a registered login and code to an online voting portal. Voters are supposed to submit a three-person ballot, ranked in order from first to third. (I don’t know what would happen if you tried to vote without filling out your complete ballot, but I suspect it wouldn’t be accepted.) Just for the record, there is no pull-down menu of options. You may vote for any player in the country you deem worthy.

One of the criticisms of the Heisman is that it’s become a quarterback’s award and nothing more. It’s a fair point. Since 2000, 19 of the past 23 winners have been pass slingers.

I’ve always tried to approach it from a more equal-opportunity perspective. Anyone at any position is capable of getting my first-place vote. Now, as you’ll soon see, I’ve voted for quarterbacks as my overall Heisman winner plenty of times. (Turns out they hold a rather important position on the field.) But I’ve also voted for non-QBs at various spots, including No. 1. I’ve even had defensive guys on my ballot. (Gasp!)

I’m totally willing to go my own way, too. Just because you won the popular vote doesn’t mean you won the Cherry vote. But sometimes the overall winner is crystal clear, even to these corrective lens-wearing eyes.

Anyway, let’s scan back through my voting record and determine where I was right, where I was wrong, and if I’d change anything in retrospect.

Heisman winner: Johnny Manziel, QB, Texas A&M

My choice: Manziel.

Anyone watch the “Untold” documentary about Johnny Football on Netflix? It basically could be described as “Behind the Music, the Quarterback Edition.” High school football coaches ought to make it required viewing for their players, using Manziel as a cautionary tale.

Now, just because Manziel was cocky or because he crashed and burned as an NFL player doesn’t change the fact that he was electric that freshman season at A&M. Honestly, I always thought one of the best things A&M did was shield him from the media that season — wait, what am I saying? — because it shrouded Manziel in a cloak of mystery and kept him from possibly tanking his chances by saying something stupid.

Here’s what I wrote at the time: “Undoubtedly, some voters held Johnny Manziel’s age against him. Others may have been turned off by his arrest outside a College Station night club in June.

“Not me. This was actually my first year to cast a Heisman ballot, and the instructions directed me to vote for ‘the most outstanding player in college football.’ My eyes told me that was one Jonathon Paul Manziel, quarterback at Texas A&M. I’m a true believer in Johnny Football, baby.”

Johnny Football may have been a bit of a party-boy knucklehead, but was very clearly the best player in the country that 2012 season.

WATCH NOW: Johnny Manziel joined Melissa Amrita to talk about the release of the Netflix documentary "Untold: Johnny Football" and about his struggles with mental health and his life after football.

Heisman winner: Jameis Winston, QB, Florida State

My choice: Tre Mason, RB, Auburn

Famous Jameis became the second straight freshman to clutch the Downtown Athletic Club trophy, after no 13th graders had won it in the 76 years prior. He actually claimed an even higher percentage (79% to 72%) of the first-place votes than Manziel.

But he didn’t have my vote, as I invoked the character clause. That November, news broke that Winston had been accused of sexual assault. The Florida State Attorney ultimately chose not to pursue charges, not because he doubted the credibility of the alleged victim’s story but rather because he wasn’t sure he had enough evidence to land a conviction. It gave me enough pause as a Heisman voter, though, to pass my vote to Mason, who helped the surprise Tigers to the national championship game. In fact, I didn’t even include Winston in my top three, going with Alabama’s AJ McCarron at No. 2 and Baylor’s Bryce Petty at No. 3.

Here’s the way I summed it up then: “If I were a juror trying a case against Winston, based on that evidence, I’m sure I’d have to find him not guilty. A reasonable doubt exists. But I’m not. I’m a Heisman voter, commissioned to select the worthiest recipient of the most prestigious trophy in the sport. Say what you want about Winston, but he’s hardly brought the game any prestige.”

In the years thereafter, Winston settled an ensuing civil suit out of court with the alleged victim. In other incidents, he was ordered to perform community service for shoplifting crab legs and was suspended by the NFL for groping a female Uber driver in 2016.

I don’t feel bad at all for leaving him off my ballot.

Heisman winner: Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon

My choice: Mariota

Mariota became the first Oregon Duck and the first player born in Hawaii to win the stiffarm statue. He was overwhelmingly good that season, throwing for 42 touchdowns against just four interceptions.

In my traditional Heisman column, I wrote that Mariota may have been the safe, “boring” choice, but he was the right one. My fellow voters agreed, as he won in a landslide with 90.9% of the first-place vote.

“Mariota’s reliability may have been his most enduring trait,” I wrote. “When college football broadcasters called the roll on Saturdays, Mariota always showed up. He accounted for at least two touchdowns in all 13 of Oregon’s games, and the 318 points he was responsible for scoring led the nation.”

Yeah, let’s say aloha to this debate, it was an easy choice.

Heisman winner: Derrick Henry, RB, Alabama

My choice: Deshaun Watson, QB, Clemson

You can make an argument that I bungled this one. Henry, who earned the No. 1 spot on my buddy John Werner’s ballot, turned in a national-best 1,986 yards and 23 touchdowns that season. (He’s been pretty sturdy and rugged as an NFL player for the Titans, too.)

I argued that Alabama’s offense looked rather vanilla that season, and opted to ascend Watson to No. 1, based on his playmaking and leadership for an unbeaten Clemson team.

How I put it at the time: “And for a quarterback, one number reigns supreme. In fact, I think it should be attached to QBs just as it is starting pitchers in baseball. That being, of course, his win-loss record. In case you’d forgotten, nobody can match Watson’s 13-0 mark this year.”

Watson ended up finishing third in the voting, behind Henry and Stanford’s Christian McCaffery, and just ahead of Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield. Should I have been flagged for reaching as a voter? Well, not really, but I may have overthought it a bit.

Heisman winner: Lamar Jackson, QB, Louisville

My choice: Jackson

Long before he was scooting past defenders for the Ravens, Jackson was equally as elusive for a different breed of bird, the Louisville Cardinals. He made it look like the words “dual-threat quarterback” were invented just for him, passing for 30 touchdowns while rushing for 21 more.

He invigorated voters with his scintillating play that season, including this one. Ultimately, Jackson became the youngest Heisman winner (though he was a sophomore) at 19 years and 337 days, beating out Clemson’s Watson and Oklahoma’s Mayfield for the honor.

Nothing wrong with this pick whatsoever. Zipping right along …

Heisman winner: Baker Mayfield, QB, Oklahoma

My choice: Bryce Love, RB, Stanford

It’s spelled right there in the mission statement of the Heisman Trust: “The Heisman Memorial Trophy annually recognizes the outstanding college football player whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity.”

I saw a lot of amazing plays from Mayfield that 2017 season, but he didn’t make the integrity highlight reel. He routinely chirped at fans and opposing players, went on profanity-laced tirades, and got arrested for public drunkenness prior to the season.

So, I left him off my ballot altogether. I heard about it from Sooner fans — even though their guy won the honor anyway — but who cares? This is how I summed it up at the time.

“When it came to Mayfield, it’s that last word that stuck in my craw. Integrity. The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles, or moral uprightness. Did the Oklahoma quarterback really ‘best exhibit the pursuit of excellence with INTEGRITY?’ Not in my view.”

Stanford’s Love, meanwhile, cast a more humble presence while rushing for at least 100 yards in all but one of his team’s 13 games.

Heisman winner: Kyler Murray, QB, Oklahoma

My choice: Murray

See, Sooner fans? I’m not biased against OU. Murray brought to the field many of the same slippery and slick talents that made Mayfield so productive. The difference was that he did so with a quiet class rather than a “Hey, look at me!” bravado.

Going into the final weekend of the 2018 season, I actually had Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa a smidgen ahead of Murray in my personal straw poll. But I always wait until all the games are played to cast my vote, and Murray’s final push convinced me to tweak my ballot.

“Now, Tua and Alabama didn’t lose. I recognize that. Since that had been Tua’s trump card before, what changed exactly?” I wrote. “In a word, everything. Murray won the Big 12 title game for Oklahoma. The Sooners, as usual, needed every one of his 379 yards and three touchdown tosses. This is an OU team that must outrace you, not outslug you.”

Over the years, there’s been a lot of talk about when each winner’s “Heisman Moment” happened. For Kyler Murray, it was right at the very finish.

Heisman winner: Joe Burrow, QB, LSU

My choice: Burrow

This was another season where I flipped my vote late in the season. For much of the year, I was leaning toward putting Ohio State defensive end Chase Young at No. 1. Wouldn’t it be cool to see a dominant, backfield-wrecking defender win the honor? Sure it would.

Unfortunately for Young, he missed two games that hampered his case. And probably more to the point, Joe Cool just dazzled for eventual national champ LSU. Here’s how I viewed it:

“Quarterbacks always have an inside track on claiming Senor Stiffarm. It’s completely understandable. They touch the ball more than anyone else on the field, including the centers. They play what’s universally regarded as the most demanding position. And while they certainly get the lion’s share of the credit for a team’s victories, they also take the brunt of the criticism when things go wrong.

“Burrow was the best QB in the country, and it really wasn’t close. He was the best player on the best team, and that counts for something, too.”

In the end, Burrow landed on 95.47% of total ballots, the highest percentage in history, just ahead of Mariota (95.16%).

Heisman winner: DeVonta Smith, WR, Alabama

My choice: Trevor Lawrence, QB, Clemson

Man, I wanted to vote for Smith. I really did. He was super fun to watch, and I placed him second on my ballot in that crazy COVID season.

But it was Lawrence’s sheer value to Clemson that convinced me to install another quarterback on top of my list.

“Put it this way: Take Smith away from Alabama, and you’d still win plenty of games, probably pretty handily,” I wrote. “That’s what happens when you’ve got Mac Jones and Najee Harris and a dozen other blue chippers at starting positions.

“Take Lawrence away from Clemson, and the Tigers don’t resemble the Tigers we’ve grown accustomed to seeing the past four years. Take Lawrence away from Clemson, and the Tigers lose to Notre Dame. Bring him back, and they don’t. (That happened, y’all.)”

Lawrence, who went 38-2 as a college QB, never won the Heisman. But he had my vote.

Heisman winner: Bryce Young, QB, Alabama

My choice: Young

Fun fact, one you could have picked up on yourself: Young is the second Bryce I’ve voted for in my Heisman balloting, along with Stanford’s Love.

Am I Bryce-biased? Nah. Those dudes can’t even spell it right.

But Young could spell winning. He could spell touchdowns. He could spell Heisman. (E before I, when cast in bronze ...)

Some pundits thought that a condition known as Crimson Tide Fatigue might prevent Young from clutching the trophy. But voters rolled with the Tide QB, placing him first on 684 ballots. To put that in perspective, Michigan defensive lineman Aidan Hutchinson, who finished second, was the first-place choice of only 78 voters.

“For all of the overwhelming Alabama-ness of college football, Young became the first Tide quarterback to win the nation’s most prestigious individual honor on Saturday,” I wrote in December 2021. “That’s fairly amazing, considering the Tide once suited up Broadway Joe Namath at QB, not to mention the program’s run of Heisman finalists in recent years — A.J. McCarron (2013), Tua Tagovailoa (2018) and Mac Jones (2020). It may go down like a Lima bean and Castor Oil smoothie, but Young could be better than all of them.”

He also became the No.1 pick in the most recent NFL Draft, as the 12th all-time Heisman-winning QB to land that designation.

Heisman winner: Caleb Williams, QB, USC

My choice: Max Duggan, QB, TCU

Williams is special, without a doubt. He just might join Ohio State’s Archie Griffin as the only back-to-back Heisman winners.

But I put him second on my own ballot last year, and again it came down to a late surge, thanks to how TCU’s Duggan showed up in the Big 12 title game.

“What Duggan delivered in the Big 12 championship game was one of the gutsiest performances I’d witnessed in years,” I wrote. “Duggan hoisted his team onto his back and nearly carried it to yet another suspenseful triumph in a season’s worth of them for the Frogs. In the fourth quarter and overtime, the Frogs just kept allowing Duggan to call his own number as a rusher. And it worked. Duggan rushed for 110 yards and a touchdown, and became the first quarterback since Clemson’s Deshaun Watson in 2015 to rush for 100 yards and pass for 250 in a conference championship game.”

Looking back, I don’t regret any of my votes. Even when you could make a strong case for another guy, I always tried to consider the merits of every candidate, regardless of conference affiliation, and sought to employ logic and research to my ultimate choice. I can live with that.

Just how it works at the modern day ballot box, am I right?

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