The Hypeman Trophy

In life, here’s how it usually works: A university school of medicine’s top student goes on to be a successful doctor. The best writer at a college newspaper matures into an award-winning reporter at a big-city paper or notable website. The winner of American Idol sells a gob of albums and embarks on a windfall tour.

In football, here’s how it usually works: The best college player, much more times than not, doesn’t become a star at the professional level.

In other words, welcome to The Heisman Trophy – the most overrated, overhyped sports trophy this side of the of the Governor’s Cup, Golden Boot and Iron Skillet.

No? Then explain this.

When Oklahoma and Allen High School’s Kyler Murray wins the 2018 Heisman Saturday night in New York, he’ll have the burden – and unlikelihood – of breaking a shameful streak:

Even disregarding too-early-to-be-judged recent winners Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield, the last 21 quarterbacks to win the storied Heisman hardware have failed to win a Super Bowl. Oh-for-Twenty-One. Ouch.

Hiccups happen. In life, and sports. But they occur alarmingly frequently in the transition from college to pro football. More than any individual sports accolade, the Heisman is a flawed indicator of future success.

Granted it’s a subjective study, but I’ve concluded that college football’s Heisman is less important than basketball’s Naismith Award or college baseball’s Golden Spikes Award.

The research? Considering their careers as pros — stats, all-star teams, championships, etc. — I slapped a simple result on the most recent chunk of award winners: Win or Loss. For example, the ’77 Heisman’s Tony Dorsett went on to win a Super Bowl and enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That’s a win. On the other hand, the ’02 Naismith’s Jay Williams was the NBA’s second overall pick but suffered major injuries in a motorcycle accident and wound up getting cut by the minor-league Austin Toros before retiring in obscurity. That, obviously, is a loss.

Fair to reason the college player deemed – voted – as the best in his sport would evolve into a multiple all-star, leading scorer, record-setter or at least the top player on his NFL team. Ya know, something.

Nope.

Given that the best prospects in basketball and baseball often skip college and matriculate straight to the pros, my very unscientific formula should skew in favor of football.

But with a “record” of 22-17-2, the Golden Spikes Award is the most accurate fortune teller, followed by the Naismith (26-22-2) and the Heisman (22-26-2). That’s right, while 55 percent of college baseball’s best go on to successful careers in Major League Baseball and 53 percent of college basketball’s best have star-studded NBA legacies, less than half – 46 percent – of college football’s most prestigious award winners produce standout careers in the NFL.

Of the Heisman’s last 10 winners, only Cam Newton is a star. By contrast, the Golden Spike’s last 10 winners have included Andrew Benintendi, Kris Bryant, Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg and David Price, and the last 10 Naismith winners are highlighted by Anthony Davis, Blake Griffin and Kevin Durant.

Maybe the Heisman’s horrendous results begin with its peculiar voting system.

Charged with crowning “the most outstanding college football player of the year,” 929 votes were cast this year by media members, former winners and, gulp, fans. How flawed is the system? A vote for the Heisman is annually given to Dan Le Batard’s father, Gonzalo, the self-proclaimed sideshow clown of ESPN’s Highly Questionable. Le Batard himself mocked the system recently, noting that his father had a vote and co-host and 25-year-veteran journalist Israel Gutierrez did not.

Barring an upset that would value team over player, Saturday night at the Marriott Marquis in New York’s Times Square Murray will become only the fourth Heisman winner with ties to Dallas-Fort Worth. Murray, who went 42-0 as a starter at Allen, will join Davey O’Brien (1938 from Woodrow Wilson High School), Doak Walker (1948 from Highland Park) and Tim Brown (1987 from Woodrow) as DFW Heisman winners.

The son of former North Dallas High School and Texas A&M star Kevin Murray, Kyler’s superior skills helped him dominate at Allen. He led the Eagles to three consecutive state championships and in 2014 produced a mind-boggling season of 79 touchdowns and 6,200 yards.

He followed dad to College Station but was inexplicably beat out of the starting quarterback job by Kyle Allen. Tired of the yo-yoing depth chart and lack of communication from head coach Kevin Sumlin, Murray decided to transfer, sat out 2016, and last year backed up Heisman winner Baker Mayfield in Norman.

This season, he was college football’s best, most valuable player.

Murray should beat out Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa simply because he’s meant more to the Sooners’ season. Without Murray, Oklahoma and its 108^th-ranked defense wouldn’t be 12-1 and preparing for a national semifinal on Dec. 29. Without Tua, the Crimson Tide might not be 13-0, but they and their ninth-ranked defense – not to mention more-than-capable backup Jalen Hurts – would still be in the playoff.

This season Murray played 807 snaps; Tua 588. And while OU led the nation in fourth-quarter scoring, Alabama’s starting quarterback threw a total of three passes in the final 15 minutes.

Murray will win. He will bring football glory to our pigskin-crazed Metroplex. But what he won’t do is break the troubling trend of Heisman disappointments in the NFL.

Because, barring a change in his career path, Murray – also a standout baseball player – will play his last football game against Alabama. Next February he’ll report to the Oakland A’s spring training.

HEISMAN TROPHY        22-26-2

1968      O.J. Simpson          W

1969      Steve Owens          W

1970      Jim Plunkett            W

1971      Pat Sullivan             L

1972      Johnny Rodgers      L

1973      John Cappelletti      L

1974-75 Archie Griffin           L

1976      Tony Dorsett           W

1977      Earl Campbell         W

1978      Billy Sims                W

1979      Charles White          L

1980      George Rogers       W

1981      Marcus Allen           W

1982      Herschel Walker      W

1983      Mike Rozier             W

1984      Doug Flutie              W

1985      Bo Jackson              W

1986      Vinny Testaverde     W

1987      Tim Brown                W

1988      Barry Sanders          W

1989      Andre Ware              L

1990      Ty Detmer                L

1991      Desmond Howard    W

1992      Gino Torretta            L

1993      Charlie Ward            L

1994      Rashaan Salaam     L

1995      Eddie George          W

1996      Danny Wuerffel        L

1997      Charles Woodson    W

1998      Ricky Williams         W

1999      Ron Dayne              L

2000      Chris Weinke           L

2001      Eric Crouch              L

2002      Carson Palmer         W

2003      Jason White             L

2004      Matt Leinart              L

2005      Reggie Bush            W

2006      Troy Smith                L

2007      Tim Tebow                L

2008      Sam Bradford           L

2009      Mark Ingram             L

2010      Cam Newton            W

2011      Robert Griffin III        L

2012      Johnny Manziel        L

2013      Jameis Winston        L

2014      Marcus Mariota         L

2015      Derrick Henry            L

2016      Lamar Jackson          TBD

2017      Baker Mayfield           TBD

 

NAISMITH AWARD       26-22-2

1969      Lew Alcindor              W

1970      Pete Maravich            W

1971      Austin Carr                 L

1972-74 Bill Walton                  W

1975      David Thompson        W

1976      Scott May                   L

1977      Marques Johnson      W

1978      Butch Lee                  L

1979      Larry Bird                   W

1980      Mark Aguirre              W

1981-83 Ralph Sampson         W

1984      Michael Jordan          W

1985      Patrick Ewing             W

1986      Johnny Dawkins         L

1987      David Robinson          W

1988      Danny Manning          W

1989      Danny Ferry               L

1990      Lionel Simmons         L

1991      Larry Johnson            W

1992      Christian Laettner      L

1993      Calbert Cheaney       L

1994      Glenn Robinson        W

1995      Joe Smith                  L

1996      Marcus Camby          W

1997      Tim Duncan               W

1998      Antawn Jamison        W

1999      Elton Brand                W

2000      Kenyon Martin            L

2001      Shane Battier             W

2002      Jay Williams               L

2003      T.J. Ford                     L

2004      Jameer Nelson           L

2005      Andrew Bogut             L

2006      J.J. Redick                  L

2007      Kevin Durant               W

2008      Tyler Hansborough     L

2009      Blake Griffin                W

2010      Evan Turner                L

2011      Jimmer Fredette          L

2012      Anthony Davis             W

2013      Trey Burke                   L

2014      Doug McDermott         L

2015      Frank Kaminsky          L

2016      Buddy Hield                TBD

2017      Frank Mason III          L

2018      Jalen Brunson            TBD

 

GOLDEN SPIKES 22-17-2

1978      Bob Horner            W

1979      Tim Wallach           W

1980      Terry Francona       L

1981      Mike Fuentes          L

1982      Augie Schmidt         L

1983      Dave Magadan       W

1984      Oddibe McDowell    L

1985      Will Clark                 W

1986      Mike Loynd               L

1987      Jim Abbott               W

1988      Robin Ventura         W

1989      Ben McDonald        W

1990      Alex Fernandez      W

1991      Mike Kelly                L

1992      Phil Nevin                L

1993      Darren Dreifort        L

1994      Jason Varitek          W

1995      Mark Kotsay            L

1996      Travis Lee               L

1997      J.D. Drew               W

1998      Pat Burrell              W

1999      Jason Jennings      L

2000      Kip Bouknight         L

2001      Mark Prior               W

2002      Khalil Greene          L

2003      Rickie Weeks          L

2004      Jered Weaver         W

2005      Alex Gordon            L

2006      Tim Lincecum          W

2007      David Price              W

2008      Buster Posey           W

2009      Stephen Strasburg  W

2010      Bryce Harper           W

2011      Trevor Bauer            W

2012      Mike Zunino             W

2013      Kris Bryant               W

2014      A.J. Reed                 L

2015      Andrew Benintendi   W

2016      Kyle Lewis                L

2017      Brendan McKay        TBD

2018      Andrew Vaughn        TBD