The Egregious Terrell Suggs Heisman Snub
A necessary disclaimer to the following: I know caring about the Heisman is considered gauche and/or cringe in this era of haughty college football punditry. Nevertheless, I cannot let go of my childlike attachment to what the Heisman is meant to symbolize. To quote one of America’s great philosophers: IT’S STILL REAL TO ME, DAMMIT!
With that out of the way, let’s get defensive about the Heisman.
An Alabama player deserved to win college football’s top individual honor this past season. Heisman voters just happened to predictably nominate the wrong member of the Crimson Tide in quarterback Bryce Young.
Linebacker Will Anderson Jr. delivered the best season ever from an Alabama pass-rusher (if not any Crimson Tide defender) since Derrick Thomas’ borderline mythic 1988. That’s a remarkable qualifier given the excellence of Alabama defenses.
I went into more detail on the subject in this Athlon Sports feature, so I’ll refer you there rather than rehashing the nuts-and-bolts. The overarching theme chastises Heisman voters’ continued aversion toward defense.
No strictly defensive player has ever won the award. Even Charles Woodson’s win in 1997 was arguably as much predicated on his special-teams performance and offensive gadgetry, which in turn set a precedent requiring most defensive Heisman hopefuls to score a gimmicky touchdown.
Kirby Smart attempted it this season with tackle Jordan Davis, deploying the old Refrigerator Perry set in a blowout of Charleston Southern.
The highlight-reel moment wasn’t enough to land Davis an invite to New York, despite arguably being one of the two most important players of the 2021 season. The stigma defenders carry with regard to the Heisman also means that if one defensive player’s lucky enough to go to New York City — this year, it was Michigan’s Aidan Hutchinson — it’s T.S. for a second or third like Anderson or Davis.
A defensive standout could and probably should be among the Heisman finalists every year if it’s truly intended to significance the sport’s most valuable player. But to spotlight some of the more infuriating snubs, I offer you this list of recent exclusions:
Will Anderson Jr., Alabama, 2021
Desmond King, Iowa, 2015
Scooby Wright, Arizona, 2014
Aaron Donald, Pitt, 2013
The worst of the defensive snubs in the 21st Century, however, is Arizona State defensive end Terrell Suggs in 2002.
‘02’s Heisman vote has stuck with me for these last 20 years because it was the first instance in my timing following the sport that the balloting process seemed really flawed. Sure, I took umbrage with Eric Crouch’s in 2001, and I’ll go to the grave arguing that LaDainian Tomlinson should have won in 2000.
But 2002 made teenage me genuinely pissed.
Carson Palmer won the first of three Heismans over three seasons for USC, though had the weakest case among the trio with Matt Leinart in 2004 and Reggie Bush in 2005. Palmer wasn’t necessarily a bad choice, but not particularly any more impressive than other contending quarterbacks Brad Banks of Iowa or Jason Gesser of Washington State.
USC walloped Banks’ Iowa team in the Orange Bowl, albeit after the Heisman vote, while Gesser’s Cougars beat Palmer’s Trojans to earn the Pac-10’s Rose Bowl berth. I note this not because I put much stock in QB Wins as a metric, though it is necessary background.
Gesser finished in the top 10 of Heisman balloting, but wasn’t enough of a factor to usurp votes from Palmer. I blame brand name and visibility.
Vote stealing was very much a factor in Banks’ finish, however, as fellow Big Ten finalist Larry Johnson of Penn State split the Midwestern balloting. Before he became a libel-tweeting caricature, Johnson was a 2,000-yard rusher for the Nittany Lions and arguably had the most impressive individual offensive season of anyone in college football.
Regionalism fractured the vote. And in that same vein, the less said about Ken Dorsey receiving more votes than Willis McGahee the better1.
As frustrating as those developments were, however, Terrell Suggs not even finishing in the top 10 is one of the most maddening Heisman developments ever — worse even than Larry Fitzgerald or Ndamukong Suh not winning in 2003 or 2009.
Will Anderson’s pursuit of history this past season came with the caveat that sack and tackle for loss records were not formally kept until 2000. The retroactive reverence fans, media and players show for Derrick Thomas’ ‘88 is an outlier thanks to the intrepid souls who have since revisited game film.
Countless other defensive legends lack that tangible proof of their dominance. Not so for Terrell Suggs.
Sacks were officially recorded by 2002, and in that season, Suggs finished with 22. Twenty-two!
Although shy of DT’s incomprehensible 27 in 1988, Suggs’ mark is the standard since the NCAA tracked the statistic. Even as schedules have expanded — Will Anderson appeared in 15 games for example, one fewer than Suggs played in 2002 — no one has matched 22.
And for as much as 2002 might seem prehistoric in 20222, high-speed internet did indeed exist. Heisman voters could have logged onto the worldwide web to see Suggs’ stats and even gain some historical perspective as to just how significant his play was!
YouTube was another three years from launch, but near enough that highlights of Suggs’ 2002 season live on through the platform today.
The technological advancements made in two decades since allow us to watch pretty much every Div. I college football game, and we have access to almost too much information, so there’s even less excuse now for voters to continue overlooking defensive standouts.
If nothing else, at least Will Anderson Jr. has good company in Terrell Suggs.
Ken Dorsey was a solid game-manager and etched a place in college football history as quarterback of the last great Miami teams. He also had no business being anywhere near the Heisman, especially ahead of wide receiver Andre Johnson, the most deserving Hurricane for an invite to NYC in 2002.
The announcement of the “When We Were Young” pop-punk and emo festival this week features bands I downloaded on LimeWire as a college student, and it’s being billed as a nostalgia event.