NEW YORK (AP) - Johnny Football just got himself a way cooler nickname: Johnny Heisman.
Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel became the
first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy, taking college football's top
individual prize Saturday night after a record-breaking debut.
Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o finished a distant
second and Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein was third in the
voting. In a unique Heisman race, with two nontraditional candidates,
Manziel broke through the class barrier and kept Te'o from becoming the
first purely defensive player to win the award.
Manziel drew 474 first-place votes and 2,029 points from the panel of media members and former winners.
"I have been dreaming about this since I was a
kid," he said during his acceptance speech after hugging his mom, dad
and kid sister.
Manziel seemed incredibly calm after his name was
announced, hardly resembling the guy who dashes around the football
field on Saturday.
Te'o had 321 first-place votes and 1,706 points and Klein received 60 firsts and 894 points.
Just a few days after turning 20, Manziel proved
times have truly changed in college football, and that experience can be
really overrated.
For years, seniors dominated the award named after
John Heisman, the pioneering Georgia Tech coach from the early 1900s. In
the 1980s, juniors started becoming common winners. Tim Tebow became
the first sophomore to win it in 2007, and two more won it in the next
two seasons.
Adrian Peterson had come closest as a freshman,
finishing second to Southern California quarterback Matt Leinart in
2004. But it took 78 years for a newbie to take home the big bronze
statue. Johnny Football really can do it all.
Peterson was a true freshman for Oklahoma. As a
redshirt freshmen, Manziel attended school and practiced with the team
last year, but did not play in any games.
He's the second player from Texas A&M to win
the Heisman - John David Crow took it home in 1957 - and did so without
the slightest hint of preseason hype. Manziel didn't even win the
starting job until two weeks before the season.
Who needs hype when you can fill-up a highlight reel the way Manziel can?
With daring dashes and elusive improvisation,
Manziel broke 2010 Heisman winner Cam Netwon's Southeastern Conference
record with 4,600 total yards, led the Aggies to a 10-2 in their first
season in the SEC and orchestrated an upset at then-No. 1 Alabama in
November that stamped him as legit.
He has thrown for 3,419 yards and 24 touchdowns and
run for 1,181 yards and 19 more scores to become the first freshman,
first SEC player and fifth player overall to throw for 3,000 yards and
run for 1,000 in a season.
Manziel has one more game this season, against Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 4.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 WorldNow and WTVG. All Rights Reserved.
