in NCAA F Articles

As we approach the end of the first full month of the 2006 college football season, many of us have been participating in an annual rite of passage. What players are making a strong early season statement to win the award for the nation's most outstanding college football player. It’s a prize known the college football world over and beyond.

An award defined by its prestige, its tradition and its history. A fraternity of student athletes with membership valid for the length of their natural life. It then echoes throughout eternity as whenever their name is mentioned, referenced, discussed, the words Heisman Trophy Winner always follow. The closest comparison in this modern day to what it must have felt like to Julius Caesar, Napoleon, George Washington.

The Heisman Trophy, debatedly the most prestigious award in all of sport, is truly some kind of special to its winner. And to its winner go the spoils, the spoils of all the blood ,the sweat, the tears. The two-a-days, muddy Thursday night practice, the sleepless nights before game day at the Horshoe, the Big House, Touchdown Jesus.

A moniker that simply lets it be known to all who love the beautiful game of football, that they are one of the best to ever strap on pads, tighten the chin strap, pull down their  helmet on the way into battle. Not the bloody and horrific battles found in World Wars, but the battles found in places known simply by location....Columbus, Ann Arbor, South Bend, Austin, Knoxville to name a precious few.

As far as the Heisman goes, I feel honored to know several former winners personally , the likes of Charles Woodson, Desmond " Strike a Pose" Howard, Barry Sanders , among others. What they all have in common is the most important ingredient in which to cook with in the proverbial sports kitchen ... ATHLETIC INTEGRITY AND CLASS ..., ingredients that too often these days are “86'd” from our cabinet of sports soul food.

Of course points, tackles, and interceptions are important, but what makes a Heisman winner stand out amongst the rest? Their ability to transcend football, transcend sport. The ability to know and respect that the game is bigger than themselves, but more importantly that they are never bigger than the game itself. There is a long , long, way to go this fall, as college football seasons are always marathons and not sprints. But there is only one player thus far that embodies those qualities that make up what a Heisman Trophy winner is at its core, and this player does so  far above the rest.

The fact I will even speak his name considering I am a lifelong, fourth generation Michigan Wolverine fan,( FYI.. Wolverine QB Chad Henne and Wolverine RB Mike Hart, likely will be joining this man among boys if they go into Columbus, Ohio for their annual showdown this November undefeated, in what would be one of the biggest college football games of all-time this side of Notre Dame 10 Michigan State 10 in 1966;) , but Ohio State Quarterback and savior Troy Smith is the embodiment of what the Heisman trophy is all about.

The same way that last year, Texas Quarterback Vince Young should have, and as far as I and many others are concerned, is the 2005 winner, Smith is more than just a quarterback for The  Ohio State University. He is more than just a football player in for the top ranked team Division 1-A . He is an echo of the all-time greats, a carbon copy of a timeless classic, he is and will be the Heisman trophy winner, his name will deservedly live on forever.

Daniel Leach entered the Dream Job Sports Writing Contest last week and was chosen by BetUS Judges as our monthly winner. Congratulations Daniel! Enjoy your $250 Free Play!

Interested in entering the Dream Job Contest? Visit our Free Contests section for more details and find out how you can enter this contest and qualify to win a $5,000 sports writing contract with BetUS for the Superbowl!. We would like to thank all contestants who particpated last week. Good Luck this week!