As is the glorious tradition, college football and its fans crown an annual king. The player of all players. The prestigious award is known as the Heisman. Every year, it is awarded to the most outstanding player in all of college football. More often than not, a running quarterback from a top tier SEC team leaves New York with the trophy simply because they are polarizing players that keep you on the edge of your seat. A “Heisman moment” often flings the candidate to the top of the poles, much like Johnny Manziel’s miraculous bobble, scramble, then throw for a touchdown against Alabama last year. The winner of the award can not be “another guy”. He must be quite evidently special in some way.  The question is, does AJ McCarron meet these qualifications?

Simply put, no. The award, especially as of recent, goes to the quarterback that wins over peoples’ hearts and takes the nation by storm. The Tebows, the Newtons, the Manziels, the quarterbacks of that breed. McCarron is the polar opposite. He is a game managing pocket passer. Pocket passers can certainly win the award. Even this year, Jameis Winston of Florida State, a pocket passer, is being highly considered to win the award. The problem with McCarron is that he is not polarizing or exciting at all. He is just there.

Just like Greg McElroy and John Parker-Wilson, AJ McCarron is another game managing quarterback in Nick Saban’s offense. To be fair, he is the best of the three, but that does not mean much. He is not an elite runner that will break jaw-dropping 60 yard runs. He is nothing more than an above average collegiate pocket passer that allows the playmakers around him to shine. For the offense that he functions in, that is all he needs to be, but to win a Heisman, it’s restrictive. Not only will McCarron not take your breath away or jump out of your seat, he is statistically behind his other competitors by quite a large margin and voters will heavily take that into consideration.

With a 68.6 completion percentage, 2,399 yards, 23 touchdowns, and five interceptions, McCarron is doing his job in the system in which he plays in, but he is far behind his opponents on the stat sheet.

Not that stats are a direct indicator of talent, but to voters, it matters, as it should if the player is considered to be outstanding. McCarron is 12 touchdowns behind Jameis Winston, 13 touchdowns behind Bryce Petty, 15 touchdowns behind Marcus Mariota, and 17 touchdowns behind Johnny Manziel.

All four of those quarterbacks are running quarterbacks, except Jameis Winston, that play for prestigious teams. Although, even Winston has a few touchdowns runs to his credit when it became necessary to make such play.

Jordan Lynch of Northern Illinois, despite a far easier schedule, has 19 more touchdowns than McCarron and is a running quarterback as well. College football fans adore their beloved running quarterbacks.

They are too exciting not to enjoy. With the multitude of running quarterbacks that are all better than McCarron, his chances to win the Heisman are slim to none, as they should.

AJ McCarron is not a bad player. He is an above average passer and does exactly what is asked of him. The problem is, that is not much and he does not take situations into his own hands like other Heisman candidates do. While McCarron is talented, he does not deserve the Heisman award. AJ McCarron is not the most outstanding player in college football.